05 . 21

glacial bones : may ‘21

Heidi writes, “I've been going to this beach since the day I was born. My grandparents lived near here and we would take a ferry to see them. This beach is a part of my soul. A few years ago, my grandpa died. Both him and my grandma's ashes were put in the ground at the cemetery a few miles from this cliff in the local, very beautiful, green burial Cemetery. After he died I explored this beach again, and finally experienced, ie. "saw," all the ochres in the many layers of cliff. I was able to gather ochre and offer it to my grandparents, and I do this when I go to work at this place. It's one of my primary connections to them. This area is beloved by geologists because it shows over 200,000 years of glacial advance and retreat -- and is a natural place to see how large-scale (lake-sized) levigation and agitation have formed in the eroding, evolving landscape. These two pieces are from the same area where the oldest clay exposed at the lowest level of the cliff is quite baked and multi-toned -- subtle, but noticeable once you see it. The grey is ancient plant material that has transformed to soil and sediment.The first time I found the red-pink clay (pink as chalk/clay, turns much redder when binder is added), I found a stone in the shape of a heart.”

contributor : heidi gustafson

Heidi Gustafson is an ochre specialist based in rainy rural foothills of the North Cascades.  Her work protecting and archiving ochre has been featured in The New York Times, American Craft, China's Life Magazine, Colossal, The Side View and in several other publications and books including True Colors: World Masters of Natural Dye and Pigment. Known for her intuitive and highly collaborative ochre and iron research projects that translate between disciplines, she maintains close collaborations with scientists, anthropologists, linguists, Indigenous practitioners, citizen foragers, healers, artists and places around the planet. She regularly shares free and open pigment teachings on her personal instagram @heidilynnheidilynn (with over 38,000 folks learning and sharing and wandering along with her). 

She’s a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, studied forensic art/science at the University of Baltimore and holds an MA in Philosophy and Religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies.

22% donation recipient : Heidi’s Ochre Sanctuary

Ochre Sanctuary is an evolving, living place that serves to protect and care for ochre, ie. iron-based earth and pigment wisdom. It’s currently based in tiny cabin in far north Cascade foothills of Nooksack territory, Washington, USA.

Counsel of ochres includes hundreds of rocks and dusts, across the color spectrum, gathered and offered by citizens around the planet, including spiritual and cultural ochres such as kōkōwai from Aotearoa (New Zealand) and meaningful planetary ochres like GOE (Great Oxidation Event ) 2 billion+ years old goethite or wastewater vivianite from Taiwanese industrial plants.

Areas of focus:

– Ochres from common, endangered, exhausted, sacred or other significant landscapes.

– Pigments, clays, soil, mud, sandstones and minerals of hematite, goethite, limonite, magnetite, maghemite, siderite, vivianite and other iron-rich minerals.

– Iron-based material from eroding or endangered regions, toxic waste sites, including banned countries and controversial regions.

– Ochres used and made by non-human beings including microbes, elephants and vultures.

– The study of ochre terms across languages.

– Ochre behavior, use, spiritual significance and futures.

– Support protection of indigenous ochre knowledge, use and ancestral or ceremonial practices.

– Cross-cultural collaboration and connection through ochre and land exchange.