07 . 23

fog of war : july ’23

‘Fog of War’ is a kit for making gallo-tannic ink, a special, three-way collaborative pigment with three distinct components: powdered oak galls, stone-fruit gum (mixed with some gum arabic), and iron sulphate. The oak galls were gathered this spring by artist / Wild Pigment Project founding director Tilke Elkins on unceded Cheffin Kalapuya lands (colonially known as Eugene, Oregon). Many were found on the ground, the gall wasp larvae who formed them long departed the summer before. The stone fruit was gathered from a peach tree in textile artist Deborah Gorr’s back yard, and the quantity was not quite enough, so has been mixed with a bit of commercial food-grade gum arabic (sourced most likely from acacia trees in Kenya!), purchased at a health food store.

The iron sulphate comes from now four-time Ground Bright contributor, Thomas Little. Thomas produced the iron sulphate by dissolving Russian bayonets and WWII era Smith and Wesson revolvers in sulphuric acid, resulting in a pale bluish powder that catalyzes the gallo-tannic alchemy. 

Thomas named this pigment ‘Fog of War,’ as an expression of the current relationship between guns and the planet, in these times of war: the domestic war enacted through gun violence in the U.S.. The violence done not only to people but to all beings — forests, flowers, bear, spiders — in the Ukraine and everywhere war is waged. The forests that burn as a result of climate disaster, brought about by a different kind of war. The psychological violence perpetuated by the ubiquity of guns the world over.

contributor: Thomas Little

Thomas is an amateur ink historian who explores mystic and scientific concepts through the lens of ink and our relationship to mark-making.  He gathers threads from alchemical imagery, chemical phenomena, and mystic observations, and incorporates them into a holistic synthesis theory of art-science-magic.  The natural world informs his work with ink in not only the materials used, but the relationships expressed between plant, animal, and elements.  He has formulated inks for people using some herbal requests and symbolic iron objects.  He is currently developing a primary palette with iron pigments derived from gun parts, and collaborating with a slime mold, Physarum polycephalum.  He is available to make inks and devotional-art-objects on request, and sells his ‘Writing Ink Made From Guns’ at retail locations in 15 states (see his Instagram account for details). He has lived many places, but always dwells near dark water, and is in the process of putting together a mobile ink lab. He can be reached through his Instagram account, @a.rural.pen, or by email, at thomas.little.films@gmail.com.

contributor: Tilke Elkins

Tilke Elkins is an artist, writer, and curator focused on site-specific/responsive painting and social practice art. Tilke has worked with mineral and botanical pigments since 2007, and is the founding director of Wild Pigment Project. In 2022, her work was exhibited at form & concept gallery in O’Ga P’Ogeh Owingeh (colonially known as Santa Fe, NM) along with a Wild Pigment Project group exhibition she curated. A version of the group show will be on view from now until September 16th at the NMSU Art Museum. She is also part of a group show, Feeding the Unseen: Remediations of Earth, curated by Heidi Gustafson and Devon Deimler at the Philosophical Research Institute in L.A. which runs through July 30th. Ground Bright is featured in the summer issue of American Craft Magazine, in a piece called Origin Stories, by Shannon Stratton, and an interview in the American Craft blog, The Queue. wildpigmentproject.org / tilkeelkins.com

contributor: Debora Gorr

Deb Gorr is a fiber and dye artist who experiments with many different plants — in her garden in the Pacific Northwest and beyond — and nurtures people, plants, and cats. Read about her current pigment adventures at https://beecreative.typepad.com.