Central Okanagan residents are encouraged to join artist Sharon Kallis at Kelowna’s Public Art Pollinator Pasture for an informal walkabout slated for 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 26.
The walk will involve identifying plants, sharing stories about the plants we find on site, and talking about the history and current use of the site.
Kallis is a Vancouver artist who specializes in working with unwanted natural materials. Involving community in connecting traditional hand techniques with invasive species and garden waste, she creates site-specific installations that become ecological interventions.
She has recently published a book, Common Threads: Weaving Community Thr4ough Collaborative Eco Art.
The walkabout and a practice party two days later will be a great opportunity to see her in action and to find out about some site-specific plans for the pasture.
If you’d like to work on picking and processing nettle into a weavable art material, come to the pasture on Wednesday, Sept.28, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. when Kallis will lead an informal workshop of handwork.
The Public Art Pollinator Pasture is located at the Brent’s Grist Mill Heritage site, just north of the corner of Dilworth and Leckie.
A team of volunteers and UBC Okanagan faculty and students are building a pasture of native and bee-friendly plants and creating several community art and work events around the site.