AlgomaTrad Centre

In mid-August 2020 during a glorious heatwave (for Northern Ontario) I was lucky to travel due to loosened pandemic restrictions from my home in Thunder Bay to St. Joseph's Island just east of Sault Ste. Marie. Driving east and south along the great lakes from Lake Superior to Lake Huron, I excitedly noticed the subtle shifts in the roadside boreal forest, wondering what new dye plants I might forage during my week as dyer-in-residence and facilitator at the first ever, virtual AlgomaTrad Centre Family Camp!  Co-facilitating workhops with Miranda Bouchard and Thinking Rock Community Arts staff through Zoom, with participants interested in preparing fibres for dyeing, foraging local dye plants, and dyeing locally-milled wool, I shared my love of and the ethics for sustainable foraging and dyeing. Camping onsite at the in-progress, environmentally sustainable centre, I worked to the schedule of the sun, enjoying the rural setting of the farming community and finding a few new-to-me-plants along the way.

I worked on this project with the support of the Ontario Arts Council.