golden vein : june ‘20
Golden Vein is a limonite ferric oxide ochre pigment. The pigment was gathered by Hosanna White at and around the site of an abandoned kaolinite mine in Western Oregon, which was mined during the 1940s mostly for its aluminum content. The land is the unceded territory of the Kalapuya people. Clearcuts stretch as far as the eye can see.
contributor : hosanna white
Hosanna White is a cultural creative and youth mentor, of European-American descent, living in the foothills of the Cascades in Western Oregon. She is dedicated to slow crafts that teach patience, cultivate gratitude, and help her shed expectations of consumption and convenience culture. Her creative passions include paint-making, baking with acorns, low-fire pottery, land tending, and community organizing. @whitesnake.arts
**extra bonus solstice pigment** : black walnut clothlets
This June 20th, the Earth begins its slow tilt back away from the sun. To express my gratitude to you, my subscribers, and to the sun that heals us, I’ve made these black walnut clothlets for you, to share my love of this generous tree. I hope you’ll be inspired to collect your own fallen nuts this year, if they grow where you live (if not, butternut husks and oak caps also make beautiful inks!).
The clothlet is an ingenious technology that allows what’s usually wet — ink — to be transported dry. I gathered fallen black walnuts from the streets in my neighborhood late last summer, boiled them in a pot for several hours, let them sit for a good long while, and then strained out the dye extract (there are a few chunks in there tho, as you may see!). Then, I soaked the clothlets in the extract, dried them in the sun, and repeated the process several times, for maximum saturation.
-Tilke Elkins
22% donation recipient : Rural Organizing Project
22% of this month’s Ground Bright net profits go to Rural Organizing Project, which runs on the vision that: “every human being matters, every issue is interconnected, and, it’s all about transformational organizing.” Based in Cottage Grove, the group has led rural Oregonians state-wide to champion racial justice, immigrant justice, economic justice, LGBTQAI rights and equity for all since 1992. You can listen to their podcast, Rural Roots Rising, and donate to them directly, by visiting www.rop.org.
