PIGMENTS
One of our species strongest instinct is the desire to sort. Organising stones and soils into colour, sorting the fine colour particles from the heavy sands and grit, is how we’ve animated culture for time immemorial.
Within each pigmented stone, soil or clay, are the foundations of colour making. Seeing how easily the earth gives us the joy of colour, after all our technological developments, is profoundly moving. Seeing place become an organised array of shades and tones, with which we can then use to create imagery with, is so deep in our cultural development, that it’s essentially foundational. Pigment making features in many of our workshops and it is such joy to share this way of being with earth, with others.
In our pigment and paint making workshop, Colours of the Earth, we run participants through the process of finding sources of colour, and the various methods used to sort raw material into rich pigments.
We also look at the history of pigments, where they come from and how they have been developed, giving a wider lens to the use of pigments in art making.
For any upcoming workshops see our upcoming workshop program.
“What a beautiful day, I loved every minute of it, not long enough, can’t wait to come again. Thank you so much for offering these workshops.”
— Colours of the Earth participant
In 2024, we worked with the arts organisation Cample Line, and facilitated a pigment making workshop in response to Claire Barclay’s exhibition Rawless, in which red iron oxide was heavily used.
During the workshop, participants learnt how to process an iron rich organic material sourced from a local well, into a yellow pigment which we transformed into an red iron oxide with heat. We then turned the red iron oxide into a paint.
Pigments of Place project…description and images coming soon.
