Allerton Park & Retreat Center

Experience Level: Beginner (all ages)

Use plant-based materials in an environmentally-friendly process at Indigo Dyeing with the Environment in Mind on Wednesday, April 16 from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Mansion Carriage House.

In this workshop, instructor Jenny Knavel will familiarize you with a creative, multicultural practice that utilizes prominently plant-based materials. Students will prepare an organic, fermentation dye vat utilizing indigo powder, an extract prepared from the plant Indigofera tinctoria.

The indigo vat-making method is safe for (supervised) children to use. Shibori, a Japanese, manual, resist dyeing technique will be discussed. Utilizing basic shibori-inspired techniques, students will be able to create unique patterns on their scarves.

$85/person (Those under 16 years of age must be accompanied by a registered adult). Register by April 2. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Jenny Knavel received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997. She is a professor of art at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, where she teaches primarily design and digital photography classes. In addition to teaching, she is an active artist. Her work has been juried into numerous regional and national and international juried exhibitions.

In 2021, her artwork was selected to be on the cover of the SAQA Journal (Studio Art Quilt Associates), 2021, Volume 31, No. 2. Additionally, she had work included in the Second Biennial of Natural Dye exhibition, China Silk Museum, Hangzhou, China.