Event Info
This in-person workshop takes place in-person at CBA on Saturday, April 30 from 1–4pm
- Sat, Apr 30 1–4pm
Registration for this workshop closes Saturday, April 23 at 11:59pm.
About the Workshop:
In this introductory in-person workshop, Instructor Rhonda Khalifeh will teach students of all experience levels the art of indigo-dyeing.
Indigoton, or indigo, is a natural pigment sourced from indigofera plants used as blue dye. The workshop covers the vibrant global history of the medium, as well as modern techniques for dyeing. Working together, participants will create a fruit sugar indigo vat. Then each participant will have the chance to hand-dye their own 22″ square cotton scarf. Participants are also welcome to bring a small quantity of hand-made paper or light-colored fabric for further experimentation.
Class size is limited to ensure an optimal student-to-teacher ratio. Register now before the remaining spots fill up!
Required Materials:
All participants are required to comply with CBA’s health & safety policy requiring that all visitors be vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus and wear a mask covering the nose and mouth at all times while on-site. If you have a religious or medical exemption to the vaccine, please contact Executive Director Corina Reynolds at corina@centerforbookarts.org in advance of your visit.
- Please wear closed-toed shoes and clothes that can get stained or dirty
Optional Materials:
- Small quantity of hand-made papers and/or light-colored fabrics for dyeing
- Optional reading: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/12/13/indigo-and-the-story-of-indias-blue-gold
All other materials and tools will be provided by CBA at no additional cost to the students.
About the Instructor
Rhonda Khalifeh is a Syrian-American artist and designer based in New York. Her studio practice is an investigation of surface and the ways in which it negotiates, protects, and betrays the human body. Khalifeh often draws from her personal experience with assimilation in the U.S. and stories of immigration—in particular, that of the Syrian Diaspora—to create textile installations and assemblages.
In 2018 she published Project Z with Open Projects Press. In producing this publication, Khalifeh conducted a series of in-depth interviews with nine participants with the goal of creating an article of clothing in dialogue with each subject. Upon completion, the participants were given their respective garments to keep and wear. Khalifeh views traditions of dress as case studies for the merging of multiple material cultures. In its simplest manifestations, the garment operates as the protagonist in her work, acting as an agent of conscious visibility.
Khalifeh has been an artist in residence at the SVA Bio Art Lab and the Textile Arts Center. Recent exhibitions include Elsewhere:Everywhere (Houston, TX), Before We Were Banned (Santa Fe, NM) and Ojalá (New York, NY). She is currently working on the second volume of Project Z interviews and garments.
Images courtesy the Instructor.
Class size is limited to ensure an optimal student-to-teacher ratio. Registration for this workshop closes Saturday, April 23 at 11:59pm.