THANKS
Founded on the basis of a question "What does it mean to collaborate with the body of the land as paint? – Wild Pigment Project was, from the beginning, a network of relationships. In the five years, between 2019 and 2024, that the project thrived, those networks increased multifold: many thousands of pigment practitioners, including artists, writers, scientists, and many others, connected through the project.
The project thrived, and raised more than 38K in contributions to land stewardship and social justice organizations -- without a single grant or external funding of any kind. I kid you not! We did it all together, independently, and never had to answer to anyone but ourselves. Remarkable, I think. We were, ALL all of us, responsible for making this happen, in a very real way. Every bit of attention and resources and support that nourished this project was indispensable. And it's for that reason that I will take some time to offer all of us the proper thanks.
THE LAND
My first offering of thanks is to the place where I lived (22 trips 'round the sun!) on Kalapuya lands, colonially known as Springfield, Oregon, while engaging in Wild Pigment Project. I celebrate and thank the many moss-covered big leaf maples, the lanky alders, and the giant doug firs who invited me to ride in their boughs. I thank the birds -- especially the ruby kinglets, the scrub jays (Rack-Rack, I call them) the stellar jays, the bufflehead ducks, the green herons, the American dipper, and the ospreys. I thank the nettles, eaten every spring, and the sorrel, the sword ferns, the camas, the black walnut trees, the licorice ferns, the mahonia, the blackberries, and the towering poison oak. I thank the long cold churning rivers that continually gave me life and energy and flow. i thank the rocks, and the earth, who, when I held them in my hand and considered crushing them into dust for paint, asked me to pause. All the questions that drifted up from that pause launched this project.
PEOPLE
The rocks led me to a remarkable woman named Charlotte Behm, who I stopped on the bike path because she was tending a rock sculpture with a Kalapuya word carved into it. Charlotte convinced me to join a committee dedicated to protecting a woodland inter-being community near my home: the Whilamut Natural Area. Through Charlotte, I met Kalapuya Elder Esther Stutzman, who, along with her friend and neighbor Susan Applegate, game me a glimpse into their shared ancestral history, an intersection of the Kalapuya people and the European colonizers. I thank Elder Esther Stutzman for her enthusiasm for this project, and I thank them both for their continual warmth and support.
Before I go further, I want to offer my deepest thanks to my then-partner, now collaborator-friend-family, Noel Guetti, a brilliant "material philosopher" and historical weaver. Noel and I spent many hours walking the long-grass paths of Mt. Pisgah with dogs Calvin and Winnie, all through the heart of the pandemic, passionately discussing the details of the project, and what it could be. Noel reflected on and was instrumental in its formation. He edited, managed, and did way more than his share of the dishes. A year in, he took over Ground Bright and did all the packaging of pigments and emailing with subscribers. There were many reasons that the project reached a time of natural conclusion -- our parting of ways, when Noel moved to Vermont to work with the Weaver's Croft and I moved to New Mexico, was a significant factor. We did the project together and it was not the same without both of us to care for it. Change comes in so many ways.
The next two people I give thanks to are Melonie Ancheta and Heidi Gustafson. On March 1st, 2019, after a flurry of emails, Noel and I traveled up to the spot near the northern Pacific coast where they lived within a few miles of each other. Melonie had been studying and writing about pigments -- especially vivianite, the blue ochre -- for more than 20 years, and her work had drawn Heidi to her. Heidi came to ochre study by way of a prophetic dream about a neglected ochre place on Ohlone lands. The four of us cackled and cussed and drank big cups of rooibos tea while our dogs touched noses (blessings to you, sweet Wee Doggie). Melonie and Heidi became our friends, mentors and great supporters. They gave the project a huge thumbs up, and were the first two people to contribute pigment to Ground Bright.
GROUND BRIGHTS & PIGMENT PEOPLE
The next Ground Bright pigment contributor was artist, poet and ink historian Thomas Little. Thomas is a fountain (pen, ha!) of knowledge and kindness. He contributed his pigments -- all made from dissolved guns -- a total of four times (red, black, yellow and iron sulphate for oak gall ink...!). The next contributor was also a many-time contributor: Natalie Stopka. She miraculously found the project, reached out, and immediately shipped us half a pound of brilliant yellow weld lake made with crushed egg shells. Natalie is also a pigment historian with an exquisite sense of humor.
There were 47 pigments, given by 35 contributors in all. Together, they directed a total of more than 38K, divided between more than 40 different organizations dedicated to land stewardship and social justice. They each labored over and gave their pigments freely as GIFTS to Wild Pigment Project. In return, I joyfully highlighted and shared their work with ever-growing networks of people passionate about pigments and land histories.
The organizations that received those 22% donations every month ~ none of this would have been possible without them. Their hard work and the courage to care for kincentric networks gave many of us a shared focus. While the relationships were perfect, or always as connective as I would have liked them to be, it felt powerful to be able to come together to support their work.
Thank you, Ground Bright dusts, ancient and newer, for everything you taught us and connected in us.
You can read full descriptions of each pigment contributor, pigment, and related organization in the Ground Bright Archive, here.
And, for the record, here is a complete list of all:
07.19 : Whilamut / Tilke Elkins / Komemma Cultural Protection Association
08.19: Red Ochre / Heidi Gustafson / Intertribal Friendship House of Oakland
09.19 : Celadonite / Melonie Ancheta / Native Paint Revealed
10.19: Telephic Red / Thomas Little / Lead to Life
11.19: Weld Lake / Natalie Stopka / Open Space Institute
12.19: Oakroots Chalk / Caroline Ross / Surfers Against Sewage
01.20: Extinction Hematite/ Tilke Elkins / Kommema Cultural Protection Association
02.20: Red Bank Red / Amanda Brazier / Tennessee River Gorge Trust
03.20: Mullumbimby Pink / Karma Barnes / Firesticks Alliance Network
04.20: Oak Creek Iron / Kelly Moody / Ground Shots Podcast
05.20: Comb Wash / Nancy Pobanz / Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition
06.20: Golden Vein / Hosanna White / Rural Organizing Project
07.20: Kalapuya County / Tilke Elkins / Kommema Cultural Protection Association
08.20: Coastal Valley / Britt Boles, Iris Sullivan Dare, Kara Gilbert / Blue Light Junction
09.20: Walwunmutj / Lorraine Brigdale / Common Ground Australia
10.20: Turtle Island Lakes / Ashlee Weitlauf, Avalon Paradea, Natalie Stopka, Julie Beeler / Indigenous Environmental Network & the Pōpolo Project
11.20: Overburden & Rock Flour / Nina Elder / Gwich’in Steering Committee
12.20: Sable Wave / Thomas Little / Lead to Life
01.21: Camafeema / Tilke Elkins / Komemma Cultural Protection Association
02.21: Occaneechi Shimmer / Kelly Moody / Occaneechi Band of the Saponin Nation & Acres of Ancestry Initiative and Black Agrarian Fund
03.21: Ancestor Brown / Lucille Junkere / Jamaican Pigment Center
04.21: Dart Gold/Red/Bronze Ochre / Caroline Ross / Land in Our Names
05.21: Glacial Bones / Heidi Gustafson / The Ochre Sanctuary
06.21: Caldera Tuff / Scott Sutton / Adobe in Action
07.21: Whilamut / Komemma Cultural Protection Association
08.21: Dapple Green / Elpitha Tsoutsounakis / Utah Diné Bikéyah
09.21: Providence / Sydney Matriciano / Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp
10.21: Sculptor’s Dust / Marjorie Morgan, Joshua Ruder / The Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi
11.21: Atyban Mague / Catalina Christensen / FUNAZA
12.21: SE Oregon / Nancy Pobanz / People of Red Mountain
01.22: Paper Tiger / Thomas Little / Lead to Life
02.22: Sawkill Creek / Adi Blaustein Rejto / Frack Outta Brooklyn
03.22: Spoils / Caroline Ross / Grounded Community
04.22: Wandering Winterkill / Daniela Naomi Molnar / The Nonhuman Rights Project
05.22: Clearcut Ochre / Caitlin ffrench / The Fairy Creek Blockade
06.22: Hillside Slough / Teri Power / Indigenous Peoples Task Force
07.22: Gayuli / Melissa Ladkin / The Returning
08.22: Underlog / Tilke Elkins / Komemma Cultural Protection Association
09.22: Action Required / Sarah Hudson / Kauae Raro
10.22: Belt of Venus / Stella Maria Baer / Tewa Women United & NDN Collective
11.22: Basalt Blue / Hosanna White / Long Tom Watershed Council
12.22: Tanoma Ochre / Dana Driscoll / Evergreen Conservancy
01.23: Buckthorn Pinke / Tilke Elkins / The Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi
02.23: Lu Kaliksh / Heather Bird Harris / Atakapa Ishak Nation
03.23: Złoto / Polina Sevkov-Teterycz / Złotoryja Land Enthusiasts Society
04.23: Wildfire Redwood / Shinehah Bigham / Amah Mutsun Land Trust
05.23: In the Ruins / Caroline Ross / Right to Roam
06.23: Bearded Iris / Tilke Elkins / Komemma Cultural Protection Association
07.23: Fog of War / Thomas Little, Deborah Gorr, and Tilke Elkins / Lead to Life
08.23: Mill Town / Noel Guetti / Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust
09.23: Conductor Blue / Catalina Christensen, Lucy Mayes and Jason Logan / Apache Stronghold
10.23 Qu'a Pai / Tilke Elkins / The Quartux Journal and the Black Cultural Festival
11.23 Tliltik Komali / Marilú Rios Guerrero / Colorantes Habichuela
CO-TEACHERS & CO-LEARNERS
During the Wild Pigment Project Run, I had the great pleasure to co-teach with some brilliant fellow pigment artists. Thank you Thomas Little for bringing your ink genius and delightful wry humor to me and my students on multiple occasions. Thank you, Lucille Junkere for bringing the true history of indigo, the transatlantic slave trade and the impact of colonization on African Caribbean textile history to our learning groups. Thank you Daniela Naomi Molnar for our time as co-teachers of the Poetics of Pigment sessions.
And thank you, so much, all of you incredible artists and pigment explorers who joined by Being With Pigments courses, shared your knowledge, connected with your hearts, and broadened my understanding of pigment beings many times over.
GROUND BRIGHT SUBSCRIBERS....
Obviously, none of this would have happened without you. You are truly mighty. Your support made this all manifest. I hope our paths continue to cross and recross! Thank you for all you taught me about giving and receiving.
In Interconnection, and Boundless Thanks,
<3 Tilke
