FELT HERE (2019)

A pop-up workshop & storytelling space

In 2019 I began hosting this series of pop-up art workshops across Minnesota’s Iron Range, in partnership with IRPS and a network of local womxn makers and cultural organizers.

These workshops invite people to join in creating simple objects from material gathered in local places, including stories and objects gifted to me by my own family in the place where I grew-up.

With textiles from attics and thrift shops, earth gathered from iron mining waste dumps, and imagery gifted to the project by people I met along the way — we created (together) a series of objects that help to tell overlooked stories of women, work, and water in Iron Range communities.

These objects include ‘felted wool taconite' pellets, which I now use to make jewelry and other keepsakes that I gift to water protector womxn and sell in my shop to help fund this project; ‘utility / kinship flags,’ which I’ve been using to mark significant sites of resistance and resilience in our lives and communities; Block printed fabrics that I will be incorporating into a story quilt project; And other decorative or wearable objects.

FELT HERE has been a means of sharing art ideas and skills; Surfacing stories of women, work, and water; Creating opportunities for people to connect with place and one another; And for myself and my collaborators to listen and reflect on what we learn in these conversations.

I will continue to work with the material and people I encountered through this workshop series as I further develop the larger Overburden / Overlook project. Below are some images and reflections on specific workshops we held over the summer and fall of 2019.