NATURAL DYE WORKSHOP
Instructor: Ms. LK Sleat
This is an experimental class on dyeing fabric with natural items such as onion skins, avocados, spinach, fruits and vegetables, linens, napkins, clothing, pillowcases and more. We will learn about mordants and make swatch booklets. All fabric must be 100% cotton in order to get great dyes to saturate the fabric. This is always a great deal of fun and lots of surprise.
Session 1: All about dyes, mordants and examples, test strips.
Session 2: Discussion on mordants, continue to test, and preparation for big dyes.
Session 3: All dying time.
Additional notes: LK will provide pre-made swatch booklets and powdered dyes. Please bring rubber gloves, hot plate, a deep pot (like a lobster pot), a fabric of your choice (i.e. cotton, silk, yarn – nothing synthetic), scrap fabric for testing, tongs, and fruits and vegetables. Please make sure to wear old clothing.
LK Sleat was born in York, Pennsylania. She received her BFA from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, working for several years in advertising before leaving to go into teaching art full time and to concentrate on her studio practice, first in Pennsylvania and then to Ashland, Oregon. LK received her MFA in Painting at the Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2006, where she was Abstract Expressionist painter Grace Hartigan’s assistant. LK currently lives in Atlanta, GA and works at Marist School where she is faculty in the Art department. She also works as an Advancement Placement Studio Art Exam Leader, Table Leader and Exam Reader for the College Board and educational testing services, as well as being a full-time artist, writing and illustrating her first children’s book. IN her time outside of teaching, LK has a home studio and in Kennebunk, Maine that houses Sadie & Grace. Her Atlanta based design company features custom designs and fine art prints.
Marist School’s Alumni Engagement program, which is a key part of the Office for Institutional Advancement, focuses on building, maintaining, and strengthening relationships with the school’s 10,000 alumni as well as with the growing body of parents of alumni. Various alumni initiatives, events, awards, and publications are aimed at fostering relationships that bind the school and alumni in a sense of common purpose and advance the school’s mission and goals.