Shoes for Mary

A collaborative piece made on the Applied Arts Scotland "Shift Canada" programme.

“Shoes for Mary” is inspired by Mary Campbell who, having survived the perilous journey from Applecross, Scotland, to Nova Scotia on a warship in 1803, “took charge of the cows and with a sickle she reaped enough food for the three cows for the winter”. Mary later drowned in Farrnet Bay, “crossing in a boat alone, taking a tub of butter to a shoemaker in payment for his work”.

Jennifer Green and Sarah Paramor use weaving and basketmaking to interrogate how place influences identity. The makers exchanged skills online, and wove together elements of Scotland and Canada, one using natural materials from their locale and the other weaving maps.

Two makers, two pairs of shoes made on opposite sides of the ocean, celebrating a self-reliant woman who used her Highland skills to forge a fresh identity in Atlantic Canada.

Linen, birch bark, hairmoss, beeswax + maps, hairmoss