Natural Dyes

Alex Foster

Learn all the basics to begin your natural dye journey! This rewarding process will help you unlock the hues of your favorite plants. In this workshop we will cover the entire process including: how to scour, mordant, dye, and create a dye lake for inks and pigment extractions.

BIO:

Alex Foster (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator, living and working in Roanoke VA. Foster works with traditional craft, natural dyes, and printing with plants on fabric to explore the human fallacy of separation- from the natural world and one another. Alex received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fibers and Material studies from James Madison University in 2015. A deep love for fabric has led her to work as a studio assistant for Aya Fiber Studio in Stuart Florida, an internship as a costume stitcher for the American Shakespeare Center, and several work-study fellowships at craft schools along the east coast. Foster maintains an active teaching schedule sharing the fundamentals of natural dyeing and artistic practice with a breadth of audience including appointments at the Appalachian Center for Craft, the Visual Arts Center in Richmond and Floyd Center for the Arts. Foster is a co-director for the VALLT, a community nonprofit aiming to educate the public on diversity and inclusion by increasing the visibility of underrepresented artists whose work captures the dynamic intellectual and physical landscape of Roanoke. Foster teaches elementary art in Roanoke City Public Schools. Check out www.fosterfiber.com to see more of Foster’s work and follow @fosterfiber on Instagram to learn more about the natural dye and printing process.

 

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