These fall days as I walk and look at the sidewalks printed with the tannic stains of fallen leaves, I think back to a very special place; Lauris, France. It was there at Couleur Garance, in 2012 that catalyzed my understanding of the numerous possibilities in working with plants, to create inks and dyes.
I first wrote about my experience there and inspirations using leaf tannins in my 2013 leaf prints musings post.
The most accessible combination is that of tannins with iron. Methodology, ingredient lists and recipes can vary but fundamentally, a leaf containing tannin, combined with iron will give you colour. A simple test of the tannic content is to tamp a leaf on fibre with a mallet to release the tannins then swoosh it around in some iron water and, if tannin is present you will see your chlorophyll /almost invisible mark magically re-appear in a purplish-grey.
During my exhibition and residency at Couleurs Garance and its Le Jardin des Plantes Tinctoriales in Lauris, I became somewhat obsessed with this simple technique moving from little samples to large scale pieces on antique hand woven linen. The subject and materials came straight from the garden. Leaves picked, hammered, bathed in iron water, and hung to dry.
It became for me, a visual language to express a synthesis of inspiration from leaf strewn walkways, ephemeral shadows and sense of place; the gardens, the nightly flight of hirondelles passing across my window view and the surrounding warm-toned stone buildings. Everything was tactilely alive.
The following year in 2013, I had the opportunity to return and attend the Forum International de la Couleur Végétale, which gathered together artists and researchers from the field of plant based colours to present papers, ateliers and works for exhibition.
The series, “beginning again, again”, created during this period explores the interface of markings between the botanical tannic print and hand drawn lines with inks on kozo paper and reflects my contemplation on the commingling of humans and nature. I later showed this work at the Textile Arts Center in NYC. View more from this collection here.
The garden was founded by Michel Garcia in 1998 and has been a source of
learning and inspiration for the community and the world at large. I feel incredibly fortunate to have spent time in this garden, digging in the soil, weeding, chatting with colleagues, plucking leaves and experimenting with plant based colour.
Located on the edge of a falaise on the terraced grounds beside Chateau Lauris, it houses over 250 botanical specimens that can be used for dyes and inks. Since 2019 the garden has been community maintained but is now at risk of disappearing. There is an initiative to enlarge awareness of the garden and its needs. You can read more and add your voice here. Might you have some ideas of associations that can help support them?
Gardens are such a powerful way to explore our ever evolving relationship with nature. Both habitat and sanctuary, they nourish all sorts of lives and expressions of life.