Online/Workshop / Textile Industry
Join Heather Powers, President of the International Center for Indigo Culture and SCAD alumna (Fibers BFA, 1998), and Professor Jessica Smith as they guide Fibers students through cultivating and processing Indigofera suffruticosa at the BACK40, SCAD's sustainable urban farm.
This virtual program is designed to educate consumers, artists, and farmers about the importance of this irreplaceable regional agricultural and cultural resource. It explores indigo's history in the Lowcountry, the coastal region from north of Charleston, South Carolina, through Savannah, Georgia, to Jacksonville, Florida. Once a major colonial cash crop and source of the region's iconic deep blue dye, indigo is now being revived by Gullah Geechee farmers and artisans to preserve cultural heritage, sustain family lands, and produce natural, non-toxic dyes.
Over two days, the SCAD Fibers department and Heather Powers demonstrate cultivating and processing indigo leaves into dyestuff, covering harvest, fermentation, filtration, drying, and storage.
Day One - Thursday, September 24, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Examines indigo's significance as both cash crop and art form, including tools and methods used by enslaved people, many from West African indigo-dyeing traditions, and how contemporary artists and farmers carry the practice forward today. As students harvest plants, Heather will demonstrate a fresh-leaf vat using freshly picked leaves.
Day Two - Friday, September 25, 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Covers pigment extraction, an all-day process open to tune in and out of, culminating in filtration of the extracted indigo for drying and storage.
All stages will be recorded and shared with registered participants afterward.
Jessica Smith is an artist and designer based in Savannah, Georgia. Her studio practice investigates the social and political role of textiles in Western culture, with a focus on authentic material production, from natural dye to 3D printing. She is a fibers professor at SCAD and co-author of Overshot (UGA Press, 2020).
Heather Powers career in textiles began with a BFA in Fibers (SCAD). Her creative practice (weaving & natural dyeing) informs her projects as a collection consultant and appraiser across design, research, and education. In 2021, she earned an MA in Historical Craft and directs the International Center for Indigo Culture.