Read on for the latest news from
the Thinking Rockers, including:

• Making Nights

• Programming Reflections

• The Hands & Lands Workshop Series

• The Seasons & Senses Children's Program

• A Stitch In Time: An Intergenerational Mending Project

• More Exciting, Recent Happenings

Making Nights

We’ve hosted 39 Making Nights since we launched these bi-weekly gatherings in October 2020! Join us for our 40th Making Night on Tuesday, September 27th from 6:30pm to 8:00pm EST to enjoy some creative conversation and connection with us!

Save the dates - we’ll also host Making Nights through the Fall on October 11 & 25; November 8 & 22; and December 6 & 20. Keep up with our programming plans - including drop-ins, workshops and more - by checking our Events Calendar, or register for our programming e-mail list by request to info@thinkingrock.ca

We’re grateful to our funders, supporters and partners: Niigaaniin Services and Mamaweswen/the North Shore Tribal Council; the Ontario Arts Council; the Canada Council for the Arts; the City of Sault Ste. Marie; the New Horizons for Seniors Program; the Canadian Red Cross; the Canada Post Community Foundation; the Ontario Trillium Foundation; the Governments of Ontario and Canada; and the Northern Lights Collaborative. For full details, click here.

Image description: A view of community contributions to the collaborative Patchwork of Place project (above, with content listing); A screenshot of participants at Circle In, a special Making Night hosted on June 21st by Betty Carpick (behind).

The Hands & Lands Workshop Series

Since June, we’ve hosted five FREE craft-based, skill-building community arts workshops for folks of all ages featuring the knowledge and talents of five members of Thinking Rock’s Social Fabric Team: Patricia Wynter (Upcycling with a Smile), Dawn Allard (Teacup Landscape), Jamie Oshkabewisens (Quill Medallions), Tuija Hansen (Sew Your Own Moss Garden) and Mireille Gagnon Moes (New Life for Worn-Out T-Shirts). Each workshop has brought participants from far and wide together via Zoom to learn new and time-honoured making skills to use in their own creative projects and through the future of the Social Fabric project.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council’s Craft Projects Program for the Hands & Lands Workshop Series.

Image description: a screenshot of participants' handmade moss gardens, created using naturally-dyed fibres as part of Tuija Hansen's Sew Your Own Moss Garden Workshop.

Seasons & Senses Children’s Program

A few days before Summer solstice, the final season - Summer - of our year-long Seasons & Senses Children’s Program began! Together, we created art, we moved, and shared the joy of collective creation and growth. A number of guest artists joined the team and brought how they see the world into our shared times. Each child received a curated art materials kit to create together via Zoom. 

Though we’ve just completed this initial year-long program, we look forward to staying connected with the children, youth and families we've met in the arts-based, community-focussed programming we’ll host in the future.

We’re delighted to have received the support of the Canada Post Community Foundation for the Seasons & Senses Children’s Program.

Image description: Participants moving and making at the Make, Do and Mend Residency at Jumblies Theatre, Toronto, May 2022 (above); a screenshot showing participants' creative works at a Seasons & Senses session (behind).

More Exciting
Recent
Happenings

In April and May, Thinking Rocker Miranda Bouchard traveled to Toronto to participate in Make, Do and Mend: A Community Artist Residency at Jumblies Theatre. Follow Miranda’s telling of the tale via Instagram, starting here!

In May, two Thinking Rockers - Cassandra Spade and Alicia Hunt - began new adventures in life, learning and community. While our work together continues, we hope you'll join us in celebrating them and wishing them well! We also happily welcomed Emily Jane Oskaboose-Meawasige back to the Thinking Rock team - read her programming reflections above!

In August, while Social Fabric friend and artist Tuija Hansen was visiting, Thinking Rock took part in the 2022 AlgomaTrad Family Camp. Bringing intergenerational community arts, making and mending activities to this special place has become a cherished summertime activity for the Thinking Rockers, and we were so glad to be back!

On August 20th, we welcomed a group of friends, family and community members to our new programming space at 199 Main Street for our first-ever Open House! We made the CTV Northern Ontario news, and we acknowledged the recent support that Thinking Rock is grateful to have received from the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Community Building Fund. Are you local to Thessalon, or planning to drop in? Let us know by emailing info@thinkingrock.ca. We’d love to visit during office hours (Tuesday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) and we’re available by appointment or by chance!

Watch for more exciting news to come about the launch of Thinking Rock’s customized colouring fabric, a special project that Community Liaison Samm Pine-Bennet’s been working on!

Image description: A parent-child duo work together to colour the back of the Gathering Quilt.