Collected Color I - XI
‘Collected Color’ is an ongoing series mapping color and place through the collection, identification and documentation of dye plants, geographic locations and water sources throughout the country.
For several summers my husband and I, along with our dog Butternut, packed up our VW camper and headed north, making an annual exodus from the brutal Oklahoma heat. We travel slowly, navigating our way through small towns and dirt roads using a good ole’ paper bound atlas.
We drive US state highways and local roads with forty quart size Mason jars on the roof. The ecology of every place varies. Before the dye plants are collected they are identified and gathered with mindfulness to the environment. The plants are wrapped in natural fabrics such as cotton, hemp, or silk that are prepared in my dye studio prior to departure, then packed into glass jars with cloth and left to marinate to imprint the color and pattern onto the cloth.
The smaller collections are made with Oklahoma’s wild flora dye plants as well as those cultivated in my dye garden.
View the Chromatopia series to see about how I repurposed the scrap fabric from Collected Color.