Traditional Knowledge Keepers Workshop: Blanket Stories

Learn from Metis/Ukrainian artist Melanie Monique Rose the art of visual storytelling through the process of needle felting with wool on blankets. In this two-part workshop you will contribute to a Community Blanket Story which is a collaborative artwork, in the second half of the day you will create your own one-of-a-kind Blanket Story which will be a take home from the day! 

No experience necessary, open to ages (13+). Beginner to intermediate participants welcome. Materials will be provided. Registration is $25 per person. If cost is a barrier, please contact us at info@royalsaskmuseum.ca.  

SCHEDULE:

9:45am – 10:00am || Participant arrival
10:00am – 12:00pm || Workshop part I
12:00pm – 1:00pm || Lunch break (lunch is not included but there is a microwave, sink and fridge available for use)
1:00pm – 3:00pm || Workshop part II

Melanie Monique Rose is a Metis/Ukrainian visual artist from Regina, Saskatchewan Treaty 4 Territory, a citizen of the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan, and a long-time contributing member of Sâkêwêwak Artists’ Collective Inc. and board member. Rose’s work centres on kinship and relationships between the land, ourselves and each other. Through plants and flowers Rose invites transmissions of ancestral knowledge and teachings while also imagining and creating a de-colonial future through the lens of Metis worldviews.

She attended Kootenay School of the Arts with a major in the Fibre Arts in Nelson, B.C. Rose has exhibited her artwork in both group and solo exhibitions. Most recently, Melanie has her largest showing of work to date in her solo show, Li moond di fleur at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford Ontario. In the summer of 2023 Melanie’s natural dye practice took her to both Ottawa, at the National Gallery of Canada and Santa Fe, New Mexico’s SWAIA Fashion shows, where her work walked the runway. A recent career highlight was exhibiting in the group show, Storied Objects/Metis Art in Relation at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. A great honor was to receive the distinction of Excellence in Textiles from the Saskatchewan Craft Council in Dimension's 2013 touring show. In 2020, Melanie was named a CBC Future 40 for her work in arts and culture. In addition, she was one of seven artists awarded the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts Endowment Award to further artistic pursuits in 2021. In 2023 she was honored with the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal from His Honour the Honourable Russ Mirasty Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan for her work in Arts & Reconciliation. Most recently she was awarded the 2025 Indigenous Resurgence in Action category for the Regina YWCA Women of Distinction.

This workshop is brought to you by the Friends of the Royal Saskatchewan Traditional Knowledge Keepers Series, sponsored by Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation.

Events at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum may be photographed or recorded on video. By attending this event, you are giving permission to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and the Friends of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum to use photographs or videos that may contain your likeness for promotional purposes. Photographs or videos may be shared in print material, on the website for the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, or on social media. Please identify yourself to our photographer or registration staff if you do not wish to be photographed.