Lara Felsing, Blanket Ceremony for the Forest, May 21, 2023.

Lara Felsing, Gratitude Blanket detail. Second-hand cotton thread, linen, canvas and floral broadcloth dyed with spruce cones, Saskatoon berries, Sweetgrass, tobacco, cedar, sage, Chaga, strawberries, dandelion and bee pollen, 2023.

Given the recent unprecedented Alberta wildfire situation, I wanted to show gratitude for the forest where I live with a blanket ceremony. The blankets are made from plant pigments I harvested and hand-dyed onto second-hand fabric from the community were placed in the forest near my home as a gesture of care and reciprocity.

Each Gratitude Blanket measures approximately 80″ X 65″ and is sewn onto a civil defence blanket from 1952. The civil defence blankets were part of the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile (NESS). They have been held with food, medical supplies, and other resources in the event of a nuclear attack since the early 1950s in Edson, Alberta. The civil defence blankets were wrapped in bundles and stored in burlap sacks in the town’s Post Office basement. Last year they were discovered and are currently being sold as a fundraiser for the Galloway Station Museum.

The civil defence blankets are repurposed for this project as a gesture towards honouring forests and bringing awareness to the importance of more-than-human communities.

Lara Felsing, Forest Baskets. Pine needles, twigs, plant-dyed second hand fabric, Sweetgrass, bark, sinew and flagging tape. Approximately 2” X 3.5” each, 2023. 

Recently, I have been making small woven baskets using castoffs found on the forest floor near my home. Alberta Wildfire EWF-031 caused extreme damage to the area, yet there are still gifts embedded in, and on, the land. These small Forest Baskets represent the resiliency of the land, and also the necessity to care for and live in kinship to the natural world.

Lara Felsing, Alberta Wildfire EWF-031 (a timeline through photographs). Cyanotypes on handmade paper, harvested plant pigments, remnant embroidery thread, wildfire charcoal from Alberta Wildfire EWF-031, dandelion tea, clay and found paint. &” X 5″ each, 2023. (Created at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity)

Lara Felsing, Wildfire Timeline Windows. Photographs on second-hand fabric and handmade plant pigments on cut-out wood frames found at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity wood shop. 11.5″ X 11.5″, 2024

During the wildfires last year, I found myself constantly looking out windows. The sky was everchanging, thick with smoke and tinted with unusual pinks, blues and oranges. At one point, charred spruce needles rained down hard against our house, and air quality was so poor we stayed inside for weeks. I took photos from the windows in our home and car before, during, and after our evacuations. The photographs are framed in found wood cut-outs to replicate the uneasy feeling of observing a strange, new but familiar landscape with limited visibility.

Lara Felsing, Wildfire Glasses, WIP. Repurposed solar eclipse glasses, second-hand latex paint. 5.75″ X 5″, 2024.

Given another early fire season recently announced in Alberta, I’m repurposing eclipse glasses to make Wildfire Glasses for navigating during reduced visibility due to extreme fire activity. The Inuit people make protective eyewear for navigating bright sun reflecting on snow, and these Wildfire Glasses pay homage to beautiful and functional ilgaak design.

Lara Felsing, Early Fire Season. Saskatoon berry-dyed second-hand fabric, embroidery thread and pink gouache on an unsigned oil painting purchased at a thrift shop. 2024 (Text from a conversation I overheard while at the local Walmart)

This painting explores concern over the announcement of an early fire season and how it affects the whole community. It voices empathy for the plants, birds, and animals who live in the forest and their well-being during wildfires.

WILDFIRE: an exhibition exploring patterns, devastation & uncertainty in the time of fire