by Frank Lee
operations@thenewsleaders.com
An embroidery, beading, print and photography art project featuring Minnesota farmers, local artists, locally sourced yarn and community collaboration can be found now in St. Joseph.
“People of Harvest: An Embroidered Art & Idea Exchange” embellishes photographs and prints with yarn and puts them on display starting April 12 at the Minnesota Street Market Food Co-Op.
The project is the brainchild of Paulette Moore of Northland College in Ashland, Wis., who is using her “Arts for Societal Change” class to engage College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University students via an art class taught by local artist Mary Bruno of Bruno Press.
Moore used images from the Bruno Press 2016 calendar “Homegrown in Minnesota” – captured on the farm as a photograph, then carved into lino-block, then printed via the letterpress – and morphed them into an embroidery canvas.
The 12 images of Minnesota farms, including nearby Dancing Bears, Bakers’ Acres, and Dancing the Land, will become textile art through the individual contributions of hundreds of strangers, according to the announcement by Moore of the ambitious project.
People will collectively embroider prints of the farm images over the course of a month using a needle and thread and locally sourced fiber, collaborating on the embellishment by adding just one stitch or as many as they would like.
The interactive art installation will be available on the walls of the co-op at 27 W. Minnesota St. until May 14, and people of all skill levels are encouraged to take the canvases off the wall and add to them at any time.
“This project focuses on the ways in which the harvest is an act of embodiment, liberation and healing for farming and foraging communities,” Moore said in a statement about the project.
The final prints will be available for purchase at the culmination of the project. All proceeds from the sale will go to the Bad River Food Sovereignty Youth Program.
“It intends to honor and highlight local harvesters and farmers and the traditional and sustainable methods they utilize,” Moore said of the project.
Minnesota Street Market board member Marcia Allard (left) and staffer Annie Johnson check out the embroidery, beading, print and photography art project at the food co-op on April 20 featuring Minnesota farmers, local artists, locally sourced yarn and community collaboration.
