Image courtesy of Hosanna White.
HOSANNA WHITE
Hosanna White of Whitesnake Arts is a pigment forager, painter, potter, and earth artist living on Kalapuya land in the foothills of the Cascades, in Western Oregon. She collects and hand processes small batches of soil and stone pigment sets and watercolor palettes. Hosanna contributed “Golden Vein” limonite to Ground Bright in June 2020.
Hosanna has this to say of her work:
Growing up inheriting a legacy of colonization and eco-cide, I was terrified to come of age. Grief, anger, and idealism colored my early ambitions and though Art was an essential outlet for my expression, it wasn’t regarded as respectable life work in my family. As I have come to digest my grief, I now believe that beauty, not money, is what holds tremendous power. And so I began to ask, “what is the most beautiful service that I can be with my life?”
In 2012, I had the great fortune of learning from the creator of the Wild Pigment Project – Tilke Elkins - about palette remediation and had a profound re-evaluation of my relationship with my dearest creative medium; acrylics. Letting go of my attachment to this industrially delivered petroleum paint was a realm of impact I had complete control over. I could divest from fossil fuels, while relearning how to work with what the Earth willingly provides.
It is not as simple to make paint as it is to buy it. The relative inconvenience of the process has changed me for the better and taught me about how to become more of a citizen of the Earth and less its consumer.
In 2019, I began opening up to the possibility of creating an ethical and alternative pigment source for like-minded artists. I had a few friends who wanted to switch too, but weren’t able to take on the processing. As I felt the inspiration grow, I kept meeting colorful embankments of reds, greens, oranges and purples on my excursions that invited me into conversation and reciprocity with them. They drew me into the geological narrative of the planet. Sitting with these places I am beginning to understand more than ever the link between our bodies and the mineral personalities of the landscape; of blood and iron. I am learning to interpret their languages and histories and the relationship of these minerals to their greater ecological community. It is a slow and soulful conversation.
As I walk on the sides of byways, meeting these colorful geological formations and removing the smaller rocks that speak to me, I wonder “how can I return what is taken?” It is my hope to find balance and justice in pigment crafting. I admit I am still learning and there is no perfect answer, but I aspire in the ways I am able to live at the edge of this question, as simply as I can. I have lived for many years without electricity on land that has been over-grazed and used for timber. Like most of the land surrounding me, the devastation of ecological commodification is a trauma state that can no longer be ignored. To this place I call home, I give my time and care to listen and learn for the sake of its healing, for all beings, for future generations.
“May our bodies be a bridge for the healing of this land. May the river flow through us cleansing greed from our hands.” (Rupa and the April Fishes)
Image courtesy of Hosanna White.
Image courtesy of Hosanna White.
Image courtesy of Hosanna White.
Image courtesy of Hosanna White.