Rose petals arranged in the Campus Community Garden Project on Saturday, May 5, will symbolize Windsor and pay tribute to the Bread and Roses strike, says organizing artist Alana Bartol (BFA 2004).

She is encouraging members of the community to bring organic materials -- flower petals, pinecones, pods, berries, rocks and seeds – to incorporate in a mandala to be created between noon and 4 p.m.

“A mandala is generally to be used as a symbol of peace and offering,” says Bartol. “After the mandala is created in the garden, it will be left to decay, becoming compost.”

She intends the project to celebrate nature and to be cost- and pollution-free. The work will incorporate different symbolic and geometric patterns, but will certainly reflect on the 1912 strike by millworkers in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

“The Bread and Roses strike was one of the most significant strikes in United States history in which women took a strong lead,” Bartol says.

While the garden setting will account for the roses, the event will also feature bread, as members of the collective will provide healthy snacks for participants. Entitled “Hands to the Earth: A Diggin’ Event,” it is part of Windsor’s MayWorks festival, a celebration of labour, arts and cultural events.

The Campus Community Garden Project is located at 380 California Avenue. Learn more on the Facebook event page.