TEXTILES – SUMMER SESSION 4
June 30-July 12, 2024 (11 STUDIO DAYS)
Natalie Stopka
Rooted: Dyes and Pigments from Nature

Artwork is made manifest through material choices. This workshop will explore botanical, insect, and earth colors for applications on fabric, including dyes, indigo, and lake pigments. These rich and subtle colors require thoughtful gathering and careful processing, rooting our practice in a conversation with the natural world. Each student will create a swatch library of dyes, then learn to transform dye into lake pigment. We will share a plant and pigment foraging walk, process pigments, and explore painterly applications with soy on fabric. We will create “portraits” of our plant collaborators and focus on the roles of mordants and binders for lightfastness and washfastness. Students will leave with pigment samples and the technical know-how needed to fold them into their own studio practice. All levels. This workshop takes place in a third-floor walk-up studio that has partial access by a stair lift.

Studio artist, educator; visiting lecturer: Pratt Institute (NYC), Rutgers University (NJ), Hartford Art School (CT); workshop instructor: Arrowmont (TN), Aya Fiber Studio (FL), Peters Valley (NJ), Snow Farm (MA), Textile Arts Center (NYC), Wave Hill (NYC), Women’s Studio Workshop (NY).

nataliestopka.com | @nataliestopka
January 15 – Regular enrollment opens