gathering gold
gathering gold—
glistening glittering mica chips
dandelion rainbow strands
molten orange M initialed
pleated dress of worship & work
golden orbed dawn
palest lemon goldenrod tuft
waves frozen, seedhead
mighty morning orb
Plants |
gathering gold—
glistening glittering mica chips
dandelion rainbow strands
molten orange M initialed
pleated dress of worship & work
golden orbed dawn
palest lemon goldenrod tuft
waves frozen, seedhead
mighty morning orb
five summers ago
harvested dahlias
stuck between sheets of paper
simmered, steamed
stacks of silhouettes, waited
suddenly, this summer,
their sense seeped in
was it seeing the blots of
Mary Gartside, seeking
flower essence through color?
fifty seven washed with
gouaches and watercolors
Inks of—daffodils, pine cones,
black walnuts, marigolds
Thanks to Alexandra Loske for alerting me to Gartside.
Her book, Mary Gartside:
Abstract Visions of Color at Thomas Heneage Books
Thanks to Naumkeag for the Artist Residency in 2019
where the dahlias were gathered.
plants as prints as watercolors as thoughts as sky as poetry . ‘Verbal creation, he [Seamus Heaney] writes, is an archaeological dig, “a dig for finds that end up being plants.” ‘ From Elaine Scarry’s book, Dreaming by the Book and Heaney's book Feeling Into Words: Selected Prose 1968-78 Caretaker Farm CSA flowers and summer ‘dahlia series’ plant inks and gouache on dahlia mono print
started a summer series with Mary Gartside’s colour blots as inspiration dahlia prints from Naumkeag Artist residency daffodil ink from Suzi Banks Baum pinecone ink from Hancock studio work table #workinprogress summer 2024 dahlia series .
[second image, Gartside Yellow and Orange blots found in ‘Mary Gartside c. 1755-1819: Abstract Visions of Colour’ written by Alexandra Loske and published by Thomas Heneage Art Books]
endangered species recently, a friend reminded me of a temporary art work I made for “Clean Out Your Files Week” materials: gently used file folders print shop off-cuts. items destined for the dumpster each folder acquired a new label, a long strand of paper with either — a bird, crustacea, fish, insect, spider, mammal, mussel, snail, plant, reptile .or amphibian—printed on it endangered species names from The National Geographic Society Book, ‘The Company We Keep’ by Douglas H. Chadwick &Joel Sartore, 1995 Commissioned by The Department of Environmental Services and Arlington Cultural Affairs, Arlington County, VA. The 1998 installation was in the lobby of the Bozman Government Center. And, when finished, all materials were either reused or recycled. Thanks to Angela Adams for inviting me to be part of Clean Out Your Files Week. [photos by Jason Horowitz]
is just blue, or azure sky blue? red or scarlet poppy red? pink or carnation pink? In her 1898 book, “The Use of Color in the Verse of English Romantic Poets,” Alice Edwards Pratt delves deep into the poets “descriptive, discriminative, dramatic, aesthetic” words of color such as— “pinky-silver’ “autumnal leaf like-red” “purple-hectic” “rose-ensanquined ivory” and charts each poet’s color by terms for-- “mountains and hills” “sky, cloud and air” “deep waters” Happily I found Pratt whilst reading Nicholas Gaskill’s essay, ‘Language and Psychology’ in the ‘A Cultural History of Color: In the Age of Industry’ edited by Alexandra Loske. .
in celebration of dandelions dickinson poetry month pollinators ……………………………. The Dandelion’s pallid tube Astonishes the Grass, And Winter instantly becomes An infinite Alas— The tube uplifts a signal Bud And then a shouting Flower,— The Proclamation of the Suns That sepulture is o’er. ……………….. Dickinson wrote this poem as a letter to her friend Mrs. Edward Tuckerman and included an additional line, “Vinne told me.” Celebrating Harvard University Press new edition The Letters of Emily Dickinson edited by Cristianne Miller and Domhnall Miller. Dickinson’s letter to Tuckerman is in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society (Worcester, MA)
snow on fields
stitched onto cloth
and written into this poem
stitched work from the winter field series exhibited at 2017 Norte Maar in a solo show, bewilderedunfurled a field, a sea of snow grasping onto goldenrod filling cups aplenty, double dotting punctuation seeing scarlet swatches of bitten bittersweet berries grapevines curlicue up trees, squirrel nest spaces unfurling, falling, flouncing onto the forest floor oak, aspen, maple leaves carried into spaces intervals interlaced into fullness unentangle someone else’s scrawled no-sense sentences unto snow’s solaced silence
winterfield stalks and stems, silk/cotton thread on damask, 16 x 15 1/2”
winterfield dots and dashes, silk/cotton thread on damask, 16 x 15 1/2”
December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886
The Dandelion's pallid Tube
Astonishes the Grass
And Winter instantly becomes
An infinite Alas--
The Tube uplifts a signal Bud
And then a shouting Flower
The Proclamation of the Suns
That sepulture is o'er
Emily Dickinson
8 November 1881
Emily Dickinson's Poems: As She Preserved Them, edited by Cristanne Miller
and a bit more reading about the dandelion—-
Large swathes of goldenrod grace the fields now and sway in the wind on this late summer day. We natural dyers long for this time of year when we can harvest the brilliant flowers that make an eye popping fluorescent yellow on cloth.
The Shakers dyed with many fall harvests—goldenrod, sumac, walnut—but didn’t wear yellow. Why I wonder didn’t they take advantage of these vast fields of bright flowers? Deborah Burns notes “goldenrod grows in neglected fields” and “where corn had once grown tall, goldenrod now replaced it.” A ‘neglected’ field did not exist on any Shaker farm, so, perhaps, the goldenrod was not as plentiful as it is now. I still search for the reason that Shakers didn’t wear yellow, but maybe it is as easy as yellow shows dirt more than a deep butternut cloth.
If you go to harvest goldenrod, you will not be the only one, for the pollinators are out in full force taking nectar and pollen from the goldenrod, making stores for the winter months.
I invite you to carry Mary Oliver’s fitting poem, Goldenrod, in your pocket as you seek pollinators amongst the fluorescent yellow inflorescences.
On roadsides,
in fall fields,
in rumpy bunches,
Saffron and orange and pale gold,
in little towers,
soft as mash,
sneeze-bringers and seed-bearers,
full of bees and yellow heads and perfect flowerlettes
and orange butterflies.
I don’t suppose
much notice comes of it, except for honey,
and how it heartens the heart with its
blank blaze.
I don’t suppose anything loves it except, perhaps,
the rocky voids
filled by its dumb dazzle.
For myself,
I was just passing my, when the wind flared
and the blossoms rustled,
and the glittering pandemonium
leaned on me.
I was just minding my own business
when I found myself on their straw hillsides,
citron and butter-colored,
and was happy, and why not?
Are not the difficult labors of our lives
full of dark hours?
And what has consciousness come to anyway, so far,
that is better than these light-filled bodies?
All day
on their airy backbones
they toss in the wind,
they bend as though it was natural and godly to bend, they rise in a stiff sweetness, in the pure peace of giving one’s gold away.
Mary Oliver, Goldenrod from New and Selected Poems, 1992
Deborah E. Burns, Shaker Cities of Peace, Love and Union A History of Hancock Bishopric, (University Press of New England, 1993), pg. 190.
How do you pick the colors of your clothes? What if you could only wear colors that you could dye, would this limit your palatte? Or might it open up a rainbow?
Recently, I read that the Shakers were allowed to wear any color they could dye themselves, and that fact stopped me in my tracks. I imagined that the Sisters and Brethren would be clad in garments that were ‘drab’ in color and hadn’t imagined them wearing bright salmon—maybe made from a madder dye bath or pink from cochineal.
“Believers were told they might use any color they could dye themselves, and dye books indicate how broad that color range actually was. Besides the popular (and practical) blue and the butternut shades, recipes for red, black, “lead or mouse color,” salmon, pink, yellow green, drab, brown, purple, crimson, lavender, scarlet, orange, buff, blue-black and slate were given. Yellow was not used extensively, and the number of dye recipes for red shades, and, interestingly recipes for the brightest colors (orange, bright green, purple) often specified for dyeing on silk.” 1
“A variety of other dyestuffs were used during the remainder of the summer. Some were gathered or procured locally (purslain, hemlock, beech bark, sorrel, sumac), but most were purchased from chemist. A wide range of dyestuffs and chemical “assistants” is mentioned in Shaker account and receipt books. Cochineal, madder indigo, and logwood were common purchases; and alum, cream of tart, copperas, and bitrio were common setting agent, or mordant, purchases. Other dyestuffs—aleppo galls, camwood, brazilwood, fustic, annatto, redwood, catchetu, weld, and woad—were also mentioned.” (2)
At the moment, madder, woad, weld, and coreopsis are growing in the dye garden at Hancock Shaker Village and indigo in my dye garden. For cochineal, indigo, logwood, fustic, brazilwood, my source is none other than Botanical Colors. Purslain, hemlock, beech, sorrel and sumac are easily foraged. And over the next few months, I will start to make a dye book filled with all the shades of colors worn by Shakers.
Beverly Gordon, Shaker Textile Arts, (Univesity Press of New England: Hanover, NH, 1980), pg. 78, 76
From seed to seedling to full grown plant–this process always amazes me. An entire plant is held in a seed, the size of a grain of sand. Start with good soil, add water and sun, hope for rain and allow time.
Now is the time that harvest begins both at Camphill Village and Hancock Shaker Village. Saved seeds transform into lettuces, peas, radishes and herbs. Pesky weeds are being pulled. Mouths water waiting for the green tomatoes to turn bright red.
Now is also the time to think about what fall crops will follow the glory of summer in the garden. Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seed, Camphill’s seed business, is offering selected fall seeds until July 9th. One may purchase seeds through their website, turtletreeseed.org
Tangible parallels between the Villages are seen in their summer gardens–the labors of one for another making a community. New Lebanon Shaker, Brother Frederick Evans said, “Only the simple labors of farming people can keep a community together.”
For more information on Camphill Village, please go to their website and make sure to watch the video on village life.
For more information on Hancock Shaker Village, please go to their website for revised opening information.