Kelly Church’s new commission, Sustaining Traditions: Basket of Resilience, was woven with black ash and Michigan-sourced copper. Church’s visually intricate and technically masterful weavings raise awareness of the environmental impact of the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive beetle that has decimated black ash trees in over 23 US states and two Canadian provinces. The title aligns with Church’s artistic intention of ensuring that the black ash, an intergenerational Anishinaabe member, continues to exist in the future.

“I use traditional teachings that have been passed on continuously for thousands of years to create fiber-based sculptures to share stories about the world and my life today, which will become part of our collective history in the future.” —Kelly Church