On 27 May 2018 artist Katherine May and I invited anyone with links to East London to help us make a quilt map of local greenery and textile plant colour.
People took part in advance by sending details of a local tree or plant significant to them. During the workshop, people helped us turn a selection of these plants into natural dyes to add to the quilt, mapping where these plants are found.
You can still take part using this online form to let us know of any plant you have noticed in East London. Your contribution is anonymous, only takes 5 minutes and will help us get gain a more accurate and detailed description of the greenery that adds to people’s experience of the city.
The workshop was supported by the Bow Arts programme for Raw Materials: Textiles and is part of the Chelsea Fringe.
A huge thanks for all the help from Narelle Dore, Anna-Maria Hesse and Julia Crew.
Not Pink
Work commissioned by photographer Jem Southam to be shown collaboratively with four other artists’ work, together titled, Thrift
Gallery at Plymouth College of Art
Part of the traveling exhibition, Walk On; From Richard Long to Janet Cardiff, 40 Years of Art Walking, 2013
At the Centre For Sustainable Fashion's Habitat Field Day, this installation, Edgeways, explored 100 metres of London's canalside plants, through their dye possibilities.
Inevitably a mix of the artificial and the wild, this is one depiction of the huge diversity of life available in our backyards. Guests were invited to add to the map by mixing their own vials of plant dyes and to watch the colour change take place on this canvas of a 100 metre long dress.
Photograph by Ana Escobar
At the Centre For Sustainable Fashion's Habitat Field Day, this installation, Edgeways, explored 100 metres of London's canalside plants, through their dye possibilities.
Inevitably a mix of the artificial and the wild, this is one depiction of the huge diversity of life available in our backyards. Guests were invited to add to the map by mixing their own vials of plant dyes and to watch the colour change take place on this canvas of a 100 metre long dress.
Katelyn is a partner of the design collective, Here Today Here Tomorrow, along with Anna-Maria Hesse and Julia Crew. Now in its 7th season, the HTHT brand's Knitwear and jewellery collections are certified Fair Trade and hand made in Nepal. Here Today Here Tomorrow is stocked in independent shops across the UK and Europe.
This handbook gives a quick introduction to natural dyeing for fashion students and includes discussion points useful for rethinking our relationship to colour by working with plants that grow locally. It's designed for students interested in using natural dyes in their creative work, as well as teachers from any discipline who want to bring natural dyeing into their classrooms.
The Colour of Fashion was created with funding from the UAL Centre for Learning and Teaching in Art and Design to embed eco-literacy curriculum at the university. The handbook is best viewed at Issuu here.
