I’ve got plenty of Yucca plants. And after spending the cordage workshop at St. Georges Botanical Garden, I know how to process the fibers. The only thing I’m not so sure about, is the chewing part. I’ll leave that part alone.
St. Georges Botanical Garden Fiber Workshops
I’m a fiber artist who processes repurposed materials. Now that I am on St Croix, I am itching to explore the abundance of natural fibers just outside my door, palms, coconut, vines, bamboo, to name a few. Last month, St. Georges Botanical Garden hosted three natural fiber workshops using materials sources from their garden. Naturally, I showed up ready to learn and experiment.
This is how it went
Rope making using invasive snake plants.
Paper making is sparking new ideas.
And I spent a morning palm weaving…
Ive been thinking incorporating these experiments into my practice and new ideas are percolating. Meanwhile, I am building a tool kit of garden sheers, gloves, buckets, and bins to process natural fibers at Sky Garden Retreat in St. Croix.
Upcycling Fiber
Banana Fiber… hum?
I was today’s year old, when I learned that once a banana cluster has been produced, that stem will no longer produce anymore fruit. Not only that, banana fiber is a great plant-based alternative to silk, and a more sustainable alternative to cotton.
Note to self, contact banana producers in St. Croix for the stems after the fruit has been harvested.
Register for Artist Talk Next Week
I am giving a virtual lecture about my Free Your Mind; Social Justice Art Project next week on March 28 at 7:00pm.
Free Your Mind is a collection of personal narratives. Participants are invited to share a personal experience with implicit bias to release this story from their personal narrative.
Please join me, registration is Free… HERE
Free Your Mind is a collection of personal narratives. Participants are invited to share a personal experience with implicit bias to release this story from their personal narrative.
Feel free to share your story HERE
Triggered, Truth & Transformation Solo Show
My solo show, Triggered, Truth & Transformation opens this week in Auburn NY.
Exhibition Dates: March 25-May 28, 2023
Location: Schweinfurth Art Center; 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY 13021
I will be leading a rope making workshop on April 15, 2023. Please join me
Despite the growing commitment to racial equity, the day-to-day experiences of women of color are not improving. Women of color face similar types and frequencies of microaggressions as they did two years ago – and they remain far more likely than white women to face disrespectful and “othering” behavior.
The weight of these triggers underpins very real consequences… stress, anger, frustration, self-doubt and ultimately feelings of powerlessness and invisibility. These triggers come with a hefty toll of emotional baggage.
Extensions of rope, wrapped, knotted, woven, and embellished with recycled textiles, zip ties, ribbon and yarn, gingerly invite the audience into off the-wall conversations about the “respectability politics” of black hair. My Emotional Baggage Carts are vessels for this racial trauma. The act of making, weaves the sting of daily microaggressions into the cart, freeing me from these constraints.
JC Friday: Rope Making Workshop Tonight
Learn to use old textiles or scrap fabric and turn it into rope.
The process is easy, slightly addictive, and most definitely meditative.
Materials provided
Date: JC Friday, March 3rd, 6:00-8:00pm
Location: Art 150, Studio #231, 150 Bay Street, Enter at Provost and 1st Street and ride the elevator to the second floor.
Make Fabric Rope with Me
Learn to use old textiles or scrap fabric and turn it into rope.
The process is easy, slightly addictive, and most definitely meditative.
Join me in making rope for an installation at Governors Island Summer 2023 about hair.
Materials provided
Date: JC Friday, March 3rd, 6:00-8:00pm
Location: Art 150, Studio #231, 150 Bay Street, Enter at Provost and 1st Street and ride the elevator to the second floor.
Register for Free Your Mind Art Talk
I am giving a virtual lecture for the Mid Atlantic Fiber Association on March 28 at 7:00pm ET about Free Your Mind.
Free Your Mind is a collection of personal narratives. Participants are invited to share a personal experience with implicit bias to release this story from their personal narrative.
Please join me, registration is Free… HERE
And feel free to share your story HERE
Tenuous Threads
I’m pleased to share that one of my new Hair Rope pieces will be included in this show of contemporary work incorporating textiles, fibers, threads and mixed media.
The show description really resonated with me… All of life is connected through networks, systems, fibers, and webs. Communication (visual, verbal, electrical, chemical, and kinetic) enables an exchange of information amongst all life forms. Tenuous Threads alludes to the delicate lines that bring us together and sets us apart; that joins us yet repels us.
The opening reception is Thursday January 26th, 5:30- 8:00pm. I hope to see you there.
Exhibition Dates: January 24th- February 11, 2023
Location: Atlantic Gallery, 548 W 28th St #540, New York, NY
