The Mending Ground is a project that began with the creation of a textile-based stop-motion video in the old growth forests at Eden Grove AiR and will continue with my residency at Craft Lab and subsequent residencies overseas in the fall of 2022. The project involves researching, stitching, felting, and animating local moss, lichen, algae, and fungi (which are pioneer species that play particularly important roles in healing the earth). I am interested in how these pioneer species take root in places where no other species can grow (on rocks, clear-cuts, tailings and in depleted agricultural and industry sites) and create a foundation that allows other species to germinate and develop into healthy eco-systems. One of the primary functions of pioneer species is to create a mending ground, a place for an inter-species community to grow in symbiosis. I often look to the mending ground as a model for relational integrity in my own processes, as a companion species on the earth. Participating in the Craft Lab Residency is an essential part of the development of The Mending Ground. I have family connections in Newfoundland and have had a close connection to the east coast since exploring displaced village and industry sites there in 2019 with Canada Council funded research on “Project Homesick”, which seeded my interest in ecological restoration. The east coast of Newfoundland is known for being home to diverse and rare lichen species and for possessing a great deal of traditional knowledge on using moss, lichen and fungi in dyeing textiles and in natural healing processes that are an important part of local history.