What We Grow (2016)

What happens when residents of a rapidly changing neighborhood meet and share stories from their gardens? Gardens, defined here as any plants a person grows, are a big part of a neighborhood’s social fabric. In public or private, outdoors or indoors, what we grow connects us and says something about who we are. As Prospect Park grows in a literal sense, how can gardens help us stay connected as a community and weather the transformations in our physical surroundings?

What We Grow is a public fiber art project that took place in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN in 2016. A series of garden parties were hosted by residents living in apartments, public housing, and single family homes. Neighbors gathered to admire and draw what was growing, and these drawings became motifs printed on a large picnic blanket gifted to the neighborhood. The drawings, as well as tea towels bearing repeat textile patterns created from the drawings, the picnic blanket and many plants lent by neighbors became a gallery installation at Joan Mondale Gallery in Textile Center. Audio recordings of gardener interviews played bringing the conversations from the parties into the gallery.

The project was supported by Jerome Foundation and Textile Center of Minnesota.

Visit the project blog