About this Event
Engage with the rich history, patterns, intricate geometries, and storytelling of Yoruba àdìrẹ textile traditions featured in Odudu Umoessien’s winter installation, .
The workshop starts with a group viewing of the exhibition along the Skate Trail to experience the installation in motion, then gather inside The Bentway’s Strachan Gallery for an intimate, hands-on textile workshop led by artist Tri Easey.
Together we’ll explore the dyeing and patterning techniques of cloth both as a carrier of memory and as a collective seasonal ritual. Participants will learn stitch-resist àdìrẹ, a Yoruba indigo-dyeing tradition where hand-stitched patterns are sewn into textiles, then pulled and tied to resist the dye.
After a brief overview of indigo, the history of àdìrẹ, and demonstrations of simple hand-sewing stitches and the dyeing process, participants will create their own visual story through symbols and patterns inspired by àdìrẹ, as they stitch, dip-dye, and unpick to reveal their design and view everyone’s pieces as a collective. Participants will leave with a small hand-dyed patch and the skills to continue the technique at home.
What to expect:
- All skills levels welcome – no experience necessary.
- This is an indoor, guided workshop hosted at the Bentway’s Strachan Gallery (located at Strachan Gate, below the timbre amphitheater)
- Youth under age 16 must be accompanied by a caregiver.
- All materials are provided.
- Accessible and all-gender washrooms are available on-site.
Photos 1 & 3: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
Photo 2: Project Render courtesy of artist Odudu Umoessien.
Event venue & nearby stays
The Bentway, 250 Fort York Boulevard, Toronto, Canada
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