Sharon Kallis

With a “one mile diet” approach to sourcing art materials, Sharon Kallis works to discover the inherent material potential in a local landscape. Involving community in connecting traditional hand techniques with invasive plant species and garden waste she creates site-specific installations that become ecological interventions. Graduating from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 1996 she began working materials from the land in 1999 and has exhibited and engaged communities with her practice in Ireland, Spain, Mexico and throughout the United States. At home in Vancouver, Sharon works regularly with Vancouver Park Board, Stanley Park Ecology Society, Community Arts Council of Vancouver and Environmental Youth Alliance. Sharon is founding executive director of EartHand Gleaners Society, an arts-based organization that brings together artists, scientists and educators to rethink use of green-waste and invasives plants.  Sharon is a member of MOPARRC, the artist collective that activates the Means of Production garden -a community garden that grows art materials. Recent projects include leading The Urban Weaver Project: working with First Nations weavers, fibre artists, park ecologists and local community to research how the invasive species of Stanley Park can be used as replacements for traditional weaving materials not sustainably harvestable in the city. Sharon has received Canada Council and British Columbia Arts Council grants and was the recipient of the Brandford/ Elliott International Award for Excellence in Fibre Arts in 2010. Sharon has been acknowledged through a Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Studio Design: emerging artist (2010) and as a Remarkable Woman by Vancouver Park Board (2012) for her community engaged projects.
Working with New Society Publishers Sharon wrote Common Threads: weaving community through collaborative eco art, a book about her art practice written as a field guide for others wishing to explore unwanted plants for creative purposes.