Pomp and Ceremony

[Photo:From the left: Dr. Richard Umeek Atleo, Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo,
moi, Dr Nancy Turner, Dr. Ralph Nilson.
In front is the paddle that Chief Atleo presented to VIU
when he was installed as chancellor.  It is a steering paddle,
which helps guide us during important journeys.
It is now part of our convocation ceremonies.]

This was a busy week, being convocation week and I had the pleasure of introducing Dr. Nancy Turner to the audience as the Honorary recipient of a Doctorate of Science. Nancy is one of the world's top ethnobotanists. She has worked with First Nations Elders and cultural specialists for over 40 years, helping to preserve and bring to the broader world their traditional knowledge about plants and their ecosystems, their management and enhancement. Her CV is 60 pages long and she has been recognized with many awards (Member of the Order of Canada, Order of BC, ....the list goes on and on). She is an incredibly humble person who acknowledges those who taught her and shared their knowledge with her. I know who to ask when I have a question about native plants or things like, which plant was used by First Nations to dye wool yellow, or black? She was a great inspiration for those students who were graduating and to the rest of us. Here's a news release about her.

Doily bombed

It has happened again. Only this time, the campus has not been yarn bombed, it has been doily bombed! I am not sure if this is more serious than yarn bombing or if one reads a lighter sense of play into this format.  
As you can see, the lampposts along the walkway have all been 'doilied'. Note the yellow 'comment' card that has been attached to each doily bomb, along with a pencil to capture your thoughts.
I Googled doily bombing and was surprised to find other locations where this deed has taken place. This picture of a doilied tree shows a beautiful collection of vintage doilies gracing the tree like a lace glove.
Further Googling brought up a BBC new segment which may provide a hint of how yarn bombing came to Canada. At around the 1minute 40 mark, two seemingly innocent looking women from Vancouver are interviewed and state that they will take this new knitting trend back to the west coast of Canada. Have we found the guilty importers referred to in my earlier post?

Knitting geeks, a hobby for hackers.

Cover of Nature Genetics,
January 2002, Vol 30 Issue 1.
Knitted by Emily Poe based
on a double helix pattern
by  June Oshiro

Apparently knitting and spinning have become a geeky craft, or should I say a craft for geeks. This probably bodes well for a spin-in and kit-in to be held on campus. Listen-up locals ... 

Spin and Knit in to be held at 

Vancouver Island University

Thursday, Sept 30th.

Location: sunshine = the quad (in front of the library) rain = the Welcome Centre. Bring what's on your needles or spindles and your fibre friends.

There was a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, String Theory: Reflections on Knitting as a Hobby for Hacker Types which talks about why people at universities should knot, but a lot of what she says applies to everyone. In addition to convincing you to knit she has a lot of interesting links embedded in the article. Enjoy.

Canadian Literature Prof + Artist * Knitting = Inspiring works

This is really part two of another post - The Original Knot March 10th post- where faculty were paired and charged with creating, well, something. 
The March 10th post told of their progress and the inspiration it provided me. Last week they presented the end result of their collaboration.




Materfamilias provided the inspiration of knitting and her partner in creativity came up with a series of photographs based on knitting stitches. The images contain words and stitches, some superimposed, some small, some enlarged and manipulated until you can not see the individual components but the patterns are there. I think 10 images were created and shown on a very large screen. I noticed with interest the difference I saw in viewing them, first as he showed each one and explained it, then when he just ran the slideshow automatically from the first to the last image, each image blending and morphing into the next one. There was a flow and rhythm in the series that was quite beautiful.

Totem Raising and unveiling

A Totem pole was raised this week at VIU in the library. I am not sure how they got it into the library and then raised once in the building. An amazing feat of engineering. Apparently there will soon be a video showing how they did it on youtube. I'll link it when I find it.

Gary Mason performed a ceremony and Jimmy Johnny the master carver told the story of Thunderbird and Killer Whale.