Lab Here//Too//For: Responsible Visions and Neglected Materials

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Join us for a keynote address by landscape architect Dr. Alice Lewis (RMIT University), followed by discussion with invited guests farmer Tara Klager (Providence Lane Homestead) and woodcarver and metalsmith, Aaron (Splash) Nelson Moody/Tawx’sin Yexwulla (Skwxwú7mesh Nation) as they discuss clothing/cloth/material as it relates to embodied actions and reciprocal relations we have with one another, both human and the more than human. 

This keynote panel discussion will be followed by a reception to celebrate the success of Material Matters Lab: Here//Too//For as part of the exhibition Fashion Fictions.

Please note that registration is required to join this talk.

Refreshments will be provided, and each ticket includes one complimentary drink. A cash bar will be available during the reception.

Fashion Fictions catalogues will also be available for purchase.

When: Thursday, October 5 at 6 PM | Doors open at 5:45 PM
Where: 4East | Vancouver Art Gallery
Tickets: Free for Members or with Admission

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SPEAKER BIOS

Dr. Alice Lewis is a Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Through an expanded landscape architecture practice, Alice develops ways for working with embodied human action as an inescapable constituent of landscape systems and the most powerful resource we have at hand. Recent research projects build prostheses, technologies and processes for inciting citizen, community and practitioner actions that transform and regenerate critical landscapes. Often working with inter- and trans-diciplinary teams, her work advocates for novel applications of landscape architectural techniques to address the current climate crisis. Recent publications explore the role of experimental landscape architectural pedagogies in preparing the next generation of practitioners for an uncertain future.

Tara Klager is a self-declared rust-belt refugee, originally from the industrial hub of southwestern Ontario. Currently, she spends her time on a small farm set up against the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains with a small flock of endangered, heritage breed sheep. Her work focuses on relationship-building and regenerative agriculture.  Providence Lane Homestead values the place they are honoured to steward, the people who support them and principles of reconciliation. In 2019, Tara completed a Permaculture Design Course (Oregon State University) and in 2021, Providence Lane Homestead was certified Animal Welfare Approved (AGW), the only dedicated fibre farm in Canada to hold this distinction. Through numerous endeavours and with a contagious amount of positive energy Tara has nurtured a vibrant and inclusive community of wool advocates, makers and producers with the intent to move forward with the mission of supporting People, Place and Permaculture.

Aaron Nelson-Moody / Tawx’sin Yexwulla, from Squamish First Nation is an educator who works to rekindle Coast Salish art and culture, in public education and in Indigenous community.  

Aaron has created work for numerous sites in and around Vancouver including house boards for the Squamish/Lil’wat Cultural Centre and pieces connected to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Earlier, his carved entrance doors formed the entrance to the Canada House pavilion for the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. Other previous work has included at the Kahtou Native Newspaper, and Adbusters Magazine as a writer/photographer. 

Aaron currently contributes to mentorship and education in the Lower Mainland as a part-time instructor at Langara College Fine Arts, teaching Indigenous woodcarving, and at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, teaching metalsmithing. Additionally, he contributes to other institutions and programs that are engaged in Truth and Reconciliation projects

Lab Here//Too//For @ the Vancouver Art Gallery
This satellite lab–an exhibition commons–within Fashion Fictions, draws on our current research and past insights of the Textile Adaptation Research Program (TARP), New Craft, and the formative cloTHING(s) as Conversation research initiative. Works on display and adjacent to the lab are inclusive of Alumni Researchers, Material Matters Guest Artists and Designers. Lab: Here//Too//For merges design, research creation and knowledge exchange as means to uncover new possibilities that support responsible ecological and social action.