Some crafty Calgarians have come up with a creative way to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday.
They’ve put together a new exhibit called “Women’s Hands Building A Nation.”
Each of the 58 fibre art pieces focuses on the contributions women have made in shaping the country.
Sharon Johnston created an image depicting the early days of the fur trade.
“Indigenous women helped by making pemmican, tanning the hides,” Johnston said, “and we forget how much they offered to us.”
Rebecca Nicholas’s piece shows women involved in the early days of farming in Canada.
“Women worked in the fields behind the horses, plowed the fields,” Nicholas said.
“Wow, this is such a powerful project,” artist Wendy Rowan said. “I’m going to my local elementary school and saying, ‘you should bring your kids here.’”
Tracy Fewster’s work shows scenes from her grandmother’s life, including Alberta women getting the right to vote in 1916.
She remembers her grandmother telling her “never, never, never give up your vote, because we worked so hard to get votes for women.”
“We can’t get complacent,” Nicholas said. “With the political situation in North America right now, women need to stand up ever taller and stronger and make sure our voices are still heard so we aren’t going backward.”
The “Women’s Hands Building A Nation” exhibit runs through to the end of February at The Galleria in Calgary’s Inglewood neighbourhood.
It travels later this year to Edmonton, Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, and then to Lethbridge in 2018.
Comments