Traditional Art Pieces in Manitoba

Manitoba crafts are practical and tied to the farm and the cold. Families still make and use many of them.

Ukrainian embroidery

• Bright red and black thread on white cloth.

• Patterns mark family regions from Ukraine.

• It appears on shirts, tablecloths, and pillows.

• Women still stitch it for weddings and festivals.

• The work takes many hours and is kept for years.

Mennonite quilts

• Pieced cotton in geometric patterns.

• Made from leftover fabric scraps.

• They keep beds warm through the long winter.

• Groups still sew them together at community halls.

• Each quilt is signed or dated on the back.

Wooden grain elevators (models and carvings)

• Small carved or built models of the old wooden elevators.

• They once stood in every town.

• People keep them on shelves as a reminder of the harvest.

• Some carvers still make them by hand.

• The real elevators are almost all gone.

Bannock and beadwork

• Métis and First Nations beadwork on moccasins and bags.

• Floral patterns in bright colours.

• Bannock is the simple bread cooked over a fire.

• Both are still made at gatherings and powwows.

• The beadwork is taught by hand, not from a book.

Wheat sheaf decorations

• Bundles of wheat tied and hung on walls or doors.

• They mark a good harvest.

• Families keep last year’s sheaf until the next crop comes in.

• Some are braided or shaped into simple crosses.

• They are plain and practical.

Painted furniture and trunks

• Old wooden trunks painted with flowers or simple scenes.

• Used to store blankets and winter clothes.

• Ukrainian and Mennonite homes both have them.

• Some are still painted by hand today.

• They last longer than the people who made them.