the time it takes to feel it (the weight of air)

image: Tufted Rug (wool, felt), 2024.

the time it takes to feel it (the weight of air)
a series of weavings: Tufted Rug (wool, felt), 31 hoop weaving pillows (wool, organic cotton hand dyed with fireweed collected fall 2024, recycled bedding material), six punch needle pillows (wool, organic cotton hand dyed with indigo, recycled bedding material).

Made for The Air of the Now and Gone curated by Kirsty Robertson and Sarah E.K. Smith at Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG) January 26 – May 4, 2025.

the time it takes to feel it (the weight of air) is a new body of work translating air quality descriptions and measurements gathered across the summer of 2024. Across the summer, I started a daily practice of documenting the smells, tastes, feels, and overall quality of the air in Edmonton along with scientific air quality measurements. A summer marked by (now normal) extreme drought, excessive heat, and out-of-control wildfires, this work archives and monitors the measurable qualities of an extreme time while documenting the personal and reflective experience of witnessing and living through the days. The series of weavings made in response translate a selection of the days monitored. Each finished as a small stuffed “pillow,” alluding to the weight felt by the implications of bad air quality.

the time it takes to feel it (the weight of air) is part of the larger series FORECAST, which considers the entanglement between environmental, social, political, and economic challenges facing the current moment, the time it takes to feel it (the weight of air) continues ongoing research and concern into the air quality felt and measured across Edmonton. More details on the work and research from it can be found on the FORECAST website.


Thanks to Kirsty Robertson and Sarah EK Smith for commissioning this project and providing
research and material funds to help develop this new work.

Research instrumental to the development of the time it takes to feel it (the weight of air) was supported by the Canada Council for the Arts via a Research and Creation grant (2023). I’m grateful for their support.

Tufted rug imaged above was made during an artist residency at Fern’s School of Textile Craft and I’m so grateful for Fern’s shared knowledge and support.