During the month of August I was invited to teach a workshop at Arts Underground located in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. I packed my bags, camping gear and a few dye pots and made my way north. It took four days to reach the northern town, the drive is a must if you are interested in seeing beautiful coniferous forests, volcanoes, glaciers, snowmelt lakes, cold water rivers and arctic tundra.
Arts Underground is a community space dedicated to the exploration, teaching and presentation of visual arts and heritage through a partnership between the Yukon Art Society (YAS), Yukon Arts Centre (YAC), Friends of the Yukon Archives Society (FOYAS) and MacBride Museum of Yukon History. Situated in the downtown core then gallery is close to shopping, bookstores and lots of fun coffee shops. Their studio hosts a variety of workshops during the year including, painting, printmaking, ceramics, drawing and textile art. The space is also connected to a gift shop and gallery that organizes rotating shows and artists talks during the year.
My friend Bekah Senko was my connection to this beautiful place. Bekah has been living in Whitehorse for a number of years now and works at Arts Underground as their Programming and Communications Manager. Bekah and I were classmates in the Crafts and Design Textile program at Sheridan College. We graduated together in 2015, it was so lovely to re-connect with an old college friend. We had been in touch on and off with the hopes of running this workshop for a few years. Sharing meals and working in a studio space together again brought up many undergrad memories.
The workshop was full with passionate textile artists and fiber enthusiasts. We worked together step by step to create dye baths from scratch using different materials like marigold, brazilwood, cochineal and logwood. Students also had fun working with a natural indigo vat that was created using a henna recipe. While samples were cooking we had the chance to practice folding, stitching and clamping techniques to help create resist patterns.
During the workshop some students brought in their own sample books and shared their knowledge and personal experiments with the class, (my favorite part of teaching these workshops)! Some common Yukon roadside flowers that yield dye that interested me included fireweed, rose hips, northern goldenrod, pasture sage, and Yukon lupine. These plants create different shades of yellow and grey.
Thanks to the students and the Arts Underground staff for making my trip to the Yukon so welcoming and memorable!
You can learn more about Arts Underground through their website. Make sure you visit this great space if you ever find yourself in Whitehorse.
I will be instructing my next natural dye workshop in Calgary at Natalie Gerber’s studio space on November 2nd. In this one day workshop students will explore the natural dye pot from dye extraction and fabric preparation to dyeing. Gain an in depth understanding of mordants and tannins while working with a variety of plant dyes obtained from petals, barks, leaves and roots.
Students will take home a personally dyed scarf, a variety of technical samples and instruction sheets to continue their dye exploration at home. Click here to sign up and learn more about Natalie’s space and the other exciting textile workshops she will be hosting throughout the year.
-Caroline