This summer marked the first year for a newly-launched study abroad program in Oaxaca. The group of undergraduate and graduate Textiles and Art Education students were led by Dr. Melanie Davenport and Jess Jones for the class, “Natural Dyes in Oaxaca: Immersion in Color and Culture.” We reached out to the faculty after the trip to learn about their itinerary and experience in the southern peninsula of Mexico.
Welch School of Art & Design: How did this program come together?
Melanie Davenport: I met Demetrio Lazo (a weaver and artisan from the Zapotec community in Teotitlan, Oaxaca) on an educational trip to Oaxaca in 2003, and brought him to campus in 2008 on a CENCIA grant. He offered a natural dye workshop for students and I immediately started thinking about a Study Abroad trip. My enthusiasm was renewed through a conversation with Jess Jones and we applied for a site visit last spring. That trip confirmed for us that it would be worthwhile to propose a course for students.
WSAD: Did students do any relevant coursework at Georgia State to prepare for the visit?
Jess Jones: The students first learned about chemical dyes on cotton fabric on campus in a pre-departure class. It's an interesting question: what were dyes like before chemical dyes were invented during the Industrial Revolution? They were just dyes! The distinction of "natural" came later and only because of chemical (aniline) dyes. If dyeing were easy —like simply cooking fabric with rose petals to turn it pink—then we wouldn't have a toxic dye industry. Dyeing is hard. Unlike pigment/paint, dyes are substrate specific and attach molecules! Some dye processes are similar to brewing-- and many dye technologies were developed parallel to food technologies. By dyeing in the Textiles studio first, students were able to contrast manufactured material/ manufactured dyes with natural material/natural dyes they were about to learn from in Mexico. This introduced them to the overlapping vocabulary with both forms of dyeing.
WSAD: What were some of the highlights of exploring the region?
MD: We took the group to visit 2500-year-old Zapotec ruins and a huge Sunday market. They climbed a mountain and collected lichen to make dye. They visited museums and galleries (including The Textiles Museum) and drew pictures with elementary school students. They dyed wool yarn and roving and silk fabric with a variety of dyes and overdyes, and then used the materials to create their own individual small-scale projects.
WSAD: What school group did the Georgia State students connect with?
MD: The Art Education students (and some of the others) visited the local elementary school in Teotitlan del Valle to draw with fourth and fifth graders. We supplied paper, colored pencils, and watercolors, and told them about International Paint Pals mission and collection.
WSAD: The Oaxacan region is well known and respected for their craft. What were some of the textiles techniques the students learned there?
MD: Our students attended demonstrations of carding, spinning, and weaving on looms with wool, and then had the opportunity to use these techniques for themselves before working with natural dyes. They learned how to mordant and dye wool and silk fibers and how to document their experiments with color. They used cochineal and indigo, as well as locally sourced natural materials which we gathered up in the mountains and in the local market.
JJ: Students created a recipe book with chemical and natural dyes that they can use in their studios or classrooms. We dyed fabric with marigolds, cochineal (insects), sapote, and indigo. We also collected tarragon and lichen to use as dyes from a secret spot at the top of a mountain near Teotitlan where it was so high up, the air was remarkably thin.
I introduced needle felting and Melanie introduced wet felting as a way for students to work with hand-dyed wool material. They all completed a project during the trip and we hosted a final critique.
WSAD: Did anything surprise you about the trip?
JJ: One thing that surprised me was the new awareness in the students: they became more informed consumers and artists. They began to understand the value of the handmade rugs that Demetrio and his family create, and could start to assess the quality of the weavings they saw in other places. They started thinking about renewable forms of dyeing that could be used in classrooms and their own studios. Regardless of whether they do natural dyeing again, this will influence them for the rest of their lives.
For me personally, it was a great experience. This summer, I went from being close to the arctic circle (for a residency) to nearly on top of the equator (for the study abroad) and it was a pretty dramatic shift. I now have Icelandic wool spun by an expert Oaxacan spinner, so that's something I'll always treasure. I also was able to meet a lot of students that I would not have met, and they were all wonderful. It was an ideal group.