Sharon Kallis

Sharon Kallis is a Vancouver artist who specializes in working with unwanted natural materials. Involving community in connecting traditional hand techniques with invasive species and garden waste, she creates site-specific installations that become ecological interventions. Through her work, Sharon has engaged with groups and studied plants and techniques across North America, as well as in Central America and Europe.

Sharon has led several projects exploring local fibers in the Lower Mainland, including Aberthau: flax=food+fibre, a teaching garden led by artists where the community was invited to experience the process of developing linen from flax, while learning about food and textile security and engaging in music, dance, games, arts, and crafts.

Sharon also organized and led the Urban Weaver Community Project; a partnership with Vancouver Park Board, Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES) and First Nations weavers to look at how the invasive plant species in Stanley Park could be used as replacements for traditional weaving materials. The year-long project resulted in four “how to” videos being produced as well as establishing the Urban Weavers, a community of dedicated weavers in the Fieldhouse of Maclean Park, Vancouver.

Links and Publications

Common Threads: Weaving Community through Collaborative Eco-Art (Book by Sharon Kallis, 2014)

The Urban Weaver Project (Short documentary on the Urban Weaver Project, 2012)

Urban Cloth Project (Short documentary on the Urban Cloth Project, 2015)

Aberthau Flax=food+fibre Year 1 and Year 2 short documentaries