>> Workshop Participants Pop-Up Group Art Show <<

A Pop-Up Group Art Show >> Honoring Our Homelands & Our Coming Together On The Land Of Hiawatha.  All workshop participants are encouraged to bring four materials from the land of their choice. These four materials need to be capable of creating color or visual texture on wool fibers.  Examples include hulls of nuts, seeds or berries, wildflowers, clays, ocean vegetation, sticks, leaves, lichens, and anything else that calls out to you.  These four materials should represent the four directions for you.  After the workshop, these items will become Give-A-Way to a new place (SITE/ation).
NOTE >> Participating in Indigenous Land-Based Ceremonies Is Optional

Learning how to dye wool using natural dyes resets & awakens an awareness of the natural colors of the land and space around us and beneath our feet. The idea is to wake up our indigenous ancestral abilities to be foragers.  This will help us center ourselves on a specific land place on Turtle Island, and to become an expert on the flora specific to that geographical location. (**Tag land with what3words) The learning objective is to learn to use whatever the land provides.  This is how we heal ourselves by our own hands as indigenous circles of creative energies.

Facilitator: Indigenous Teaching Artist ~ Carola Jones
NC Toisnot Skaru:re | FL Seminole | Johns Island, SC Geechee | New Orleans Treme Creole

>> Click Here For More About IFA 2024<<

Parts of Section Below are Under Construction

NOTE: IFA Registered Participants Can Join A Free Online Community Group To Complete All Projects Presented In This Workshop | Workshop Content Archived as IFA Digital & On-Demand Learning

Workshop Fashion Project is an Algonquin Eastern Woodlands Wool Blanket Hand-Dyed in Madder (Rubia cordifolia) | Blanket Size = *WOF by 2 meters (Blanket will need to wrap around your body so that additional yardage may be required) >> Dyed wool yarn will be created to edge and embellish the blanket with hand embroidery using indigo, pomegranate, turmeric and marigolds.  Participants can provide beads or ribbon applique to decorate their blankets with individual tribal iconography. *WOF = Width Of Fabric

Images of Algonquin Wool Blankets Created In Other Workshops

All the wool is the same. The value differences are due to the land and the water. The first two images on the left were created on the ancestral and unceded territories of the Syilx people on the Okanagan at the University of British Columbia as part of the Indigenous Art Intensive. The two images on the right end were created on the ancestral homeland of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia.

Learn to Make a Wool Seminole Bandolier Bag.  This project is a bonus, where we dye wool in indigo or pomegranate, neither of which requires a mordant.  The experience of using these dyes is another tool to dye wool on your natural dye journey.  Our goal in the project is to create a solid color blue or brown that we can embellish with embroidery and beads.  A detailed guided demonstration of hand sewing will be provided, along with a needle.  We will meet online in a dedicated space on an educational platform, and finish all workshop projects as a community.  The bag can be embellished with iconography from your tribal communities.  Finished examples will be explained. ***NOTE: To complete this project bring an extra meter of wool fabric.

Participants will learn how to dye wool yarn using madder, marigold, and turmeric, which need a mordant.  We will experience dyeing wool yarn in indigo and pomegranate that do NOT require a mordant. Detailed demonstration will be shared.  We will work online as a community to complete all projects after the workshop.

Dyeing wool yarn can be a sustainable business model for an individual or an indigenous community. Some of the variations in values shown above happened because I used different types of wool: 1) Merino (white) | 2) Corriedale (brown) | 3) Shetland (cream) | 4) Hebridean (warm black)