My work with natural dye started in 2020 working with the Blue Light Junction Studio in the Greenmount-West Neighborhood of Baltimore MD. Over the past three years my teaching practice has revolved around natural dye.

Natural Dye Workshops

Most of the workshops I teach are an introduction to natural dye by using purchased pigments and kitchen scraps. I have taught classes at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, the Baltimore Jewlery Center and VisArts Center. I taught a painting and textile mixed media class as a week-long National Workshop at Arrowmont in 2023.

Celebrating the Body Workshop at VisArts Center in Rockville MD

In the summer of 2023 I taught a class with artist Hannah Brancato that revolved around using natural dye and applique techniques to celebrate underrepresented human figures and narratives in textile history. This workshop was made possible by the Creativity Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.

In a world where Roe v. Wade has been rolled back, it’s more important than ever to have spaces where we can safely discuss our relationships to our bodies. With quilting having a history that’s typically associated with femininity and gender-based marginalization, Hannah and I invited artists who don’t identify as cis-male to safely share, reflect, and celebrate their bodies through making.

The goal of the workshops was for local artists to learn technical and storytelling skills with a new artistic community – and create a series of works that revolve around the figure, which will be exhibited in VisArts’ Kaplan Gallery from February to March 2024.