Repairathon with Beatriz Barahona, Mandy Malazdrewich and Melanie Wesley

We are celebrating International Women’s Day by learning skills to renew and rejuvenate damaged clothing, and helping Mother Earth in the process. Did you know that every year 10.5 million tonnes of textiles end up in North American landfills? Let’screatively reduce, reuse and recycle instead.

Want to fix that article of clothing that you cannot bear to part with? Bring it to MAWA, and we will help you make it better and more beautiful than ever. Techniques available to learn and try include patching, darning, embroidery and more. There will even be a sewing machine and someone to show you how to use it.

Beatriz Barahona graduated with a Bachelor of Education from the University of Manitoba after coming to Canada via Mexico. She has exhibited her Arpilleras, a textile collage form of visual storytelling, as part of the Mujer Artista collective.

Mandy Malazdrewich works with textiles, inspired by her family traditions of garment making and mending. Her artwork explores her role as a parent, the tension and beauty of interdependent relationships, and our interconnectedness with the natural world.

Melanie Wesley is a self-taught artist whose work is in private collections all over the globe. Her focus is on domestic life and handcrafts, using natural and antique materials in textile work, dolls and miniatures. melaniewesley.com