Eco Creative Cluster Conversations Series #001 “Dyeing with Plants” Deborah Gray (Oban, Scotland)
Posted by CHARTS
Join us for the first of the Eco Creative Cluster project's new 'Conversations with Artists' series. This series will explore and connect different practitioners and practices working in specific localities that focus similarly on nature-based materials and dyeing techniques such as Ecoprinting.
Facilitated by Oban based curator Naoko Mabon, the first Artist we'll be speaking to is lead artist on the Eco Creative Cluster project Deborah Gray.
Deborah will speak about her practice using nature-based materials and techniques, linking between the work and the place in which the materials were grown followed by a live Q & A session.
Deborah Gray is a textile artist based in Oban, on the beautiful West coast of Scotland. Working mainly in wool and upcycled natural textiles, one theme of her recent work has been an exploration of the links between the work itself and the place in which the materials were grown and the work was created. In 2018 and 2019, Deborah was Artist in Residence at the Icelandic Textile Centre in Blonduos. An exhibition “Of the land: Icelandic Wool” was shown in three venues in 2019. In 2020, further works on this theme, and works in Shibori and Ecoprinting techniques were exhibited, alongside a collection of 30 knitted “postcards”. Deborah has been teaching spinning, natural dyeing and knitting in workshops and one-to-one in Scotland for over 30 years, as well as at textile festivals abroad.
The Eco Creative Cluster project aims to weave a network connecting different creative practitioners and practices focusing similarly on nature-based materials and dyeing techniques such as Ecoprinting. It involves developing a Dye Garden with the lead artist Deborah Gray, an Oban-based textile artist, and local volunteers in the grounds of The Rockfield Centre, a newly refurbished cultural and heritage hub located in the heart of Oban. The fruits of the Dye Garden will create workshops such as Natural Dyeing, Ecoprinting and Shibori led by Deborah Gray. In parallel, with Oban-based curator Naoko Mabon, the project aims to weave a broader network across different localities by connecting practitioners and practices using similar materials and techniques based on ecological and sustainable approaches and consciousness, which will generate further collaborations both locally, nationally and internationally. Eco Creative Cluster is a project of The Rockfield Centre and part of the CHARTS Place Makers programme, funded by Creative Scotland.
Please note: this session will be recorded and an edited version of the recording will be published online thereafter. If you wish your identity to remain anonymous, you may use an anonymous name and keep your camera off with your microphone muted.
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