Sustain:Nature Provides
August 6-31, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday August 6th, 5-8pm
Just wrapped up my year long Artist-In-Residence at LUX Center for the Arts this past month. Yesterday was the day we installed my solo exhibition!
This show is my note on conservation and how we need Nature to maintain our lives as human beings.
I focused on using sustainable materials; all bamboo and soy! It was a learning experience to say the least. I found many pros and cons of using both of these materials.
Bamboo: Very strong and holds great tension on loom. Very soft and finished pieces are durable while still having a wonderful drape to them. Bamboo DOES NOT dye well...at least with using natural dyes. I tried with cutch & black walnut hulls, then gave up! Maybe I will experiment some more with various mordants. I only like to use alum for safety reasons.
Soy: Beautiful fiber that dyes fairly well and maintains a lustrous, iridescent quality to it. Soy if the softest fiber I have ever worked with and look forward to playing with it more. It felts wonderfully as well, although its strength it not as high as other organic materials.
