Artist in Residence • Morgan Conservatory

Since mid-October, I have been hosted by the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio as one of their 2018 Artists in Residence. For nine weeks, I have been exploring natural dyes, tannins, and mordants on kozo and mitsumata bast fibers for use in my beaten bark paper books. The dyestuffs I have been exploring include:

Madder (both fresh & dried)
Eastern Brazilwood
Osage Orange
Cutch
Ceriops tagal - sustainably harvested Mangrove roots from Indonesia
Sequoia
Quebracho
Fustic
Indigo - a natural fermentation vat
Pomegranate
Eupatorium
Logwood
Myrobalan
Tannic acid
Tara
Symplocos - natural alum source from Indonesia
Iron

After preparing a rainbow of plant dyes, working with mordants, and over-dyeing, I created a long color swatch book on beaten bark paper. I will use this guide as I select fibers and colors for my next body of work. I am actively working to push myself beyond my preferred blue-green palette.

Shout out to the U.S. Border agents who had zero interest in kilos of powder (dyestuff) that I brought back from Indonesia.