Hand-sewn fabric sunflower seeds from Kayla Powers’ Sowing Seeds of Connection project, each representing reciprocity, generosity, and growth.

Sewing Seeds of Connection

Artist Kayla Powers was inspired to create a community art project to accompany her exhibition Flourish at the Saugatuck Art Center, on view through May 8, 2026. After reading The Service Berry by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Powers wanted to explore the book’s themes—reciprocity, generosity, and abundance—through a participatory installation.

She designed a simple sewing pattern for an oversized sunflower seed and issued a nationwide call for participants to sew up to ten seeds and mail them to her.

“These handmade seeds will be displayed in the exhibition, forming a collective expression of growth, reciprocity, and a gentle resistance against extractive systems,” Powers explains.

She even created a video tutorial to guide participants through the process.

Visitors to Flourish will be invited to take a seed home—a symbolic gesture representing the gift economy and the generosity of nature.

For artists interested in organizing similar projects, Powers offers practical advice: “Have all of your digital assets ready before you launch.” That includes the pattern PDF, social media posts, and tutorial videos. “It was more than I thought—there was really a lot to it,” she admits. She also recommends having friends test every component of the process before going public.

A key strength of Powers’ project is its flexibility. Participants can follow her pattern or draw their own. They can use any fabric—scraps, old sheets, or whatever they have at home—and sew by hand or machine. “I was thinking of my people,” Powers says. “My mom is going to make one, and she doesn’t have a sewing machine.” The combination of accessible materials, a clear deadline, and the excitement of contributing to a gallery exhibition has generated strong engagement. “It’s a chance to be part of something bigger than yourself,” she says.

Lanterns crafted by community members light up the night during the Berwyn Lantern Parade, organized by Jane Sirinek.

Lighting the Way Together

Accessibility was also central to Jane Sirinek’s public art project in Berwyn, Illinois. Sirinek organized a community lantern parade inspired by the ones she remembered from childhood. Working with the Berwyn Public Art Initiative, she made inclusion a top priority:

“This needs to be for everybody—nobody gets left out.”

Sirinek partnered with local organizations to host lantern-making workshops for all ages and skill levels. Some were simple, while others—like artist Susan Hall’s session on making translucent animal-head lanterns that participants could wear—were more advanced. To ensure everyone could join the parade, the team even made extra lanterns to hand out at the event.

Pulling off a project like this, Sirinek says, requires flexibility and a willingness to learn as you go. Encouraged by the event’s success, she plans to make it annual and hopes to work with teachers to include lantern making in the local school curriculum next year.

Volunteers stitched poetic patchwork banners for The Sun Will Find Us, a community art project organized by Jennifer Bastian as part of the Terrain Biennial in Madison, Wisconsin.

Stitching a Message Across a City

In Madison, Wisconsin, artist Jennifer Bastian also found success by building strong community partnerships. Her project, The Sun Will Find Us, brought together dozens of volunteers to sew 13 patchwork banners displayed across the city as part of the Terrain Biennial—an international exhibition of art in front yards and unexpected spaces.

Each banner features a line from a collective poem stitched letter by letter:

“The sun will find us, small sprouts seeking, roots will secure us, hands clasped, return protection, love is ferocious, gates will crumble, we will reach you, an excavation of love, the sun will find us.”

About 30 to 40 volunteers contributed to the sewing, some working alongside Bastian in her studio, others taking fabric squares home to complete.

To spread the word, Bastian promoted the project through her email newsletter and partnered with The Bubbler, an arts program within the Madison Central Library. Their newsletter helped her reach new participants, while the visibility of her park installation drew in curious visitors and word-of-mouth support.

Over several months, Bastian hosted about 20 “sewing bees,” inviting people to work on the banners or their own projects. A process-oriented artist, she prioritizes inclusion and comfort over perfection.

“I care more about whether people feel part of it than about the final result,” she says.

When participants worried about not doing a good job, she reassured them: “If you work on it, your energy and care are in the finished piece—that’s what matters to me.”

The Art of Collective Creation

For Powers, Sirinek, and Bastian, the ingredients of a successful community art project are similar: clear expectations, a welcoming invitation, a deadline, and flexibility. Each also tapped into a collective feeling—something personal yet widely shared—and trusted that others would want to make art about it.

Together, their projects demonstrate the power of participatory art: to connect people, celebrate creativity, and make the invisible threads of community visible again.

Elaine Luther

contributor