This fall we are incredibly fortunate to be able to present renowned quilter, Alice Olsen Williams in an introduction to quilting. Over the course of five biweekly sessions, participants will work with Alice building the skills and confidence to design and assemble a nine patch wall hanging or baby blanket from start to finish. Participants will explore a selection of traditional machine and hand-sewing techniques, motifs of symbolic significance, and Alice’s distinctive inclination toward joyful and rule-breaking colour combinations.

Suitable for beginners. Materials included for the first session only. Access to a domestic sewing machine is recommended.

Potluck lunch. Break time refreshments provided.

Saturdays Oct 5, 19 and Nov 2, 16, 30, 11am-5pm

$294 + HST

Instructor Bio:

Alice Olsen Williams is a renowned textile artist, blending expressions of Anishinaabe beliefs and ideology with reflections on contemporary social issues. She completed her BA at Trent University, and with her discovery of the quilting process in 1980, went on to formulate the concepts that have become the basis for her distinctive style.

Alice's works have been exhibited at the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian), Michigan State University, Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Art Gallery of Peterborough, and many other museums and art galleries. She is also well-versed in indigenous knowledge (IK) and shares her wisdom with others through workshops and presentations. She was the Trent University artist in residence in 2007 and was recently the Visiting Elder for the SAGE Indigenous Graduate Students Conference at UBC.