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.