As part of the Nu chexw kw’átchnexw kwétsi sḵel̓áw̓?// Can you See Beaver? project, Gitksan Witsuwit’en artist and community organizer Jolene Andrew is leading a drawing workshop at coFood Garden. Participants are invited to learn to draw a beaver using North West Coast design, while we listen to and share stories of the land and waters of the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood as well as beavers and their teachings. We will explore histories of the neighbourhoods we live in and how we can honour the histories that connect us to the land and life.

No drawing experience needed! Please bring your own pen/pencil and paper/sketchbook.

*This workshop is free but registration is limited to 20 participants*

Registration closes Wednesday June 23 at 5pm.

coFood Garden is located at 265 East 4th Ave (between Main St and Scotia St.)

COVID-19 Guidelines:

• Please stay home if you are experiencing flu or cold like symptoms, have been in contact with someone who is experiencing flu or cold like symptoms, or have traveled outside of Canada in the last 14 days.

• Seats will be positioned to ensure physical distancing. Participants are asked to wear masks when moving around the garden and/or when physical distancing cannot be maintained.

• Participants will be asked to provide their contact information for contact tracing upon arrival.

• Hand sanitizer will be available.

Accessibility:

• Most seats are wooden chairs or benches, accessed by going down several brick stairs and weaving through wood-mulch pathways. Please bring cushions and blankets to make yourself more comfortable.

• The garden may be accessed at the ground level through an entrance on 4th Avenue for folks attending with strollers or mobility devices.

• For folks with EMF sensitivities, please be aware that there are WiFi signals in the garden from neighbouring buildings.

• There is a wheelchair accessible, single-stall washroom on the ground floor of the building next door that is available for participants to use.

The coFood Collaborative Garden is a project of Living Systems Network—a member-funded society dedicated to seeding tools for radical systems change and regenerative culture.

Nu chexw kw’átchnexw kwétsi sḵel̓áw̓?// Can you See Beaver? is a community-based research and public art project led by Gitksan Witsuwit’en artist and community organizer Jolene Andrew and produced by

grunt gallery Project Curator Nellie Lamb. The project began with a conversation about a historical beaver dam that once blocked Brewery Creek near the spot where Main St and 14th Ave now intersect. This led us to wonder about the absence of such an important animal in an urban socio-ecological system and consider how the history of beavers in this landscape can inform our relationships to the land now and into the future. Throughout the project we will be contemplating the importance of keystone species like the beaver, whose knowledge and skills build dams that create wetlands, providing habitat for many other plants and animals. Nu chexw kw’átchnexw kwétsi sḵel̓áw̓? is a reminder to take notice. The project looks to beavers and the other animals and plants in their communities as teachers and guides. It asks questions about obstruction and flow, what has changed and what has endured, and what we can learn from these histories in the ongoing and complex contexts of urbanization, colonization, and decolonization.

The project’s Squamish language title, Nu chexw kw’átchnexw kwétsi sḵel̓áw̓? asks, “Can you see the beaver?” We hope you will join us in opening our hearts and minds to beaver’s teachings.

More details on the project can be found at canyouseebeaver.ca

This project is funded through the City of Vancouver's Cultural Services Untitled Public Art Grant.