Clearline Zine Issue 002 by clearline zine

issue 002

clearline

Front Cover Photography: Lily Forbes Back Cover Photography: Natalie DeAbreu

Welcome! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and explore Clearline Zine. First, we would like to acknowledge and express gratitude to everyone on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our thoughts are with these workers, all essential workers at this time, as well as with everyone who has been affected by Covid-19. Because the focus of our second issue of Clearline Zine is water - we want to encourage those who can to donate to water-focused organizations in Detroit. This issue of Clearline Zine is free and accessible to all, but during the month of May we are asking for donations that we will then give to The People’s Water Board in Detroit. See end of letter for more information on donating and what we’ll send you in return! Now for some background on who we are, and why we started: Clearline Zine is a Detroit based zine and was created from the desire to bring awareness to human rights and environmental issues in the fashion industry. We came together as a team of two: Sarah Sparkman, Editor in Chief, and Carolyn Ridella, Creative Director and Designer. Clearline Zine Issue 001 was released in Spring of 2019 in honor of Fashion Revolution week. Fashion Revolution week started after the Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2013. Every year, Fashion Revolution week brings people all over the world together through virtual campaigns to push for systemic change in the fashion industry. There is a clear line between what is right and wrong in the industry. The fashion industry contributes to the pollution in our rivers, oceans, and lakes. Living in Michigan and being surrounded by a fifth of the world’s freshwater inspired us to explore this theme. In this issue we focus on water, textiles, fashion, storytelling, and how these themes are intertwined. In this issue we also wanted to collaborate and open up submissions to the community. We wanted to hear what local voices had to say in their art and through their craft surrounding these topics. We also received non-local submissions that helped paint a picture of water pollution, fashion, and textile stories on a global level. We added in our voice to the mix of these submissions. This collaboration created a zine with a variety of mediums and perspectives. We are honored and humbled by the work we now get to share in Issue 002, of Clearline Zine.

We hope Issue 002 sheds light on issues of climate change, how the textile industry needs to change, how you can support local businesses, shares stories of people you may not have known, and maybe even inspires you to create something that expresses your thoughts on these themes. Share it with us! Please reach out to us with your thoughts and for collaborations on our next issue of Clearline. Thank you, take care, and stay safe. Kindly, Sarah Sparkman Editor-In-Chief Carolyn Ridella Creative Director and Designer Clearlinezine@gmail.com @clearlinezine Venmo: Sarah-Sparkman-1 PayPal: ssparkman08@gmail.com Donation information: Please send a $5-$10 donation to our Venmo or PayPal before June 1st, 2020. We will be donating the money to the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Water Board in Detroit. You can learn more about what they do on their website Peopleswaterboard.org If you donate before June 1st, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll receive an original Clearline Zine postcard that highlights our themes! Please send your address to our email after you donate. Thank you!

CONTENTS

WATER 5 - 25 A Ripple Effect Miracles Brooke Biernat Jordan River Dawn Prayers for Flint Antediluvian Green Stormwater Infrastructure Munch Gitche Gumee Bottles Oblivion Cyanotype The Long Spring Lime Lake & East Bay FASHION 26 - 45 Mary-Kate Doherty Lily Forbes Object Apparel Submerged Collection STORYTELLING 46 - 57 By the River Bailey Park Water Ruth Adler Schnee I Feel You Kenyetta Caldwell TEXTILE ART 58 - 71 Kate Arnson 10 Questions with SALT Textiles Vanessa BarragÃ£o Earth Tones Water is Life Gigi Guarino Upcycle & Shibori Dye ~ A How To YOUNG LEADERS 72

Water

aripple effect

A Ripple Effect Karinna Klocko @karinna_klocko

Miracles By Elijah Sparkman

Sometimes God dips her paintbrush in the lake when she’s working on a watercolor painting. The canvas just imbibes the lake water, eats it like a plant. Right now, God’s working on a whole exposé. God has so much patience, is a morning worker. The exposé is called: Miracles. The style of the Miracles series is a cross between JMW Turner and Georgia O’Keefe, Kehinde Wiley and Leonara Carrington. Miracles’ subject matter consists of rising shorelines, perpetual smokestacks, GMOS, malchromatic river water, generally, what’s trending on twitter, and electric cars. Sometimes, when God sells a painting, she goes to the Coney Island and eats French fries. She scrapes fries out of one of the corners so she can make a puddle of ketchup. She dips each fry into the ketchup like a paintbrush, excavating large dollops. She eats. It’s yummy. When the ketchup is diminished, she re-puddles. But most of the time, God can’t sell a painting worth a damn. Which is unsettling. Because, after all, she is God. The name is big. And it must stand for something?

Untitled Brooke Biernat @brookievoncookie 9

Jordan River Dawn By J.Lace

howlattheloom.com @howlattheloom

Ducks on a half frozen marsh

As do I

Dip below the surface one at a time

As am I

In the early morning light

As I wish to be

Over and over they dip

Humanity complicates it all

A floating posse

The weightless affinity

Seemingly weightless

The simplicity of survival The perfectly orderly

Seemingly connected

Pure chaos

By affinity By nature

I desire

By mysteries

To be simple

Beyond my own comprehension

Weightless Innately connected

In the same manner

Perfectly adapted

They are tied to this place Hunting through winter

Feeling the cold

Turning their backs

Feeling everything

To the biting wind

Contently fishing On a half frozen marsh

Prayers for Flint Karen Hampton kdhampton.com/ @k.d28 It is a blessing for Flint, Michigan. Bottle Trees are found in rural African American communities and are placed on land as protection for the homestead. I placed it in the center of this piece to protect the people of Flint.

Antediluvian

By Ana Gavrilovska @motherslug

It was a gift from his dad, who worked for the Tech Innovation sector and often managed to snag prototypes out of the trash to bring home for his son. But the Paper Airplane was no prototype. It was the real deal, a brand new toy. Noth slid the sleek little thing out of its package and marveled at the newness in his hands. The Paper Airplane was the latest release in a line of Modern Vintage toys. Though nothing more than a remote-controlled airplane in the classic lightweight shape of the titular variety, it was made of magnesium infused with ceramic silicon carbide nanoparticles and aimed at kids who had never seen one at all before, appealing to both their curiosity and their parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; nostalgia for a time before their own. After all, materials had been rationed 12

for several generations at that point, and paper had been near the top of the list from the very beginning. Whenever the Paper Airplane enters his thoughts now, he always remembers the day his dad first brought the damn thing home. He remembers the depth of his fascination, recalls with startling clarity the sensation of opening the box, feeling the new toy in his hands. To possess this complete idea, a finished product, something that was meant for everyone but yet could somehow also be his alone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this was pure joy. He remembers his dad, smiling down at him. Then the real reason he always remembers this mo-

ment: the sense of horrible, rotten happiness that seeps into the air because he knows what is to come. A line is drawn to Noth’s current whereabouts as he’s engaged in all this useless recollection: a subterranean prison, in which he is wasting away, miles and miles underneath The Fountain. In the cave, water systematically drips from a tiny corner of an inexplicably exposed pipe. As always, his mind takes him to the days following his acquisition of the Paper Airplane. Filled with a terrible excitement to show it off to his friends, he vibrated among the crew as they traveled to The Park on the edge of town where they would be left alone. The Paper Airplane safely in his arms. Parks had become few and far between at this point. Where they did exist, they were heavily regulated. Extraordinarily, The Park had somehow been missed and its existence wiped from the record books. At the center of The Park stood The Fountain. No one knew what The Fountain once did or was supposed to do. It was mysterious and it was beautiful. Until that day, it felt like it was theirs, even though part of what made it so powerful was that it belonged to no one.

At The Park, everyone took turns controlling the Paper Airplane. They sent it whizzing and soaring among the abundant overgrowth and beyond the tip of The Fountain, then zipping and zooming around their own heads like one of the pesky Video Officers they were avoiding by coming here in the first place. Noth discovered an Auto Pilot control and initiated it, but nothing happened right away. Suddenly the Paper Airplane began spinning mid-air, then zoomed off in the opposite direction. Noth fumbled with the controls, but as the plane got farther away, he gave chase and yelled for his friends to join him. This part of the memory is where things start to get blurry. He struggles to recall who it was that fell. Sometimes it’s him, other times his best friend Odel. Was Serafinia behind Noth, or was she the one standing by The Fountain when it burst into life? The one who got soaked, proof that something unthinkable had 13

actually happened? How long was it before the Federal Police arrived, ready to haul away those committing the very worst of crimes – Misuse of Water? The terrible criminals, of course, being nothing more than a group of horrified and amazed children, accustomed to the bottled water the State delivered for personal use, seeing the majesty of streaming water for the first, and surely only, time in their lives. The crime was serious, even for children, but it was obvious The Fountain had been turned on through some freak accident triggered by the errant Paper Airplane. Odel’s father, who worked in the Legality & Laws sector, was able to get their sentences reduced to 12 years of Compulsory District Beautification instead of the lengthy imprisonment they would have otherwise faced, children or not. Noth sits in his earthen cell and laughs bitterly at the idea that 12 years of Compulsory District Beautification once seemed like actual punishment. Incendiary Acts and Conspiracy to Commit Treason bring much heftier societal fines, and although he was only truly guilty of the former, it didn’t matter. Something of the magnificence in the glowing spray of water he accidentally glimpsed as a child took root within him all those years ago, propelling him toward what was meant to be a revolutionary future, and yet now. Here he sits. Here Noth sits, in the prison below The Fountain, and even though his cell could have been

dug anywhere at all, it’s been dug in just the place where an ancient pipe that once ran water to the surface continues to function, undisturbed, still running that same water, ferrying it to and fro between places unknown. But there’s a tiny leak in one of the joints, the very one which juts directly into his cell. It drips and drips, and there isn’t a thing Noth can do about it. He sits in his cell and remembers his life. Some memories are long gone, never to be accessed again. Others fill his mind, spilling out of his ears, unable to forget. He doesn’t regret the things he has done, only wishes they had mattered more. The Paper Airplane zooms in and out of his thoughts. Serafinia’s face appears once. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Why Should You Care About Green Stormwater Infrastructure & What You Can Do By Christina Ridella Our current water infrastructure system and how it affects our health and environment: When Detroit’s water infrastructure system was built, it was set up in a way that combines the stormwater and wastewater systems (called a combined sewer system). When it rains heavily, an incident that is occuring more frequently due to climate change, the system does not have the capacity for all of the water. The result is a combined sewage overflow (CSO), in which untreated water from the stormwater / wastewater system is diverted directly into the nearby water source; in our case, this water source is the Detroit River. The result is dangerous bacteria in the water and threats to drinking water, recreational activities, and the wildlife in both the river and the downstream Lake Erie. Our water system provides drinking water to 40% of the state’s population; we need to ensure that we are doing our part to protect this water for all. In addition, the way that our infrastructure system is set up also causes residential basement sewage backups and street flooding during heavy rain that can be detrimental to residents, especially those in areas that are already vulnerable to flooding. One of the main things that causes CSOs during heavy rainfalls is the quick flow of stormwater into the piping system. This is primarily caused

by the lack of pervious surfaces, or surfaces such as grass, plants, and trees, that retain water. Examples of impervious surfaces (the opposite of pervious surfaces), include paved surfaces such as concrete and roofing. Impervious surfaces currently make up about 42% of Detroit’s landcover. When rainwater hits impervious surfaces, it combines with contaminants such as oil and fertilizer that then quickly flow into our water system. Whether you know it or not, you are being charged for the impervious surfaces on your property. DWSD has a “drainage charge” tacked onto the water bill that charges residents an amount based on how much impervious acreage is on their property. DWSD currently provides residents with automatic 25% reduction for residents because they assume that the house downspout is disconnected from the system and flows onto the lawn. There is a way, however, that you can reduce your overall drainage fee even more! If you install green infrastructure on your property, you can provide positive environmental impacts to your neighborhood while also setting yourself up to receive “green credits” from your water bill.

What is Green Stormwater Infrastructure? Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) is the

Images that show how the combined sewer system reacts to dry versus wet weather. Photo Source: detroitfuturecity.com

concept of using plants and other materials that mimic nature to retain and clean stormwater to prevent stormwater runoff from entering the sewage system. Some examples of GSI are rain gardens, rain-barrels, bioswales, green roofs, trees, underground cisterns, and wetlands. Along with providing important water retention and cleaning purposes, Green Stormwater Infrastructure is beautiful - as a land-reuse option, it can provide calming gathering spaces for people, become a new habitat for pollinators and local wildlife, clean the air, and also reduce urban noise pollution!

Where you can start with Green Stormwater Infrastructure at home: Disconnect your downspout Cut off your downspout that flows from your roof into the combined sewer system and divert the water onto your front lawn or garden. For more information on how to do this, visit: stormwater.allianceforthebay.org/take-action/installations/downspout-disconnect Install a Rain Barrel Rain barrels divert water from your gutters to a storage container that can be used to water your lawn, wash a car, or other purposes. You can also paint them and turn them into a lawn art piece! For more information, visit: therouge.org/rainsmart-6000-rain-barrels-forthe-rouge/ Plant a Rain Garden Rain gardens are beautiful! They’re made up of native plants that have deeper root structures for retaining water and also attract pollinators and local wildlife. The Friends of the Rouge has a great program called “Rain Gardens to the Rescue,” that will teach you how to do this. Plant a Tree! Trees have an amazing system of absorbing rainwater both through their leaves and root structures. One local organization, The Greening of Detroit, provides volunteer opportunities to plant trees across the city as well as resources for how to plant trees yourself as well. greeningofdetroit.com/ 16

Become a Land and Water Works Abassador Detroit Future City has a great ambassador program that trains Detroit Residents about Green Stormwater Infrastructure so that they can engage with their neighbors about what they learn. For more information, visit: detroitfuturecity.com/our-programs/lwwc/

More Resources: Check to see how much impervious surface your site has by visiting: detroitmi.gov/webapp/impervious-surfaces-public-viewer Detroit Stormwater Hub - See where GSI projects exist across the city: detroitstormwater.org/ Detroit Future City Resources: detroitfuturecity.com/our-programs/land-water-works-resources/ Detroit Future City Property Owners Guide to Bioretention: d e t ro i t f u t u re c i t y. c om / w p - c on t e n t / u p loads/2019/09/GUIDE-Property-O wners-Guide-to-Bioretention-September2019.pdf

Christina is the Volunteer and Community Outreach Coordinator at The Greening of Detroit and currently a Land and Water Works Ambassador. Although she is definitely still learning about these topics, she would be excited to share what she does know about GSI! Reach out to her anytime for more resources at: christina@greeningofdetroit.com. Sources: *Most of this learned information is attributed to the Land and Water Works program and their informational flyers.*

Munch Natalie DeAbreu natalieadeabreu.com 18

Gitche Gumee By Olivia Kingery

Every day during the second week of September, I bathed in my mother’s wide-open mouth. She lay flat, her horizon extending deep into the caverns of her chest. I walked to her willing and with angst, my feet never moving quick enough to meet her frothing lips. The heat stayed oppressive with warm hands pushing me towards the relief of a dip in the cool waters between my mother’s front teeth. Her currents pulling me towards the bite of her molars. Every day I could feel her at my ankles begging for another moment of submersion, another chance to see the face of her daughter bowing to the power of her mother, another chance to coax me further out. Every day during the second week of September,

I walked away from my mother’s wide-open mouth, the leaves of her lovers falling on the cooling shore, and her waves breaking just as her heart, calling to her daughter to come back, one last swim.

bottles Scott Crandall thankyousomuchforcoming.com 20

Oblivion Natalie DeAbreu natalieadeabreu.com/ 21

Cyanotype Monty Etzcorn @montyetzcorn

The Long Spring Anonymous

I lay in this bed of water recalling how beautiful it looked from afar. And as I lay here, swaying gently under full command of its calming breaths, I remember that this soft, such accepting spirit, holds all power to swallow me - suffocate me. Is that not the feeling of being enveloped in a love? To welcome the waves, happily making yourself vulnerable to the tide. I snap out of it, and return to floating.

Lime Lake East Bay Katie Raymond @teakaykaytea 25

FA -I

ASH ION Photography: Lily Forbes

MARY-KATE DOHERTY MARYKATEPAINTS

My subject matter is everyday materials, objects we use often but overlook or deem as ugly. The challenge is to make the forgettable and the mundane into something worth looking at. The goal is to answer this question: what does it mean to be alive in this time?

LILY FORBES WHEN FASHION MEETS SUSTAINABILITY & NATURE MEETS MODERN LUXURY PHOTOGRAPHY BY LILY FORBES INTERVIEW BY SARAH SPARKMAN

LILY FORBES contains handwoven, naturally dyed, second hand, and one of a kind robes, slips, and more. “All LILY FORBES pieces are produced with a fair trade production house in Delhi, India, employing women facing caste discrimination and providing health and educational services.” If you love robes and sustainable fashion as much as I do, you’ll love hearing about Lily Forbes’ journey into the world of designing these pieces. The collaboration, process, and goals at Lily Forbes align with our values here at Clearline.

This interview took place over the course of a few meetings. Each time we met, Lily and I went a bit deeper into her process, her history, and where she sees the future of her company. The time between our first and second meeting was a span of almost a year! It was amazing to do this interview as a series. I was able to hear from her how her company had grown during these intervals. For someone like me, who is a

lover of natural dyes, weaving, and the stories behind these products - talking with Lily about her process was an interviewer’s dream. And so we began, with a cup of tea and ended with multiple robes sprawled about between us. Me, trying them on, and mentally drooling over the colors, intricate details, and stories I then knew about where they came from and the hands that wove them. Not to get ahead of myself - keep reading to hear about what happened in between that tea, and me living out my dream to put one of these robes on.

WHO IS LILY FORBES?

Lily is a Detroit based fashion designer who has sold her products around the world. She studied inclusive urban development at Berkley, and is originally from Colorado and DC. Lily collaborates with makers in India including a women’s fair trade production house, a family-run natural dye house, and handweaver

cooperatives. In the US she partners with local sewers in Detroit and LA to create her collections. She also sews pieces herself in Detroit.

WHY ROBES?

Sustainability and longevity. Lily is the youngest in her family and grew up with hand me downs. She shared with me her love for history and stories. She says, “textiles have always been sacred and passed down.” When her granny passed, she kept her silk bathrobe. “The silhouette of the robe is also special. A classic silhouette in almost every culture. I wanted to make something that could be passed down. I’m interested in having these be pieces that people invest in and pass down.”

PRIOR TO LILY FORBES, YOU STARTED ARTFUL SCOUT - WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START UP YOUR NEW BUSINESS?

about a year and a half of running Artful Scout, Lily and her co-founder of Artful Scout were living across the world from each other and it became too challenging to coordinate. When Lily first moved to Detroit, she and her two friends opened a popup gallery/events space called GIRL GIRL GIRL. It was here that she met someone who put her in touch with a new fair trade production house in Delhi, where she later started LILY FORBES.

HOW DO YOU MAKE SURE TO PRACTICE AN ETHICAL BUSINESS APPROACH IN HOW THE MAKERS ARE PAID AND TREATED?

“The facility is where the women live. Very close for walking. Great light, ventilation, and twice a day everyone sits together and has chai. There are clean bathrooms and fresh water brought in everyday as well as fans. Everyone is paid fairly according to fair trade wage standards. I was

She shares that Artful Scout taught her a lot about what to do differently. “I’ve always been interested in design and clothing and drawing.” Lily shares. Her minor in college was global poverty and practice, and this minor required her to do a 2 month field study where you choose a certain area and do your research project on this place. During this time she worked with artisans in rural India. This is where her connection to these makers sparked from, and what led her to eventually collaborate with them for LILY FORBES. Artful Scout was initially created to increase the market for the fair trade production house Lily was doing research with. By designing products that the new sewers could make, Lily was able to sell them in the states and increase their income. After

there with Theresa, the founder of work+shelter, the fair trade production house, when she was developing a new sort of wage system so everyone can make as much money as they want to. Where they can work hard and achieve what they like. There are some other services and classes as well. Kavita, kind of like my auntie there, is a spiritual guide on site. Domestic abuse is a big issue in this community. A lot of these women have never seen a doctor so a doctor comes in. The entire staff are their advocates. It’s good to have people you can go to when you need help. This is a business, important that it is a business - takes everyone really seriously as a person. There is a ton of training. We need to have all the workers here be healthy and safe

and have what they need. A triple bottom line thing, which I think is an important note. The on site pattern maker is only man, so ladies run the show.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE GOING TO MEET WITH THE MAKERS IN INDIA? HOW HAS THAT AFFECTED YOUR PERCEPTION OF PEOPLE HAVING A RELATIONSHIP TO WHERE THEIR CLOTHES COME FROM AND WHO MAKES THEM?

“There’s so much unknown when things are made overseas. It’s really important to visit

firsthand and meet people and understand the nuances of people as people, not just as people in relationship to your things. When you understand how much time and focus and energy goes into making something and you witness that and you are part of that, you have a greater respect for the pieces themselves and a greater respect for the entire production. Of course I already have great respect for people I work with, but when we don’t understand the process, we don’t understand the full regard for something. So I think that I also respect the people I work with as people because I know them. I respect them not only for their craft but as mothers, as members of this production house, as leaders in their community, as women who are changing

the ways and opportunities that their daughters have, and changing the way that their daughters see them. And as the breadwinners of their family, I respect them as leaders and women. I think that having spent so much time with them in the production house, I’m able to do that. I think also, you never really know unless you see it with your own eyes.

WATER AND SOURCING

Water is THE THING. Water is like the blood. Just like if you don’t take care of your body it shows up in your blood - and that’s how it is with water. If you are using toxic materials or chemicals or disposing of things in unethical ways then it’s going to show up in the water. Pretty much all of my cotton pieces are naturally dyed. I have a new line of silk robes. Those are Azo free dyed. So it doesn’t have toxic chemicals in it. Since we last spoke I also have a line of recycled sari silk robes. So that’s really the most sustainable - using something that already exists. I worked with silk weavers, starting in September 2019, they were woven in a couple months. So I have three new colors of silk robes. I have the naturally dyed handwoven denim. I still work with the natural dyer, Rachit, he’s amazing. It’s complicated working with someone who - also the weavers - who live in the middle of sugarcane - rural country. The communication is a bit more challenging, and with natural dyes there’s also more variation with color. Same with hand weaving - I think that adds to the preciousness of it, I think it makes it more special, more unique for sure, but it also makes it more challenging to scale. So I think that working in more responsible textiles is all about being kind of scrappy and innovative in how you approach it. Because with remnant textiles the issue is that it’s difficult to be able to find the quantity to be able to scale that. With the silk sari robes for example, they’re all one of a kind, which I love one of a kinds. I love working with natural dyes because I think there’s an energy to them, people can feel them, like when I’ve done my pop ups and trade shows, people immediately can tell that they are naturally dyed and immediately gravitate towards them because there’s an energy there that’s really beautiful. 37

Me: I love that about them too, that throughout the seasons, whether it’s indigo or something else, these plants may be out of season but natural dyes let them live on through the textile. That’s something that I think is really beautiful about it. Lily: I don’t have that same seasonal relationship since I’m not there, but I just love the exchange. You can really feel the energy particularly because it’s handwoven as well. So many hands have been a part of it. It’s very natural and slow. Me: He’s the natural dye expert, and you’re your own expert at the design end. So it’s great to see you both coming together. Lily: Yeah — I think that for me, I want to have an impact in what I do, I love design and fashion, but I’m also so committed to the impact, or the potential impact, of working in this space. And I realize, in order to actually have an impact, I can’t do everything. To do the marketing and to do the financials and all the sales, there’s so many components to having a successful business. So I feel very privileged to be able to partner with people who are much better at what they do than I could ever be. Also, it’s in their blood. Rachit- owns and manages the dye house, which is a small, family-run, safe, clean facility in Moradabad,Uttar Pradesh. Mahesh, a third generation natural dyer, is the head dyer 38

in the house. His grandfather was working in natural dyes. It’s been passed down. Same with the weavers - it’s four generations, and three generations. The cotton pieces produced to date are 100% hand woven by the Ali family (4 generations) outside of Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. The weavers that I work with, I’m very privileged that they know exactly what they’re doing. The silk pieces are AZO free and handwoven with a Fair Trade house in Bihar or produced from recycled/vintage silk. Me: That is pretty amazing. Can you add some information about why in India, these choices are specifically important? There’s a lot of pollution from fashion in India, and there’s a lot of people in India who work in this industry. So I think it’s great you’re partnering with people who have done this for so long and making sure it is ethical and sustainable. Oftentimes, we’re here, buying things from people overseas, and it’s ruining where they’re living. Lily: I know. We’re completely removed from the relationship and the cost of things. It’s all externalized. And it’s very much rooted in history, colonial history. There’s systems of inequality that just reinforce themselves. I feel very honored to partner with the people I do, and support smaller industries in India that are working more toward environmental stewardship and responsible social practices - I mean it’s an of course for me, but it also feels import-

ant to work in India where there is an enormous amount of pollution.

WHAT NEW THINGS ARE YOU WORKING ON AND WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR SUSTAINABILITY GOALS FOR THE FUTURE?

“I’m actually very excited, I’m expanding. I love the robes and the jackets and I’m still making those but I want to make more things, so I’m making these suits now. These pants and these jackets, and slip dresses. It’s all remnant material - it is the most sustainable and responsible choice using what we already have. And supporting that industry of recycled materials. I’m also able to work with new silhouettes , some

pieces are made in LA, but a lot of it is made in Detroit. Some of it I’ll make myself, like the one of a kind robes I’ll make myself. And then the pants my friend Jacob in Detroit makes. That’s new - that’s just starting. That gives me more flexibility in having a local branch and my branch in Delhi. It gives me more flexibility in expanding my line and diversifying the materials I use. Which, as a small company, I have to respond to, if you’re just playing the same song over again, people might get bored. I think my pieces are super beautiful, I think the handwoven denim is super beautiful , but I’m also aware that I want to diversity what I’m showing on my instagram, what I’m showing on my website, and then, it’s also more engaging for me, my customer, and my audience. Working with remnant fabric allows me to do that. I’m always looking for the most environmentally-friendly textiles I can source, and different fair trade groups I can partner with. My goal is to simply get better and better, cleaner and cleaner, increase my positive impact.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR THE FUTURE OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY? HOW DO YOU WANT LILY FORBES TO CONTRIBUTE TO MAKING THESE HOPES A REALITY?

“I hope that the fashion industry becomes more honest, and that legislation and consumers hold companies accountable for their exploitative practices. This is not just a fashion industry thing, clearly this accountability is needed in every sector, and its sustained absence is one of the main reasons our planet is in such a crisis. I hope that the joy and expression fashion can bring to people fuses intimately with a conscience of what is right. Rather than “sustainability” being this cute, little side project, empty words on a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility page, loudly advertised and grossly underfunded... I hope that people/companies recognize that environmental and social responsibility is not just the “right” thing to do, but paramount to businesses staying in business. We will get to a certain point where the current style of consumption and external39

restaurant called Sherpa’s or this dreamy apothocary called Rebecca’s...if someone was visiting me in Detroit I would say you must eat at Yemen Cafe..I love Trinosophes and People’s Records in Detroit too...if someone is asking me one of my favorite boutiques (that I would LOVE to be in) I would say Mohawk General in LA and Maryam Nassir Zedeh in NYC. I’m not sure I can limit it...

LILY FORBES’ RECOMMENDATIONS

ization will no longer be sustainable from any perspective--planet, people, profit.” Lily

WHO HAVE BEEN YOUR FASHION INFLUENCES?

My grandmothers. My aunts. My mom. Really the women in my family. I love Cher, I love all of the disco queens, YSL in the 70s, growing up in Colorado and Western outdoorsy culture, Outside of that, I love sports photography of the 1900s, icons in figure skating, tennis, gymnastics, soccer….I love the 1940s silhouettes. It’s really everything haha.

LILY FORBES’ FAVORITE SMALL BUSINESSES:

It totally depends on where I am or what I’m looking for! If someone was visiting my hometown I would say this amazing Indian/Nepali

Books: Anything by Zadie Smith. Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on audio read aloud by Maya Angelou Movies: I have not been watching anything profound lately...have been very into cheaper, 90s thrillers...from a design perspective I love to listen to the NY Times Daily podcast every morning. I love Where Should We Begin With Esther Perel. BBC Global News Podcast. I also love true crime podcasts, which again are kind of cheap but when I’m sewing for long periods of time are veryyyy entertaining.

SHOP LILY FORBES HERE: lilyforbes.co/ @lilyforbesco

OBJECT APPAREL

Object Apparel is a sustainable clothing company located in Detroit, MI. We design and produce modern basics that only use organic and ethically-sourced materials. Our two partners, Mike Sklenka and Mollie Decker, built Object Apparel out of a desire to apply their backgrounds in art and architecture to create a line of well-constructed clothing imprinted with vibrant designs. We design, pattern, cut, dye, sew, and screen-print everything ourselves in our Detroit studio.

We make organic, genderless basics.

As far as sustainability were all made to order, so theres way less waste because we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make anything till someone wants it. We use all waterbased screen printing dyes, and plant dyes for the fabrics. We use all organic cottons that are GOTS certified. We use recycled paper, and compostable tape for shipping. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t throw away any of our scraps and instead repurpose them into smaller items (scrunchies) one of a kind clothing pieces, and have future plans for other ways to use scraps as well. Our big sustainability goal for this year is to put solar panels on our house so that we can generate power sustainably within our workspace and house. @object_apparel

Submerged Collection By Fernando Gutierrez @hautefernando

A three piece collection based on environmental concerns and solutions about water in the leather industry.

By the River Gisela McDaniel oil on canvas 2018

@giselamcdaniel

Gisela McDaniel (b. Bellevue, NE 1995) is a diasporic indigenous Chamorro artist. Her work is based in healing from her own sexual trauma and reflecting the healing of women/non-binary people who survived sexual trauma. Interweaving assemblages of audio, oil painting, and motion-sensored technology, she creates pieces that “come to life” & literally “talk back” to the viewer. She incorporates survivor’s voices to subvert traditional power relations and enable individual and collective healing. Based in Detroit, she received her BFA from the University of Michigan. 48

The Bailey Park Neighborhood Development Corporation: Neighbors Taking Action to Clean up Their Community & Restore its Green Space By Christina Ridella

Katrina Watkins, the founder of the Bailey Park Project Katrina Watkins, a long-time resident of the McDougall-Hunt Neighborhood, has been working on projects with her community to increase safe access to green space on the eastside of Detroit. The neighborhood has historically been a residential site for families who ran businesses in Black Bottom and Paradise Valley. Katrina Watkins has had family living on the blocks for many decades that have lived through both the times of populated residential activity and the neighborhood abandonment and disinvestment that has caused it to become a lower-density area. Starting in 2003, Watkins set out with the goal of cleaning up one lot across the street from her family’s house. Katrina recalled that the lot had been completely overgrown and was a dangerous site for the community. In collaboration with her neighbors, they organized clean up days to remove all of the large debris from the lot. With motivation from the success of this first project, Katrina and her neighbors decided that there was more that they could do to create a safe playing space for the kids in their area, of which Katrina recalled that “there are kids in the neighborhood...but they have nothing to 50

do.” Thus, the Bailey Park Project, now officially called the Bailey Park Neighborhood Development Corporation, was formed, with a mission to “create a more livable neighborhood through social and environmental impact projects.” Bailey Park Project partnered with the McDougall Hunt Neighborhood Association, the Eastside Community Network, U-SNAPBAC, and local partners to develop a neighborhood master plan that would carry out their goal. According to consensus from the participants “We envision McDougall Hunt as a neighborhood where we celebrate our history and form partnerships to increase knowledge and trust, support children and education, rebuild parks, support inclusive housing models, and attract families” (2). Since forming in 2013, the Bailey Park Neighborhood Development Corporation has purchased 21 lots to carry out the neighborhood’s vision for increasing the accessibility for public gathering spots. As part of an extensive phased project plan, the park will include public amenities such as an amphitheater, walking path and interpretive history loop, native meadows for pollinators and wildlife, BBQ and fire pit area, and an art alley. Another

goal of the project is to include neighbors as both employees and volunteers in the construction phases. In 2019, the group successfully installed a beautiful playground with a grant from Kaboom, which was an integral part of the organization’s vision. According to their website, ‘Parks go beyond the grass, trees and recreation equipment they comprise. They become integral parts of people’s lives and an essential part of a community. They bind people together over their shared love of the outdoors and their desire to see the beauty in their neighborhoods” Katrina was overjoyed to explain that the community’s families really enjoyed the space last summer. In 2019 the group also received a Detroit Future City “Working with Lots” Grant to install a mounds of fun play area on their site to further activate the site.

This area is one of the park’s planned sites for a music station and tree plantings.

An Alley that will be repurposed as a food truck and seating area Katrina and the Bailey Park Team are a great example of neighbors taking action into their own hands. They are currently making strides on their project plan. According to Katrina, they recently opened up a community resources hub that is located two blocks from the playground. To read more about them and follow their projects, visit: baileyparkndc.org/.

Alongside the projects to create gathering spaces, The Bailey Park Project is working on Green Stormwater Infrastructure projects. The Bailey Park Master Plan includes installing a bioswale, rain gardens, and tree plantings to collect stormwater and prevent it from flooding the area while also providing access to natural areas and habitats for pollinators and local wildlife.

Credits and Sources: *Thanks to Katrina for her awesome work in organizing this project and for taking the time to meet up with me to share her story and show me the beautiful site! Bailey Park NDC Website baileyparkndc.org/ ecn-detroit.org/mcdougall-hunt

Before constuction.

Bailey Park’s new playground!

water Liz Ahlbrand A watercolor/pen & ink/digital piece inspired by Motown. lizahlbrand.com @liznotsorry 52

HOW THE WORLD FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH MID-CENTURY MODERN DESIGN PIONEER

Ruth Adler Schnee By Ana Gavrilovska Originally published in The Metro Times Excerpt: “I just loved what I was doing, and I wasn’t scared,” 96-year-old textile artist and interior planner Ruth Adler Schnee says when asked about the time she went to the showing of the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Düsseldorf, held by the Nazis as Hitler came to power and Kristallnacht was on the horizon. Adler Schnee was 14, Jewish, obsessed with modern art, and desperate to attend the exhibit. “My parents absolutely did not want me to go to that exhibit,” she says. “I was a noodge. You know what a noodge is?” I don’t, and I say so. “One who doesn’t stop mentioning the things she wants to do,” Adler Schnee says with a laugh. “And I very much wanted to do that. They were examining people, and of course, there was incredible anti-Semitism, so they could’ve put me in jail. But that never crossed my mind.” The exhibit was supposed to back up the Nazis’ claim that modern art was degrading German culture. But the effect on young Adler Schnee was very much the opposite. “Once I got to see the art, I was beside myself,” she recalled in an oral history conducted by her daughter Anita Schnee back in 2003. “I had never seen colors so brilliant and so unusually put together as in the Kandinsky paintings. It was as though I had been introduced to a new world. And I came home just totally transported by that.” Color has been instrumental in Adler Schnee’s life. Her mother was a student of the foundational modernist German art school Bauhaus. Swiss painter Paul Klee, who also taught there, was a family friend. Her background was unusually positioned toward art at an extremely young age. She took to it with great pleasure, designing her own clothes as early as age 4. On her first day of school, she wore a brilliant yellow sweater her mother had knitted specifically for the occasion. When her teacher saw her

come through the door, she raised her arms and said, “Ah, now comes the radiant sun.” Adler Schnee’s radiance has never dimmed. Now we get to experience the first full reckoning of her design career with an exhaustive exhibit at Cranbrook Art Museum. It includes everything from the screen printed mid-century patterns she designed in the ‘40s and ‘50s to the revitalized woven forms of those designs in the ‘90s — the work she is best known for in our current era — to more obscure items like a variety of one-off custom rugs she created, as well as printed material, including photos and advertisements related to Adler-Schnee Associates, the retail business she and her husband, Eddie, ran together. Adler Schnee herself may be slight in stature, but nothing else in her life could be described that way. One glance through the exhibit immediately makes that evident. Much like her work, Adler Schnee is magnificent, colorful, brave, pioneering, uncompromising, steadfast, and true — a vibrant storyteller conversationally and artistically. One of the last living figures of the mid-century modern design movement.” Read the rest of the article at metrotimes.com/detroit/how-the-world-f inallycaught-up-with-mid-century-modern-design-pioneer-ruth-adler-schnee/Content?oid=23951129

IBy Feel You Jennifer Belair Sakarian jbsakarian.com @wildwoman_wildheart

Oh great mother

You taste

I hear

Like dirt

Beautiful black gold

I feel you

Mycelium rich

breathe

Fruiting wonders

From under Your heavy heaving lungs

You look

Expand and

Like cathedral clouds

Take in

And siesta blue

The ether, star dust and lost minerals

Backdrops

From lives and oceans past

With lush trees

You exhale Life Terrestrial wanderers Heavenly gatherers Pedal riders + runners

That fall asleep In Michigan winters

You seem Like you’re doing okay You could use some attention

You inhale

Some care

Plant life

Some nourishment

Green climbers

How about some rest?

Soft moss

A vacation?

Violets That I eat

I’d love to watch your dreams

And share with my sister

The dream of Terra firm

You exhale Nettles to sting And wake Old arthritic bones And nutrient dense broth

The dream we all dream Even when we’re not aware To see what keeps you up when the sun says calm night

You breathe I breathe You exhale I exhale

And rest my back against The curvature of your face Meeting curvature of my spine A beautiful resting place A place to breathe and feel So unapologetically Alive.

Autonomous Design Union

IN DETROIT, TEXTILE ARTISTS ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES Could worker-owned factories revive American manufacturing in the Midwest? BY MARGUERITE WOODWARD

DETROIT, MICHIGAN (February 26th 2020—) On the outskirts of Detroit’s historic Boston–Edison neighborhood, snow falls gently outside a townhouse apartment softly lit by the table lamps of half a dozen industrial sewing machines. Local designer Kenyetta Caldwell can’t sleep. Her mind is spinning with ideas for designs that could be manufactured right here in Detroit, designs that could change the relationship between fashion and manufacturing. Caldwell is dreaming of a factory without bosses.

learned during her time at The Empowerment Plan, and “what breaks you can ultimately make you.” Starting in 2016, Caldwell decided to take the leadership skills she had honed at the Empowerment Plan, and set out as an independent designer. Now she runs her own brand Creo by Keca , producing streetwear & accessories steeped in a classically fresh Detroit aesthetic. “ Creo by Keca represents a lifetime of skill sets from designing, tailoring, automotive and apparel production, along with specialty sewing like bridal,” says Caldwell. With over thirty years in the apparel industry, Caldwell sews her line of handbags and apparel herself in Detroit: “I have always been tactile and kinesthetic in my approach to things—I put a lot into what I create, it’s my passion, my baby.” However, the start-up costs associated with local apparel manufacturing are extremely steep to navigate alone.

what breaks you can ultimately make you

In 2014 Caldwell started working at The Empowerment Plan, a non-profit that seeks to address homelessness by hiring and training women affected by homelessness to manufacture coats that can also be used as sleeping bags. During her time as production manager, Caldwell worked closely with the staff, to support them not only as workers but as members of a community. Building trust with her team wasn’t always easy, but it taught Caldwell the importance of meeting people where they are at as a leader, instead of demanding your team comes to you. “Strength comes in many forms,” Caldwell says of the lessons she 56

Furthermore, those that have made a foothold for themselves in Detroit’s growing apparel industry are rarely representative of the his-

torically Black population of the city. In 2017, Caldwell was introduced to fellow veteren textile artist Daune Smith, who runs the private label Visual Noise Detroit , and was looking for more artists like herself who were interested in doing something about it. “We saw a need to have a presence of a minority owned apparel production company in Detroit,” says Caldwell, “being a native as well as a veteran in production sewing, I feel we can make an impact in an industry that isn’t typically inclusive of African-American women and men.”

We saw a need to have a presence of a minority owned apparel production company in Detroit A Detroit-based multimedia artist, Smith has been curating collaborative spaces for artists since 2010 with her involvement in retail & event space Kuumba’s Cove . “It was a great space for poetry and art” said Smith, “I was the curator and textile artist”. Initially Smith was organizing with artists who shared most of the same skills, but over time she realized there was more resilience in a company that was inclusive of multidisciplinary artists & diverse specialties. “I had Anisa Joseph [designer of Afrocentric couture brand UniQue Stylz ], & Jackie Terry [designer and curator of Avenue of Fashion boutique The Style Gallery ]--I took the idea to them and we all decided to come up with the name Detroit Textile Artist Collective” said Smith. “We didn’t have it all planned out, we just had a good idea” said Smith of the decision to form as a cooperative; “in 2017 we went to work on it”.

“Our short term objective is to secure the funding to own a building that can be operated as a cooperative manufacturing facility” says Marguerite Woodward, Organizing Director of the Autonomous Design Union, another solidarity network in Detroit’s garment industry that has partnered with DTAC for this mobilization over mutual goals. “Our long term objective is to unite the workers and artisans of Detroit’s garment and textile art industries, in order to raise the standards for creative labor across all industries in our community.” The dream is so big it might be daunting to someone less experienced in the creative process than Caldwell. “I fail often, but I do my best to recover as quickly as I can by seeing what failed and how to fix it,” she says, sagely reflecting on the opportunities she has navigated throughout her career—“failure is your friend if you change how you see it.” If you would like more information about this topic, please call Marguerite Woodward at 917-455-7304, or email autondesignunion@gmail.com. @creobykeca @autonomousdesignunion @marmstreet

Looking forward into 2020, Smith & Caldwell have big plans for the fledgling initiative. Pulling support from other local efforts to organize the industry, Detroit Textile Artist Collective now represents an intergenerational coalition of textile artists, who are demanding and manifesting better working conditions as well as more artistic control over their work. 57

TEXTILE ART

Photography: vanessabarragao.com

Kate Arnson Quilt square inspired by my daily walks to Lake Michigan. Made out of an old pair of ripped jeans. 59

Photo taken by Jacob Lewkow

10 Questions with SALT Textiles Salt Textile Studios is the home studio of Kayla Powers By Sarah Sparkman

What is a day in the studio like at SALT Textiles?

A day in the studio can look so many ways. On the best days, I have written out a To Do list and I spend the day listening to podcasts and music and peacefully working through my list. That usually includes some computer time, some weaving, some project planning, some instagramming, some day dreaming.

What do you hope to bring awareness to through your weaving/dyeing?

I work with locally foraged and locally grown plants to dye the fibers that I weave with and I always weave with natural fibers. So sustainability and land stewardship are really important to me. And I think especially in a city like Detroit that is not known for it’s natural beauty, it feels important to me to show that there is actually such an abundance of wildlife here!

What is the 30 Day Local Dye Challenge?

“30 Local Dye Plants” - Well it wasn’t 30 days.. it was a full season! From April to August. I just had an idea to dye little samples of fabric and fiber using local plants to explore a “place based palette” and 30 seemed like a good number! There were so many more but the 30 plants I ended up working with gave a really great sample of the range of colors.

What is your favorite natural dye currently?

I have been really excited about dyeing with cones lately. Spruce cones and alder cones and even a small sample of redwood cones! I like to work with them because they are abundant, they don’t harm/ kill the plant to take them and they produce some of my favorite colors which are pale pink, mauve, tan, and brown.

What are some of your upcoming projects?

I’m most excited about the Dequindre Cut project! I’ll be weaving a series of tapestries using Michigan grown wool and dyed with Detroit grown plants and the tapestries will hang up in a public, outdoor installation on the Dequindre Cut this September.

What is a suggestion you have for others to make conscious choices in their textile consumption?

Buying second hand or vintage is a great way to lessen the environmental impact of the fashion industry. And also just to buy less. We all have so much more than we need.

How does your process relate to water / how does your process support conservation and fight pollution?

Something really special about the natural dye process is that the water we use can determine the end results. So by working with natural dyes we are becoming more aware of the quality of water. And, more importantly, we aren’t polluting our waterways by sending harsh chemicals down the drain.

Can you share a bit about your dye process and how natural dyes are related to keeping our water clean?

My dye process always starts with a walk. I take a backpack, some pruners, a plant ID book and Maple and we head out for a walk near where I live on the East Side of Detroit. This helps me to feel most connected to the land and to be aware of what is in season and where it’s growing and why. When I find a plant, I will be sure to identify it first and then I gather only a small amount. Depending on the plant, I’ll usually put it in a pot with water and heat it gently until the color is extracted. This process allows me to work slowly and deliberately and to use only what is necessary. The water that is remaining after dyeing with the plant can be recycled (to water my garden!) or can go down the drain knowing that it won’t cause harm.

You use natural fibers - how does this decision support clean waterways?

I work with organic, American grown fibers whenever possible. For the same reasons we choose organic produce over conventional, I choose organic fibers. It’s important to me that I’m not doing more harm than good in creating art. By working with organic fibers, I’m supporting the farmers and growers who are working to keep the waterways free from chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Who/what inspires the work you do?

I feel most inspired by artisan textile workers who have maintained their traditional craft practices for generations. That is probably the reason I am so into place based art, too, because it’s so interesting to me to be able to tell where something was created based on the plants it was dyed with and the fiber it was woven with. And even to know who made it based on the direction of the plating of the reed in the basket, for example.

Lastly: Please share a couple of your favorite places to shop locally and sustainably as well as a couple of your favorite resources to learn more about textiles and sustainability (a podcast, book, or movie?)

One of my favorite textile shops is a place in New York called MINNA. All of the products are designed in New York and then created in Guatemala and Mexico with family owned/ weaving cooperatives. I love the contemporary designs and the exceptional quality of the naturally dyed, handwoven goods. I also really love the work of Lily Forbes. She works with a weaving collective in India to have her naturally dyed, handwoven robes made and they are so luxurious feeling but also really wholesome. I also love to shop at Value World. So many treasures! The best resource for textiles and sustainability if Fiber Shed. They have a website and a blog and host events all over the country. www.fibershed.org

@salt.textile.studios 61

Vanessa BarragĂŁo

This is a textile art studio focused on handmade and ancestral techniques, using wastes to create artwork, showign the importance of preserving handmade processes and upcycling to fight against our planet issues. Vanessa BarragĂŁo studio was founded in 2014. The beginning of this project was marked by the wool yarn collection developed during her master degree. This 100% ecological and artisanal collection was developed using only discarded wool from sheeps. Since this project, Vanessa got a new passion for wool and for upcycling so she decided to put use these two things as the main bases of her artwork creation, mixing this new concept with all the background she had of ancestral techniques. Since the beginnign until October 2018, Vanessa used to do her creation in home. With a big commissions affluence, she felt taht it was necessary to change her workplace to a dedicated space focused only on her projects. Her first studio was opened in the center of Porto city. There she was able to collect more leftovers and have more space to create bigger art pieces. In the beginning of 2020, her studio moved to the south of Portugal, to Vanessaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home town: Albufeira. vanessabarragao.com @vanessabarragao_work

EARTH TONES By Sarah Sparkman greentimesandcleanfinds

Marigolds Gold and Yellow colors

Black beans

This entire piece is made from cellulose fibers - cotton, linen, and hemp.

sandalwood + cutch

Marigold + tumeric

Golden rod + iron

cutch + iron

Weft is wool dyed with madder root from Bone and Birch.

Water is Life Jasmine Lace howlattheloom.com @howlattheloom It is the most simple things that we often take for granted. Freshwater seems to be abundant here in the Great Lakes region - but we must never forget the delicate balance of nature. There is a fine line between pure and polluted. Take a moment to feel gratitude for the 60% of your body that is water, and the 2.5% of the water on Earth that is considered fresh. Materials & Techniques: Ikat Indigo-Dyed Egyptian Cotton, Lake Michigan Driftwood. 68

Untitled Gigi Guarino @gigi_patches 69

Upcycle and Shibori Dye - A How To -

By Sarah Sparkman A guide to creating something new with something old. I had a second hand shirt and removed the sleeves in order to design this new type of shirt. As for the dye technique, I followed instructions for a pole wrap dye technique from the books Indigo: Dye it, Make it by Nicola Gouldsmith and A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing by Vivien Prideaux. What you’ll need: • Plastic drain pipe • String or thread • Cotton fabric • Indigo dye kit

“Shibori is the Japanese collective word for various types of shaped resist produced by manipulating fabric - securing it with stitching, binding, or clamping - before dyeing. Fabric may be drawn up and bound; stitched and gathered up; pleated and bound; folded and clamped between boards, or wrapped around a pole, and then pushed along it, compressing the fabric into folds. Furthermore, fabric may be dyed repeatedly, using a different shaping method and a build-up of colour. In fact, any pressure on fabric that does not destroy it will produce a mark.” (Prideaux, 22) BOMAKI - POLE WRAPPING “The term bomaki literally means ‘pole wound’ and is used in shibori to describe any process in which a pole is used as a core to protect one side of the fabric from the dye. Fabric is wrapped around a pole in a variety of ways , then a thread is wound over it and the fabric is pushed tightly 70

before dyeing.” (Prideaux, 36) As you can see in my step by step photos - I created my own version of this beautiful and traditional technique. I used sleeves from a recycled button up shirt I bought while thrifting. I did a variation of the steps from these books and added my own twist to create the kind of pattern I wanted.

1. Prepare your fabric.

2. Wet your fabric.

In Indigo: Dye it, Make it, Nicola Gouldsmith recommends soaking “fabric in clean, cold water for a couple of hours to prevent air pockets forming. (If oxygen is present, the dye won’t work.)” Remove from water and squeeze.

3. Wrap your fabric around the pole. 4. Compress your fabric down to one end of the pole.

5. Dip fabric into dye vat for a few seconds and then pull out so it is dripping over the dye bath. Continue to dip and air until you accomplish a shade you are happy with. 6. Cut your string and open up your piece. 7. Rinse out.

I sewed my edges so they were clean, and I added ties to the sides. I designed this shirt so the buttons on the cuffs became the neckline.I love a funky neckline.Then it was ready to wear!

Young

On Monday we talked about the importance of water to all living beings and the different ways we as humans use water. The biggest take away for Margo and Finn was - Water nourishes us and gives us life. We spoke a little bit about the fashion industry and the importance of recycling/up-cycling, this part was a bit over their head but it inspired us to use materials from the recycling bin to create our art work. We worked collaboratively on it and talked about how big, positive change only happens when people work together.

Margo & Finn, age 6 72

We found a hidden stream that we love to spend time at. Margo and Finn think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s magical. It feels magical to me too. We feel very lucky to have found this stream as it has helped to keep us sane during these confusing times. For their art, we created our magical stream on a sunny day. -Casey Chamberlain (mom)

Alina

Leaders

Ava

Arlo, age 5

TJ, age 5

Lauren, age 14

Sophie, age 14 73

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