Category: Arts First at Bucknell University

Visiting the Samek Art Center, students got a preview of an exhibit of illuminated manuscripts. They also learned about parchment, or paper made from compressed animal skin. Parchment has a scent and a slightly rubbery texture. We all got to feel it, and students experimented with stitching through it, applying their new embroidery skills. In…

As students continued embroidering over several days, their technique quickly gained sophistication. As the Guest Artist, I wanted artmaking to enhance other art and academic areas. Foraging and learning about the science and chemistry of dyeing while visiting the Farm coordinated with Biology Professor Mark Spiro, who introduced students to the new Farm-in-progress, mentioning opportunities…

While foraging, I looked for Queen Anne’s lace, rumored to make a golden-cream colored dye. I hadn’t much luck, except for a faint stain. I think many flowers are required, which is always true with plant dyeing — more plant matter, richer dye application. Bucknell University Biology Professor Mark Spiro taught me that the one…

On the first day of Arts First, Program Manager, Andrew Ciotola, Program Assistant, Dan Newman, Biology Professor, Mark Spiro and I led First-year students and Second-year mentors to Bucknell Farm, an in-process space with fields of wild flowers. Mark told students they could liberally pick flowers; I explained we would experiment with making dyes and…