Turkey Red Journal
Dear Readers:
Welcome to the Spring 2010 edition of the Turkey Red Journal. We have had a number of interesting submissions to the journal for this issue. Diane de Souza, a dyer and weaving who I meet at the last Earth Palettes Conference in Taos, New Mexico, in collaboration with Catharine Ellis, who retired from the Professional Craft Fiber Program at Haywood Community College in 2008, and Donna Brown, a fiber artist with degrees in Textile Chemistry, and Clothing and Textiles, have generously shared with us the results of their current reach project How to Mordant Cotton—let me count the ways. Heather Clark Hilliard, in her article, Tinctoria Gardens, walks us through the process of starting a natural dye garden in Oklahoma, covering plant identification, species characteristics, growing conditions and selecting plants that give the best color. Heather plans to write a follow-up article for the Fall edition. Jane Palmer, owner of the Noon Design Studio, writes about her experiences that led her to start a natural dye production business. Celia Wilson, an Australian dyer, shares her observations on using local colors and pigments in Australia and New Zealand.
The Gallery presents the work of two surface design artists and teachers, along with the work of their students. Judilee Fitzhugh, a professor at the Fibers Department at Oregon College of Art & Craft is featured along with one of her students, Dr. Laura Mellick, an emergency room physician by night and a Post-Baccalaureate student by day.
The Gallery also features Akemi Nakano Cohn, a native of Japan now residing in Chicago. Akemi teaches surface design classes both locally and nationally, including Katazome using natural dyes and pigments. Her two and three dimensional work is presented along with examples of work from three of her students, Betsy Hobkirk, Susan Parks, and Joyce Tromba.
Finally, there are a number of very interesting natural dye conferences coming up this fall and next spring. First, Monica Svensson is organizing the "14th International Fungi & Fibre Symposium," which will include workshops include mushroom dyeing with polypores, gilled mushrooms and hedgehog mushrooms, Bankeraceae. Next, the Mountain Valley and Wool Association is generously sponsoring the "Earth's Palette Natural Dye Conference" in Taos, New Mexico again this year. I, along with Heather Clark Hilliard, Judilee Fitzhugh and Laura Mellick attended this conference last year. I have been invited to speak at the conference again this year and hope to meet many of you there. This fall the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) will host a natural dye conference, "Tinkuy De Tejedores, A Gathering of Weavers," which will focus on natural dyes, weaving and spinning. In October, the Textile Society of America, will host the symposium "Textiles and Settlement: Plains Space to Cyber Space," which include lectures and workshops by Dr. Dominique Cardon and Elena Phipps. Lastly, "The International Symposium and Exhibition on Natural Dyes and Colorants (ISEND) 2011 Europe" will take place in La Rochelle, on the west coast of France, from April 24-30, 2011. Please check the listing under Conferences/Symposiums in this edition for more information about each of these events.
Articles, artwork, exhibit notices and reviews for the next issue of the TRJ will be due September 1, 2010. We are interested in featuring dyers from around the world. Don't hesitate to submit your ideas for articles. Send your submissions to pfeldman@saic.edu.
Back issues of the print version of the TRJ are still available for purchase. Contact me directly for further information. Please keep sending in your thoughts and suggestions. We appreciate all your comments.
If you are not currently on the TRJ new issue notification mailing list and would like to receive notification when the new issue is online, please send an email to pfeldman@saic.edu. Your email address will not be shared with others.
As always, a special thanks to Judith Musick, the TRJ copy editor and to Bob Feldman, our webmaster for all their hard work.
Pamela FeldmanEditor and Publisher
www.pamelafeldman.com