Heidi Marie Faessel
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Sometimes, with creative projects, things are left unfinished. Life gets in the way or inspiration wanes, stretching the bounds from the imagined to the realized. Sometimes, the most nourishing part about the creative process is just that, the process. This group’s beginning was inspiring and engaged the artists in the living world around them. We share this CoLab through the lens of the last-standing artist of the group, Heidi Marie Faessel.
Since we all had a component of textiles in our artistic practice, we devised the following plan:
1. Source found fabrics
2. Forage natural materials from our immediate surroundings
3. Dye the fabrics with dyestuff we made from natural materials.
4. Create a garment from the prepared materials.
Wolf Lichen foraged in the Upper Whitefish Range
Lichen foraged in the Upper Whitefish Range
Mushrooms foraged in the Great Bear Wildernes
Chokecherries foraged along the Whitefish River
Processing found materials
Berry dye-bath
Wolf lichen dye-bath
Mordant fabric soy milk
Found fabrics
Dyed sample swatches
Dyed fabric
Garment sketch
There were 3 main benefits from my work on this project:
1. Foraging became a lovely, meditative way to connect with the forest and nature.
2. Researching the history and varied methods of natural dyeing opened up a new world to me. My work on this project just scratches the surface on the long tradition of creating dye from natural materials.
3. It renewed the sense of awe I have for nature and all the secrets and discoveries that it holds.
“Although my collaborative partners were unable to continue their participation in this residency, I enjoyed the initial ideation period where we brainstormed ideas on how we would collaborate and what our focus would be.”
— Heidi Marie Faessel
