a'su'n – blanket

Enveloping a wall of the Surrey Arts Centre, opposite Drew Atkins’ window mural Retro-Perspective, is an invitation for visitors to add to a growing and collaborative felt blanket by reflecting on the environment of Bear Creek Park.

Created by the Gallery’s Curator of Art and Education Initiatives Alanna Edwards, a Mi’gmaw/settler artist who grew up on the West Coast, the blanket references the connections between coastal nations and the complexity of the meaning of home. Bordering the blanket are abalone buttons and dentalia shells, as well as double-curve motifs that resemble unfurling fiddleheads and represent cosmological views of the Mi’gmaq and other Wabanaki nations, amongst additional meanings.

The original blanket was inspired by a small button blanket Alanna made with the Aboriginal Support Worker while in elementary school. Now, Alanna teaches the Gallery’s school program Sharing Perspectives: Indigenous Contemporary Art Workshop. Her experiences working in schools and speaking to students, parents, and teachers led her to create this invitation. 

Visitors are encouraged to recall a favourite memory of their time at Bear Creek or to take a walk through the Park and take note of the plants and animals who make up and inhabit the land. Observe the colours and shapes of the environment, the seasonal changes that occur yearly including the return of spawning chum and coho salmon, and try to identify plants in the area like the hardy snowberry that provides an essential food source for animals during the winter.

To contribute to the blanket, sign out a blanket box at the front desk and add your own interpretations of plants and animals to the blanket using felt. Cut out and pin your creation to the fabric and respond to what other visitors have left behind or begin a new scene based on your observations.

A’su’n means blanket in the Mi’gmaw language. To hear how it is pronounced, click here.