The Grass Quilts: Wally Dion’s Prairie Prayer
The Grass Quilts series by artist Wally Dion is a vivid exploration of Indigenous culture and ecological interconnection. Dion, a Canadian artist of Saulteaux ancestry and a member of the Yellow Quill First Nation, uses patchwork to represent the prairie ecosystem and the symbiotic relationships that sustain it.
Saskatchewan, 2023 by Wally Dion
For many rural and economically strapped communities throughout history, quilting was a practical necessity. Tattered garments were reworked into new blankets, the patchwork style a visible history of their past lives. For Indigenous peoples, however, quilts hold particular cultural significance - appearing as gifts, ceremonial objects, and celebratory markers. Dion’s quilts build on these traditions, layering them with ecological meaning and aesthetic depth.
The prairie - once the largest continuous ecosystem in North America - stretched from Saskatchewan down to Texas and between the Rockies and the Mississippi River. Today, only about 5% of the original 142 million acres survive in the United States. Dion’s work contributes to the vital conversation around native land management, urging settler societies to recognise Indigenous traditions and repair the ongoing environmental erasure.
Grass Quilt, 2022, Wally Dion
Dion began the series during a residency at Wanuskewin Park, initially inspired by the reintroduction of bison to the plains. In place of his earlier circuit board pieces, he turned to translucent textiles to reimagine the prairie. Rather than stitch multiple panels, he created a single nearly ten-foot quilt of lush green geometries, referencing sweetgrass—a sacred plant in First Nations ceremonies. The quilt’s soft, translucent edges glimmer with light, conjuring the spiritual and ecological power of the plains.
Bison quilt, Bonavista NL, 2023
Other pieces followed, sewn with vivid pinks, yellows, purples, and neutral tones that shimmer in sunlight and ripple in the wind like flags. The quilts become porous vessels, catching air, light, and even the scent of their surroundings—gathering traces of each site before travelling on across Turtle Island. Dion likens these works to “a thousand tiny prayers,” invisible acts of respect and stewardship echoing across generations.
By piecing scraps into a greater whole, Dion honours Indigenous ethics of resourcefulness and reciprocity. The patchwork format becomes both a cultural archive and a living system—an art form rooted in craft, care, and reverence for the land.
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Further Information:
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Image Credits:
LEAD: Pollinator Quilt, 2024. Various fabric, acrylic rod, copper pipe. Wally Dion.