Every year since 2002 my family has been attending a family camp coordinated by friends at Seabeck Conference Center on the Kitsap Pennisula. Here we enjoy the woods and water, stories, arts and crafts, games, puzzles, a treasure hunt, and a talent show all coordinated by the campers for the campers. Each year the kids grow older and more independent and the adults get more relaxed.

For the past six years I have set up a batik studio at the camp for everyone to enjoy. We use soy wax resist and paint dyes on to silk scarves, bandannas, banners, tshirts, etc. This year I added a set up for low water immersion dyeing or, as the campers call it, “tie dye.” One of the great joys for me to witness is the way people have learned and expanded their skills over the years, especially the kids. It’s a working vacation for me, for sure, but I feel fully appreciated by the participants and there’s always lots of helping hands to ease the work.

Thalia's waxed design before dyeing.

Thalia, one of our talented teens, painting dye on her scarf.

Ben's orchid banner

projects drying on a the rack

Thea's tshirt

the scene around the dye studio

On Saturday I was a visiting artist at The Project Room, a multi-disciplinary arts space. Mandy Greer is doing a seven week residency there and invited me to come and do a dye day with her.

Mandy’s an amazing fiber artist using crochet to create site-specific installations. Her work is conceptually rich and deep and yet she uses very simple techniques. I’m really attracted to the way her work is tied in to community. Her materials are all donated to her. Working within a color theme, she uses donated fabrics, yarns and used clothing, tearing it into strips. Mandy also hosts open crochet parties where people can come in off the street and become participants in her process. She can teach people to crochet in 3 minutes or less and the simple strings of stitches they make get combined into multi-dimensional, complex, organic webs. She has worked with the Degenerate Art Ensemble and has done installations at the Bellevue Arts Museum, Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, and in outdoor settings including Camp Long.

Mandy and I met a few years ago when she was having a crochet party literally in the middle of the street during a block party in my neighborhood. We’ve kept in touch and I often give her my scraps that are too dear to toss and especially the strips that I cut off the edges of my pieces when I’m constructing them.

Mandy is doing the first residency at The Project Room, an arts space that is being curated by Jess Van Nostrand and is a space that is about art making as well as art viewing. The space has just opened but the basic premise is that over a twelve month period artists will be invited to work in or show in the space with an emphasis on an overriding question. This year’s question is “Why Do We Make?”

Mandy is using the space as a way to launch her next project which is being informed by an upcoming residency in Iceland. She is working with literary and folkloric inspirations.

So, why was I there?

Well, the easy answer is that Mandy has a bunch of white fabric that she wanted to turn into shades of gray for her project. The second part of that is that she is using this residency as a structure to bring artists in who she is interested in learning from. It was a pleasure to share my knowledge of dyeing with her and the other folks who came to participate. There’s not much I love better than geeking out over fabric dyeing and they were a very receptive audience. We talked about low-water immersion dyeing, about the chemistry of dyeing cellulose versus protein fibers, about dyeing with mixed colors especially blacks, and simple shibori techniques that give complex patterning all the while looking at and fondling samples. Then we spent some time dyeing. Fun was had.

I can’t wait to go back by and see how our dyeing washed out. I’ll be giving a talk at The Project Room this Thursday evening as part of the Capitol Hill Arts Blitz. Come by the space at 1315 East Pine. Mandy will be having a crochet party from 5-8pm and I’ll be giving my talk at 6pm. It’ll be pretty casual, I’ll mostly be bringing some samples to look at and answering questions, but I’ll also spend some time talking about my process and “Why I Make.” I hope to see you there!