Craftstravaganza!

Our much-anticipated 8th annual Craftstravaganza is back, in celebration of International Women’s Day. Learn craft practices from around the world! Four free, simultaneous workshops will be offered. All materials are provided, child-minding is available and snacks will be served. Enjoy good food, good company and good crafting! People of all genders are welcome. The event will feature:

The Lazy Stitch Beading with Neepekan Hunt

This workshop will teach the traditional, North American lazy stitch beading technique, which is simple … although not as easy as one could assume based on its name! Neepekan Hunt will show how beads may be embroidered onto fabric or leather in straight rows or lines in order to cover larger areas or develop symmetric patterns.

Hunt is of Ojibway and Cree descent. She has great knowledge of diverse Indigenous art forms and traditions. A mother of six children, Hunt created a blanket for the Canadian Human Rights Museum that is now being used for educational purposes.

Needle Felting with Jeanette and Maurice Dzama

Needle felting is a sculptural practice in which objects are created out of wool with special barbed needles. The technique has been used for decades for manufacturing and industry, and can be found in musical instruments and building materials. The barbed needle joins the wool fibres together when they are repeatedly poked. Using this technique, the Dzamas will teach how to create a simple sculpture such as an animal. These Winnipeg artists were introduced to needle felting by their daughter. They draw, paint, and create large, diorama-sized needle-felted sculptures and dolls which have been shown in Canada and the U.S.

Leather Tooling with Talie Polischuk

Participants will have the opportunity to hand-decorate a leather bookmark, keychain or bracelet through some basic stamping and kistka batik techniques. Talie Polischuk will be available to discuss more involved processes of leatherwork for those interested and will bring a variety of tools for demonstration. Polischuk began her love affair with leather shortly after the birth of her daughter, and has developed her own unique approach to the medium by combining methods such as batik, pyrography, moulding and tooling. zococo.ca

Katchhi Bharat (Gujarati mirror embroidery) with Nisha Desai

Nisha Desai will teach the technique of embroidering small mirrors onto fabric, and how to combine it with diverse stitches in order to make animal and flower designs. Originally from Ahmedabad, the capital of the province of Gujarat, India, Desai came to Winnipeg with her husband, son and daughter in April 2012. Trained as a medical laboratory technician, she is now working as a child care assistant at the Seven Oaks Adult Learning Centre. Desai was taught embroidery by the other female members of her family when she was a little girl..

Presented in partnership with Manitoba Craft Council with the support of Winnipeg Councillor Mike Pagtakhan, Manitoba Minister of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Eric Robinson, and the University of Manitoba Women’s and Gender Studies Department