Interested in connecting with Tilke and pigments? Write to info@wildpigmentproject.org.
Former ‘BEING WITH PIGMENTS’ COURSE DESCRIPTION
This half-year online course with artist/Wild Pigment Project founding director Tilke Elkins is an in-depth dialogue with wild pigments as embodiments of place, knowledge, communication & communities. Balancing detailed, small-group discussions, readings and assignments with hands-on learning, the course is designed for dedicated artists at all levels of experience who seek specific guidance to integrate mineral, botanical and waste-stream derived pigments into regular creative practice, and to connect intimately with place through material.
Reciprocal foraging, land stewardship and cultural sensitivity, and making kin with interspecies communities will all be topics of conversation. Together, through demos and work-along sessions, we’ll engage sensorially with wild pigments in multiple mediums. We’ll process minerals into dry pigment and then paint, prepare botanical dyes and transform them into lake pigments and inks, and explore the rich potential of materials from the urban waste-stream. You’ll receive a small packet of pigments and other supplies from me in the mail, and augment these by foraging (with guidance) for your own materials between sessions.
Previous experience with pigments not required — artists of all kinds encouraged to attend.
***A note on course length: the course is spread out between solstices, at two-week intervals over a six-month period to allow time to complete assignments and readings ‘at the pace of learning.’
December (one week): Introductions
January: Reciprocal Foraging Practices
* reciprocal foraging practices & guidelines
* safety guidelines for human health
* aligning creative practice with values
February: Mineral Pigments
* deep time: geological histories & mineral pigment identification
* working with minerals in all their forms: clay, sand, soil, & rock
* processing dry and wet mineral pigments with water and gravity
* pigment collaborations vs. “collections”
March: Botanical Inks & Dyes
: botanical dyes, hot and cold extraction
: all things ink: ink’s unique & unusual properties
: ink alchemy ~ water and alcohol-based inks
April: Lakes, Pinks & Wild Binders
: making dry pigments from plant dyes or “laking”
: beyond laking; ‘pinks’, and other alum-free alternatives to lakes
: plum gum, walnut oil & other wild binders
: egg-based binders — tempera & glair
May : Waste Stream Pigments
: intro to working with urban waste stream pigments: copper, iron and beyond
: reclaiming pigment-rich material from restaurant, construction and extraction industry waste
: waste stream sources of charcoal and chalk
: building your hyperlocal waste stream palette
June: Collaborating with Wild Pigments
* painting techniques for magnifying & deepening the wild pigment palette range
* wild-sourced gessoes and grounds
* painting supports: wood, canvas & beyond
* wild pigments & the global creative community: pigment artists & their work
* closing party!