Online classes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a big adjustment for many UWM students, but the unprecedented transition has made classes look especially different for students who are studying the fine arts. Such is the case for Lamyra Adams, a second-year student at UWM, working toward her BFA in Design and Visual Communications.
Adams is currently in an ‘Intro to Fibers’ course, one of the studio arts credits for her major. Due to the movement to online, the course was not going to be able to learn how to use the dye lab. This didn’t stop Adams, though, as she decided that if she was not going to be able to learn how to dye on campus, she would teach herself.
“I thought because I was going to have time at home, I should experiment on my own,” said Adams. “I definitely overestimated how much time I would have with all my other courses.”
Her first week of the ‘at-home dye project’ consisted of trial and error, rather than consulting any sources. She dug up some roving, strung wool and jars from the canning cabinet in her childhood basement, searched the house for some vinegar, salt, a colander, tea towels, pots and a food processor and got to work.
“I’ve grown to appreciate using the things I already have to create what I want,” she said.
Adams said she first experimented using dirt, crushed leaves, sand, moss and beet juice, with success only from the beet juice.
“A lot of my personal work has to do with the subject of home, and I’m trying to figure out what that means to me,” explain Adams. “I thought I could try using earth material from places of my childhood, but it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped.”
She went back to the drawing board, did some research and found that rather than using earth materials from the backyard, she would use food, another form of earth material, to dye the fibers.
“Fortunately, food also carries a lot of meaning, but for my second attempt I thought I’d focus of what works and not necessarily the meaning quite yet,” Adams said.
She (safely) went to the grocery store and purchased red cabbage, artichokes, carrots, turmeric and KitKats (which Adams said was to ‘sustain herself’ throughout the project).
The recipe and process she used came from yumuniverse.com, quadrupling the amounts. Adams described to the UWM Post the specific steps she took:
1. Add all of the ingredients into the pot along with the cabbage (or whatever vegetable) and water.
2. Bring water to a boil with the cabbage then reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.
3. “Do what you have to do” while your family complains about the overpowering smell of cabbage.
4. Strain the cooked mixture into another pot.
5. Set the new pot with the extracted dye on the stove and let simmer, adding the wool, for another 10 to 20 minutes.
6. Transfer the dye and the wool to mason jars and let sit for two days.
7. Rinse and let the wool dry.
8. Repeat for each food.
“Finding out what works is difficult on your own when you wish you could just ask your professor what you’re doing or what you can do,” Adams said, talking about her biggest challenge being the trial and error aspect of the project.
Outside of the at-home art studio, Adams is also dealing with the challenge of remote learning in her other classes, teaching her eight-year-old sister while her parents are at work as essential workers. She is learning to structure her day and be better organized to be a successful student and artist.
You can see more photos of the process and additional art by Adams on Instagram at @lamyraadams.art.