This is Stratigraphy, the apogee of a natural dye project that was begun the summer of 2021. This project brings together 139 naturally dyed colors, all harvested while exploring the wilds of the Rocky Mountains, into a body of handwoven wool work. I wish to weave the ever unfurling tale of (my) human life in this place, my connection to this land and to give hope for a more loving, connected future through this exploration.
This work was published in Vol. 9 (SS 2024) of Southwest Contemporary magazine. You can see the article here.
I am drawn to this land as I am drawn to family stories. The desert fills the silence in my own history. I engage in a dialogue of speculation with the earth in the absence of these family histories through gathering wild dyes, spinning and weaving fibers into functional art objects. I take these finished creations back into the desert’s exposed sedimentary strata and find that timelessness which is knowing your people were once living and dying among this geology.
I create with the raw materials of the earth to uncover the stories that have no speaker; I am guided by the visions and landscapes felt in my bones. The plants and fungi give their gifts of color, medicine and nourishment. These ancient colors spark life into my textiles, igniting long forgotten memories stored deep in our ancestral human psyches. Conjuring again these long silent stories equips us to consider the future’s challenges afresh: holistically with love, compassion and the promise to not forget what we have relearned.
