WITH THE GATHERING TREE
Open Gallery
October 1 to December 31, 2022
Kamloops Child Development Centre - located in unceded Secwepemcúl’ecw
This exhibition tells the story of four seasons spent in a childcare centre, trying to live well with a 50-year-old maple tree. The tree and the children – along with educators, pedagogist, maple keys, mud pits, aphids, wind, raindrops, and many more actors – live together in Kamloops on the traditional and unceded lands of the T’kemlúps te Secwépmc people.
Between November 2021 and July 2022, educators and pedagogist intentionally created conditions for children to spend time inventing ethical relations with their plant companions. Gathering, drawing, and dialoguing in the company of the maple tree becomes part of the rhythm of the childcare centre. In this way, slow pedagogical processes extend the usual focus on facts and science, inviting children to imagine other possibilities for relating to the world and its inhabitants. As the exhibition shows, ploddingly, the tree and its companions become central protagonists in children’s relations with the world.
The Gathering Tree project is ongoing and you are invited to contribute to the conversation. Please see the sketchbooks on the table at the Open Gallery for more information.
Do you have questions or ideas about this project or the Early Childhood Pedagogy Network? Please contact Kamloops’ community pedagogist, Teresa Smith.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Early Childhood Pedagogy Network: www.ecpn.ca
People:
Natasha Myers: www.becomingsensor.com
Dr. Marianne Ignace: http://www.sfu.ca/people/mignace.html
Interview with Suzanne Simard in Emergence Magazine: https://emergencemagazine.org/interview/finding-the-mother-tree/
Books:
Secwépemc People and Plants: Research Papers in Shuswap Ethnobotany
https://ethnobiology.org/publications/contributions/secwepemc-people-and-plants-research-papers-shuswap-ethnobotany
Secwépemc People, Land and Laws: Yerí7 Re Stsq'ey's-kucw
https://www.mqup.ca/secw--pemc-people--land--and-laws-products-9780773551305.php
https://thegallerystore.ca/products/secwepemc-people-land-and-laws
On November 9th, 2022, Kamloops-based ECPN Pedagogist Teresa Smith and ECPN Director Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw shared the pedagogical processes involved in narrating children's dialogues with a 50-year-old maple tree over four seasons. This conversation highlighted an ongoing inquiry with children who are trying to live well together in unceded Secwepemcúl’ecw. The educators and pedagogist are taking seriously the understanding that children's relations with more-than-human others are deeply meaningful, never innocent, and requiring of thoughtful pedagogical responses.
Slow drawing practices created space to deepen and sustain children's engagements with the Gathering Tree and its relations. Photo: Teresa Smith
The children shared their drawings with the Gathering Tree, working hard to communicate beyond human forms. Photo: Teresa Smith
Photos: Graeme Wahn