A Community Quilt of Stories, Place, and Connection
The Grand River Quilt is a collaborative textile artwork created by people who live, work, and gather along the length of the Grand River, from Dundalk to Dunnville, including Six Nations of the Grand River. The quilt grew out of The Grand River Community Play: The Voice of a River (2022), emerging from a series of community conversations and hands-on workshops that invited participants to reflect on their personal relationship to the river.
About the Quilt
The quilt is composed of 12” x 12” textile squares, each handmade by an individual or a group. Every square is accompanied by a short written piece—a story or poem—that speaks to the creator’s connection to the Grand River. Together, these textile and written elements form a collective portrait of the river as a place of memory, care, identity, and shared responsibility.
Community Process
Community participation is at the heart of the project. The quilt was created through a series of workshops held along the Grand River, welcoming participants of all ages and experience levels. No prior quilting experience was required, only a willingness to share time, stories, and care for the river.
Each workshop created space for conversation, reflection, and making, resulting in a work that is as much about process as it is about the finished quilt.
Tour and Exhibitions
In the summer of 2025, The Grand River Quilt traveled the length of the river as part of the Grand River Community Play Project. The tour began in Dundalk and concluded with a “grand” finale at Chiefswood on Six Nations of the Grand River territory, emphasizing the quilt’s role as a gathering place and storytelling catalyst.
To ensure broad representation from across the watershed, one final community workshop is planned for Caledonia in March 2026. Following this workshop, the completed quilt will be exhibited throughout the summer of 2026.
The quilt has been invited to appear as a featured work at WEFTfest in St. Jacobs (April 10–11) alongside the Quilt of Belonging, with additional exhibitions anticipated along the river.
Learn More
Photographs of the quilt and the accompanying stories are available online
Photographs along the way from 2022 to 2025
For questions about the project or upcoming exhibitions, please email Pat Flood.
Meet the Organizer
Patricia Flood is a theatre, film, and television designer and a past President of the Associated Designers of Canada. Her credits include set design for Ararat and Where the Truth Lies (dir. Atom Egoyan), Art Director for The Kids in the Hall, Resident Designer for Theatre Calgary, and many seasons at the Blyth Festival.
Pat is the author of Susan Benson: Art, Design, Craft (Firefly Books) and recently retired as an Associate Professor in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph. She was a design consultant for The Grand River Community Play Project in 2022 and continues this work through The Grand River Quilt.
