A  friend and I attended the Fibre Arts Festival on Saturday May 17th in Waterloo, Ontario. I looked forward to seeing works of art  in various colours and  fibres. I was not disappointed. The unique giant Quilt of Belonging captured my interest immediately.

This quilt, with a square from each country in the world, was on display in the large banquet hall. The volunteer shown in the brief video answered questions for us as we looked at individual pieces. She was also willing and able to take our photo with a particular piece in the background. We could look in the book about the quilt to read the story, or find a country on the entire quilt. A number of volunteers were on duty offering information and assistance in answering questions.

An impressive piece of art, the work of many hands from all the countries in the world. Along with our own country of Canada, I wanted to  find certain ones where some of my friends come from: Zimbabwe, Mauritius. I also studied the work of First Nations in Canada. Beautiful works of art.

Words on the Quilt of Belonging from Amazon

A cultural milestone.

Canada is home to immigrants from every nation in the world. Quilting artist Esther Bryan wanted to celebrate this fact, to promote a sense of greater belonging among these diverse groups. A quilt would be a collaborative, community-based project to celebrate cultural diversity.

This impressive quilt measures 120 feet long by 10 feet high (36 m by 3.5 m). There are 263 squares that represent “71 Aboriginal groups and 192 immigrant nationalities found in Canada.”

I stood and looked at so many squares, recognizing cultural symbols, both flat and three dimensional, with vibrant colours and intricate sewing, and in many First Nations, beautiful beadwork.

Pointing out Zimbabwe, motherland of my  friend Mercy. She tells me that the flame lily is the national flower of  her homeland. She calls Canada home now, but goes back to visit family from time to time.

Zimbabwe

Mauritius

This is the square from Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, and homeland of my friend Zareen. The bird in that square is the Dodo bird.

More beautiful quilt pieces from the whole project:

Métis

Plains Cree

Nunavut

Japan

All stories of the quilt squares are featured in the book Quilt of Belonging. You can find it on Amazon.ca. I’m hoping we can get it into our local library, for it is history of our nation as well as others who have come to Canada as their new home.

The project was the brainchild of Esther Bryan, a Canadian woman who has posthumously been inducted into the Cornwall Area Hall of Fame. To learn more, here’s a place to start. If  you can see the quilt in real life, all the better.

More in the next post of the festival