Last year we invited Kayla Powers to our studio while she was in Michigan for her residency at SC4A. Kayla is a place-based artist and naturalist who makes ecologically focused textile art with and about the living world. We sent her home with a linen painter top to dye on her own time, and have been so excited to share what she created.
Tell us about the imagery you used on the Painter Top? Where did you draw inspiration from?
“The imagery was kind of inspired by a tattoo flash sheet - sketches and symbols with some significance to me and my life here in the desert. I painted them onto the top using a thickened iron mordant paste.”
We love the color choices! How did you achieve those colors? What plants were used?
“I love this color! I used an alum mordant, piñon for tannins, and madder root for dye. The high concentration of iron in our soil here in Santa Fe gives it an earthy pink color so that was the inspiration for the color of this top. “
What does your harvesting process look like when foraging for plants?
“It’s really important to me that when I’m foraging plants, I’m not causing harm to the environment. In this case, I collected some piñon wood from the property where I live. During a recent fire mitigation project, several piñon trees were cut down. This is to create more space between the trees which would make it harder for fire to spread between them. So, I was able to collect the saw dust and use it in the dye process. The material was so nice to work with and I love wearing this top. It’s light and breezy and feels so nice on my skin!”
