the peaceable kingdom
The Peaceable Kingdom is a community tapestry project created during the 2009-10 academic year by Weaving Studio students at StFX and members of the L'Arche Antigonish community.
The process of creating two tapestry-panel quilts allowed everyone to understand how art and its creative process is a way of communicating and sharing ideas with other people. This project was completed in conjunction with Service Learning at StFX, and fully funded by grant monies provided by the JW McConnell Family Foundation.
A Peaceable Kingdom is a society in which all members live in harmony. Our tapestries were based on this concept and were inspired by verses in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 11:
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and bear shall feed; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
This is a theme of universal peace which affords both the opportunity to acknowledge difference and to learn from those who are different from us. Learning engenders understanding and respect: from this learning we may arrive at peace.
L'Arche participants came to the university weaving studio for the first hour of class each week during the academic year.
The Peaceable Kingdom is inhabited by a variety of animals in natural surroundings. At the beginning of each term the L'Arche members chose their favourite animals and plants from a wide selection of photographs.
The StFX students designed a small tapestry inspired by their partner's choice for The Peaceable Kingdom quilts.
My StFX Weaving Studio course focuses on tapestry weaving, but the partners were able to work together on small table-top looms to weave other projects together.
The looms were theaded with colourful cotton combinations selected by the L'Arche members to create bookmarks and guitar straps.
Each week after the L'Arche partners had left the studio it was time for the students to get back to learning about tapestry weaving.
Tapestry weaving is a a specialized adaptation of basic weaving techniques in which small areas of the design are woven in an orderly fashion to, eventually, come together to form the image.
The end of the term was also a time to reflect on all that had been accomplished during the creation of The Peaceable Kingdom.
New skills had been learned and shared, and new friendships had been forged.
The celebration was a time to acknowledge all the work that had been done by the many partners who worked together to create such a successful community art project - L'Arche Antigonish, the Weaving Studio students, and Service Learning at StFX.
A Peaceable Kingdom.
Here is the collection of animal tapestries that make up The Peaceable Kingdom quilts.
The two quilts hang in two of the L'Arche Antigonish residences.
Click on an image to see a slideshow of the partners and their tapestries.
