I am so excited to be a part of the Variations Fiber Art show at the Washburn Cultural Center. I was invited to join and seeing the list of other artists who will be participating, it feels like a great honor to be among such talented artists. While I did exhibit somework when I was in high school (had I chosen to go to college after high school it would have been for art), this is my debut gallery show as an adult. And what’s even more exciting is that this is just the first of four gallery exhibitions I’ve got lined up for 2024 so far, and that’s not even including the quilt I’ve entered into the MN Quilt Show!
Each person in the Variations show will be exhibiting three pieces. I decided that I would make three brand new pieces, and that they’d be a part of my Water Protector series and feature waters threatened by Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline. This is such an important issue and it felt like a great opportunity to use my voice and this public platform to help educate others in our area about the threat this pipeline poses to our communities, lands, and waters.
The Line 5 pipeline was built in 1953 prior to environmental protections being in place and is 645 miles in length, originating in Superior, WI and terminating in Sarnia, Ontario. As the pipeline traverses northern Wisconsin, it crosses below the rivers that nourish Lake Superior. With the more extreme weather events happening in our region due to climate change, increased flood events which erode and scour these river channels are occurring more frequently and pose an increased risk for an oil spill.
The documentary, Bad River: A Story of Defiance, premiered over the past couple of months and shows how Endbridge is just one more example of colonization threatening Aanishinaabe communities and cultural traditions.
My hope is that these works serve as a call to action to shut down Line 5. Water is life.
For more info check out these resources: