Natural Pigments Instructional Residency Program
Fiber Dyeing
Locations: Oaxaca, Mexico — Cusco, Peru
All Residency Programs + Dates in 2024 & 2025
Missed the December 1 Deadline? E-mail Us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Missed the December 1 Deadline? E-mail Us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Note: The specific focus of this instructional residency program, and the resources provided, are in fiber dyeing; the curriculum is not applicable to making inks or paints. For non-fiber-focused instruction that includes traditional organic primers (cactus and lime, rabbit glue, gelatin) stuccos, egg temperas and frescoes with mineral and natural pigments, as well as principles of Viceregal painting techniques, we offer the Organic Painting Instructional Residency in Puebla.
This comprehensive, customized instructional residency program offers offers competitive professional opportunities for emerging and mid-career, national and international artists, designers, and photographers age 20 and over.
José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez (1737-1799) - Newberry Library: Vault Ayer MS 1031"Indian Collecting Cochineal with a Deer Tail" and “Preparing the Cochineal for Dye” from Memoria sobre la naturaleza, cultivo, y beneficio de la grana (. . .). Colored pigment on vellum.
“To most Europeans cochineal seemed a gift of nature, a perfect commodity that God had intended them to possess and use to their own advantage. It never crossed their minds that the dyestuff might actually be a cultural legacy – the result of the ancient Mexicans’ long and successful effort to cultivate a strain of cochineal that would produce a perfect red.”
Amy Butler Greenfield, A perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire
Amy Butler Greenfield, A perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire
Color is imbued with symbolism and meaning, it has currency, both emotional and monetary. Both in Mexico and Peru, color is also associated with political power, and it has a complex history that is often intertwined with slavery and exploitation, trade, piracy and therefore also war and international politics. The historical documentation of the use of color and its intricate means of production indicates its elevated value in Mesoamerica and the Andes. After the Spanish Conquest, it became one of the foundations of the Spanish wealth coming from the New World. Cochineal (a small domesticated insect that produces one of the world’s most vibrant red dye) for instance was such an important product for international trade that it would reach not only European markets, but also the Near East, Africa and China; and añil (indigo) dye became a commercial force intertwined with the enslavement and transatlantic trade of many people throughout the 17th century, as Europeans decided to obtaining and exploit the qualities of this deep blue dye.
Dyeing is a difficult process at best, somewhere between cooking and chemistry but perhaps closer to alchemy. Although historically, color experimentation began with plants and minerals, a bright red found in nature might not necessarily produce a bright red dye; it might produce a yellow or brown one. And to make the processes more complex, one process of dyeing might produce one set of color while another process will produce a different color, for instance through the use of different mordents. Therefore, sources for the dyes as well as established recipes, have been jealously guarded buy communities, guilds, and individual dyers alike. To make it even more difficult, the practice of natural dyeing has been heavily displaced by the introduction of industrial and synthetic dyes.
Artists-in-Residence and master instuctor in technique workshop
The Natural Pigments Instructional Residency is a mentored production residency that includes 3 weeks of master instruction (27 hours total; 9 hours per week) in diverse techniques from Oaxaca, Mexico or Cusco, Peru, which vary depending on the supporting fiber; the options are wool and cotton. Residents learn preparations and traditional recipes to prepare and use natural dyes, mordents, and fixatives.
The program includes hands-on instruction with cochineal (ranging from red to purple), añil (blue), and pericon (yellow) from Mexico, Tara and blue collpa (blue), and Q'olle flowers (yellow) from Peru, as well as some tree barks and fruit skins to complete the color spectrum. This residency is a comprehensive program to learn the natural dyes tradition with specific ingredients corresponding to Oaxaca or Cusco including resources for a better understanding of the complex culture of Mexico or Peru and the history of its colors. Instruction is in Spanish, though resident artists need not speak Spanish in order to successfully complete the course. Individual mentoring is provided by our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized research assistance/resources, project guidance, and critique; participants of this program also work independently in our spaces.
RESIDENCY DURATION / TIME PERIOD
Sessions of 3 weeks, with option to extend for 1 to 3 more weeks of continued production as a standard Art, Design or Photography Residency. Dates are not predetermined but are proposed by the applying artist.
WHAT THIS COMPREHENSIVE INSTRUCTIONAL RESIDENCY PROGRAM INCLUDES
WHAT THIS COMPREHENSIVE INSTRUCTIONAL RESIDENCY PROGRAM INCLUDES
Technique Instruction:
- 27 hours master instruction (9 hours per week)
- Each resident artist meets weekly with our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized mentoring, research assistance/resources, project guidance, and critique
- Furnished, private bedroom
- 24-hour access to the kitchen for residents to prepare their own meals; residents are responsible for their own meals/food
- Wireless Internet
- Use of Arquetopia’s residency common spaces
- Shared, serviced (single) bathrooms with modern fixtures and showers
- Housekeeping
- Downtown arrival pickup and departure dropoff transportation provided
- Though cheap, everyday public transportation is also available from the residency vicinity into the city, Arquetopia also provides scheduled transportation into downtown Oaxaca once per week by van
- 24-hour access to shared studio with natural light
- Personal workspace with large table
- Some tools provided
- Materials and supplies for the instructional course provided
- Materials and supplies for additional project production not included but available for purchase locally
Accommodation and Airport Transportation (Cusco):
- Furnished, private bedroom
- 24-hour access to the kitchen for residents to prepare their own meals; residents are responsible for their own meals/food
- Wireless Internet
- Use of Arquetopia’s residency common spaces
- Shared, serviced (single) bathrooms with modern fixtures and showers
- Housekeeping
- Arrival pickup and departure dropoff transportation provided at Cusco Airport
- 24-hour access to shared studio with natural light
- Personal workspace with large table
- Some tools provided
- Materials and supplies for the instructional course provided
- Materials and supplies for extended project production not included but available for purchase locally
RESIDENCY PROGRAM TUITION INFO & APPLICATION DEADLINES
E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for program tuition info and application deadlines for this program.
TO APPLY
TO APPLY
Click here to apply for this instructional residency program.
