“Art is not simply beautiful objects; it is a means of exploring life”
Ever wonder how to transform plants and rocks into inks, dyes, and pigments for art-making? Join us for a day in pursuit of breathtaking colour from the bounties of Wintergreen’s land. You can expect to come away from the experience having learned to harvest plants, grind minerals by hand, boil up dyes, and fire charcoal!
This experiential workshop is intended for those new to the amazing world of making and using natural dyes, inks, and pigments.
You should plan to get messy, and to return home with inks you've cooked up in our kitchen and over the campfire, feeling inspired by the natural sources of colour all around you.
Learn about the fundamentals of responsible harvesting, making natural pigment based paints and pastels, and ink bottling.
We’ll have (or will find) all the materials you need. Come and learn from the land, play with its colours, explore your creativity, and make connections with each other.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
| 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM | Arrival and Welcome | |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM | Colour Gathering Walk | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM | Lunch |
| 1:00 PM – 2:45 PM | Activity Stations: A Cornucopia of Dyes, Pigments, Inks | |
| 2:45 PM – 3:00 PM | Wrap up |
We’ll spend a couple of hours in the morning wandering through forests, fields and creek beds, exploring the landscape in pursuit of sparkling stones, leafy earth tones, and if we’re lucky. . . maybe even that perfect, elusive Andy Goldsworthy red!!
After a break for a delicious Wintergreen gourmet lunch, we’ll dig into our colour harvest and share both facts and fun with experimental art-making for the remainder of the afternoon. There will be a number of stations to explore both the colours and your own art-making, featuring the colours gathered in the morning as well as other inks and dyes provided by Laura, your instructor.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
LAURA COOPER facilitates education programs at Toronto’s Evergreen Brick Works, leading Forest and Nature School Programming for children and youth, and caring for its plants as a gardener on the urban ecology team.
She has worked as a neuroscientist (M.Sc., McGill University), a birth and postpartum doula, and an early childhood music teacher. Guided by curiosity and a desire to connect with the land wherever she works and plays, her guiding passions include herbal medicine making and art making with natural materials.
Laura plays the accordion and lives with a sassy wiener dog named Eartha, neither of which bother her neighbours too much.
REGISTRATION
$95 + HST includes instruction, materials, and a gourmet lunch.
THIS WORKSHOP IS SOLD OUT. PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM BELOW TO BE PUT ON THE WAITING LIST.
This workshop was sponsored, in part, by the Township of South Frontenac as part of the Summer Land Art BioBlitz.
