Blue Intensive: An Immersion with Indigo

Blue Intensive:  An Immersion with Indigo with Catherine Cross Tsintzos

Schedule: Saturday, November 23, 10:00-4:00 pm and Sunday, November 24, 2019, 10:00-4:00

Tuition Fees:  Members: $174, Non-Members: $217.50

Materials Fee:  $30, Payable to instructor at Beginning of Class

Materials: 

A variety of cellulose fibers will be provided for each student to work with as well as all supplies for resist techniques.  Students will have a chance to work with new and recycled vintage fabrics and paper to see how each takes on color.  

In addition, students are invited to bring in their own cotton, silk, hemp, or linen items to dye.  Please prewash items and dry without using a dryer sheet.  We will not be using protein fibers for this workshop. 

Class Description: 

Explore color, chemistry, mordants, over dyeing with additional natural dyes that will be available to explore with indigo. Surface design, and resist techniques include batik, printmaking, Shibori and stitching resist, mud resist and more.  Learn about growing and harvesting indigo.  Learn seed-to-dye using several different vat recipes to include organic powder, fresh and dried indigo leaves. 

This is a great opportunity to learn all about working with indigo from growing and harvesting to creating a variety of vats.  Great for quilters, educators, paper and book artists and those just wanting to know more about the dye plant and to have fun with the process.   All participants in the workshop receive a private web site for notes, recipes, images and information from the workshop to refer too. 

About the Instructor: 

A 2016, TEDx Speaker, Catherine Cross Tsintzos has spent a lifetime in the arts both as a practicing artist and educator, an Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary artist who has a clear purpose in building and crossing bridges among the arts.  She has a deep focus and balance between artistic practice, teaching, activism, and invitation for participation.

Catherine is the recipient of numerous artist residences in the Southeast to work on her Art and Agriculture Project, with exhibits and lectures at Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC, and Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, NC.  Her most recent residency provided the opportunity to develop art and agriculture inter-sections for school curriculum. She is working with schools in four states to engage students, teachers, and communities with best environmental practices for growing, harvesting, and creating with agriculture.  Her work involves working with all ages and abilities in the arts. In 2017, she was invited to be a Duke University Trillium Sustainability Fellow for her work with the Duke University Campus Farm.

Catherine works with nature and the environment exploring biodegradable man-made and raw materials along with wild color she creates after foraging and gathering bits and pieces from fields, farms, trees, streams, rivers, and coastal waterways as she travels throughout the Southeastern United States connecting with family farms, educational institutions, and historic properties.

Catherine’s Art and Agriculture Series touches on farming, historic gardening, swept yards, field to fiber materials, southern social and cultural issues, historic crops of the south, sewing circles, recorded stories and memories from those she interviews, and photographs along the journey.  

Catherine grew up in an artist and food environment in North and South Carolina. From the farm to the grocery shelf, her grandparents were both farmers and food merchants. She has spent her entire art career incorporating her love of nature into her work

Class Registration and Cancellation Policy

Class registrations are confirmed on a first-come, first-served basis. Cancellation/Refund: The Floyd Center for the Arts will conduct classes for which an adequate number of students are registered. Class status is determined 2 week before the first date of the class.  Acceptance of payment does not guarantee that a class will run.  If the Center must cancel a scheduled class, students who registered for such classes will be given the opportunity to transfer their payments to another course or receive a full refund of their tuition payment. Student Withdrawals:  Students withdrawing from a class before the cancellation period has ended, (two weeks prior to the start of class, for this class) can receive a full refund or may transfer their payments to another class of their choice.  Students who withdraw after the cancellation period has closed or after class has started, will not receive a refund.