Eco Creative Cluster
The Dye Garden Project
Developed by the Eco Creative Cluster, the Dye Garden project at The Rockfield Centre transformed an overgrown space into a natural dye resource for textiles and plant based art techniques.
The Eco Creative Cluster project focused on nature-based materials and dyeing techniques. The Dye Garden was developed with Oban-based textile artist Deborah Gray and local volunteers in the grounds of The Rockfield Centre, a newly refurbished cultural and heritage hub located in the heart of Oban.
Produce from the dye garden can be used for workshops and artworks with techniques such as Natural Dyeing, Ecoprinting and Shibori.
Network Weaving: Conversations With Artists Series
Led by Oban-based curator Naoko Mabon, the project also aimed to weave a wider network of practitioners working across different localities in the world who have a sustainable and ecological approach. Generating further collaborations locally, nationally and internationally.
To do this Naoko facilitated a series of online events showcasing the work and practice of a plant-based artists locally and internationally in the ‘Conversations with Artists’ series.
Eco Creative Cluster Conversation Series #001 ‘Dying with Plants’ with Deborah Gray
Launching the Eco Creative Clusters Conversations Series, lead artist on the project Deborah Gray tells us about her work using natural dyeing techniques
Eco Creative Cluster Conversation Series #002 ‘Ardalanish’ with Monica Haddock
In the second edition of our Eco Creative Cluster Conversation series, Monica Haddock tells us about the work or Ardalanish Mill on the Isle of Mull.
Eco Creative Cluster Conversation Series #003 ;with Colours of Nature’ with Fernanda Mascarenhas
Episode 3
Fernanda Mascarenhas
The Eco Creative Cluster are joined by Fernanda Mascarenhas, São Paulo Brazil. Fernanda tells us about her natural dyeing practice using Brazilian plants and the inspiration she has gained from Japanese tradition.
Eco Creative Cluster Converation Series #004 ‘Textiles in the Colours of Yubari’ with Nanoko Suzuki
The Eco Creative Cluster are joined by Nanoko Suzuki, Yubari, Japan. Nanoko tells us about her recent textile-making project which involved a natural dye with stems and leaves of Yubari Melon, the regions speciality.
Eco Creative Cluster Conversation Series #005 ‘Bogolan’ with Boubacar Doumbia
The Eco Creative Cluster are joined by Boubacar Doumbia, Ségou, Mali. Boubacar tells us about Groupe Bogolan Kasobané (Bogolan Kasobané Group), an artist collective of six people who have been making a significant contribution to saving the ancient textile making of Bogolan and elevating it to a symbol of Malian and African identity.
Conversations with Artists. Collection of textile art images by the artists.
All episodes of the ‘Conversations with Artists’ series are available on our YouTube channel.
1.Deborah Gray, Oban
2. Monica Haddock, Mull
3. Fernanda Mascarenhas, Brazil
4. Nanoko Suzuki, Japan
5. Boubacar Doumbia, Mali
Workshops
Hands hammering stone on fabric to create plant print
Textile Artist Deborah Gray let two Street Flora workshops using the Tatikizome technique in the summer of 2021
Tatakizome is the most direct technique to capture colour from plants onto fabric.
Leaves and flowers are placed between two layers of fabric and hammered until the coloured juices from the plants transfer onto the fabric. A degree of skill is required for the crispest clearest images but everyone can produce colourful results.
Inspired by the Eco-Creative Cluster Conversation with Fernanda Mascarenhas, and particularly her description of using the plants which grow in cracks in the pavements of her city, the Oban Street Flora Tatakizome project uses plants which grow spontaneously in the streets of our town. It celebrates and values the ‘weeds’ that are a mostly un-noticed and often unwanted part of our everyday surroundings.
Workshop participants had the opportunity to learn the Tatakizome technique and created panels on cotton fabric which were sewn together to create a collaborative mural which is on display in The Rockfield Centre.
Lead Artists
Naoko Mabon
Eco Creative Cluster Curator Naoko Mabon
Naoko (born in Fukuoka, Japan) is a curator based in Oban on the west coast of Scotland. Informed by a lived experience as an immigrant and ethnic minority, in her curatorial practice, Naoko aims to weave relationships among differences with what we see as “disparate others” beyond common ground. In- and outside of the professional practice, Naoko cares about and continues to be something small, fragile and slow.
Naoko’s ongoing and recent work includes:
‘Eco Creative Cluster’, a project focusing on natural dye led by The Rockfield Centre, Oban (2021–ongoing);
‘Torry Ecomuseum Project’, a community arts project led by Old Torry Community Centre, Aberdeen (2021–ongoing);
‘Ilana Halperin: The Rock Cycle’ (Yamaguchi), a cross-disciplinary project between Yamaguchi and Scotland (2019–ongoing);
‘Kyojitsu-Hiniku: Between the Skin and the Flesh of Japan’, an exhibition as part of the 110 Years of Japanese Immigration in Brazil, ‘Pavilhão Japonês’, São Paulo, Brazil (2018);
‘Leaves Without Routes’, an exhibition at a Japanese-style house originally built during the Japanese colonial period in Taipei Botanical Garden, Taipei, Taiwan (2016);
‘Ilana Halperin: Geologic Intimacy’ (Yu no Hana), a cross-disciplinary project between Beppu and Aberdeen (2015–17); among others.
Visit Naoko’s website wagonart.org to find out more about her work and projects.
Deborah Gray
Eco Creative Cluster Lead Artist Deborah Gray
Deborah is a textile artist based in Oban. Recent work examines the links between land(scape), the natural materials (fibre, plants) which grow there, and the work created from those materials, reflecting elements of the land(scape) in the created works. Techniques include spinning, natural dyeing, knitting, ecoprinting and stitch, with photographic documentation. Deborah teaches spinning, natural dyeing and knitting techniques in Oban and at international textile festivals.
Deborah’s current project as Lead Practitioner for the Eco Creative Cluster project at The Rockfield Centre since January 2021 aims to develop a dye garden and deliver natural dyeing workshops.
Her previous work includes;
Artist-in-Residence at The Icelandic Textile Centre, Blönduós, NorthWest Iceland in 2018 and 2019
Participant in ArtMap Argyll Open Studios 2019, 2020, 2021
Exhibitions:
Of the land: Icelandic wool (2019): Blönduós; Rockfield Centre, Oban; Shetland Museum and Archive
Land, sea and sky (2020): Rockfield Centre, Oban
Colours of the land: natural dyeing (August 2021) Rockfield Centre, Oban
Deborah produces original ecoprinted scarves and cards, as well as a variety of items in upcycled textiles, using eco-printing, natural dyeing and a vintage hand-cranked sewing machine. These are marketed under the brand name Maisie’s Emporium.
To find out more about Deborah’s work and practice visit her website www.deborahgraytextiles.co.uk or www.maisiesemporium.co.uk
Project Funding
Led by The Rockfield Centre, Eco Creative Cluster is supported by the CHArts Place Makers: Micro-cluster Networks programme, in partnership with the Innovation School at Glasgow School of Art, funded by Creative Scotland.
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