Shadowing / Nokomis Library, Chiaki O’Brien, Adults, 2 hour
This week I joined Chiaki at the Nokomis Library for a Bengala scarf dying class; in setting up I helped her fill buckets with water before joining the class for her demo. The class was attended by women from 40-60 who knew about the class from the library’s bulletin board, where numerous classes and events are advertised and filled in a first-come-first-serve attendance method. The class was only half-filled, allowing me to participate in the class which was a treat.
This lesson is very interesting because there’s a lot of practical science behind it. Chiaki was prepared with a large flip notebook that had illustrated notes about soil collection, refining and concentrating that goes into this process. She also included information for us on how to do this work from home and alternative ways of dyeing fabric (including in the snow and with avocado pits!) Like Saori weaving, there are methods you can use that will yield certain results, but no right or wrong way of working. I opted to explore a polka dot pattern, while others used twisting and binding techniques that reminded us of tie-dying.
One thing I really appreciated and responded to was Chiaki’s efforts to make this process accessible for outside the context of this class. Majority of the class-goers were parents or grandparents, and it was easy to see how this activity could make for an engaging day with kids. Beyond just having a scarf we dyed ourselves, we each walked away with the knowledge of how and why Bengala dying works, with the confidence that we could do it independently. This felt very in-line with how I feel after being at highpoint; in what ways can we give information and make process/material focused work accessible? I think Chiaki has provided a beautiful example of what this looks like in practice.
Residency / Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Tyler Green, 3 hours
This week Stanzi and I were in for prep, as there were no classes scheduled. Oftentimes we are scheduled separately, but today we got to spend more time doing in-depth cleaning and organizing work. My main task of the day was sorting through water-soluble crayons and tossing small pieces and making sure tins were fully stocked with a range of colors.