UWindsor arts professor Catherine Heard is seeking to engage people from diverse communities as co-creators in a large-scale sculptural installation work-in-progress scheduled for exhibition in 2023.

Prof. Heard’s project Redwork: The Emperor of Atlantis reflects her interdisciplinary practice and expands it by integrating submissions of embroidery — the art needlework known as “redwork” — from the public.

“Following the conventions established in traditional community quilting projects, contributors sew their initials or signatures into their patches,” says Prof. Heard. “They may choose a traditional redwork design or may select from amongst the categories of political patterns created for this work, including: the War on Terror, the Vietnam War, the Iranian revolution, Abu Ghraib prison, Black lives and histories, and Canadian residential schools.”

Heard will be joined by textile artist Shiemara Hogarth to discuss the project and how it manifests themes of political activism, collaboration, and community in an online conversation hosted by the Art Gallery of Windsor, the Niagara Artists Centre, and the Textile Museum of Canada on Sunday, April 11, from 2 to 3 p.m. Find details, including registration for the webinar, on the gallery’s website.

Attendees will have a chance to request a free sewing kit to participate in follow-up activity on May 9, an online sewing circle to embroider patches for Redwork: The Emperor of Atlantis. Register for the workshop through the museum.