Means of Production
This contemplative-paced 30 minute video by Martin Borden documents the twelve month seasonal rhythm of plant growth and the stewardship by community volunteers who steward the Means of Production Garden.
Located at the corner of East 6th and St Catherines Street in Mount Pleasant, the Means of Production (MOP) Garden was created in 2002 by artist Oliver Kellhammer and is tended by EartHand Gleaners Society.
Kellhammer’s original conception was to create an ‘open source’ landscape where people could experiment growing their own botanical materials for art and craft use and for the garden to be a community ‘hub’ where ongoing investigations into art and ecology would take place.
2022 marks the 20th anniversary of the garden.
For more information about both the garden and how the plants grown are used, visit earthand.com
Artist Bio
Founded as an arts-based non-profit in 2013, EartHand Gleaners Society’s specialty is connecting makers with materials that come directly from the land around them; we model ‘How to be a Producer without first being a Consumer’. By working with the plants around us using ancestral skills common to all cultures, we inspire participants to discover cultural connections, learn new skills, and discover novel sources of raw materials for creative practices, including garden waste, invasive plants, and textile waste.
Respect is the core of EartHand’s practice. Our environmental art projects spring from collaborative research, skill development and skill sharing among community members and professionals in the fields of education, sciences and the arts. We aim to strengthen intercultural connections and relationships to place, and find meaningful ways to acknowledge our Host Nations. Our regular partners include Vancouver Park Board, local schools, environmental stewardship non-profits, and our community arts organization peers.