In the Name of the Madrone
Website Under Construction
The
Inkmaker’s
Inkmaker
A few years ago, with my students, we began to explore how the forest around us was alive with color.
Soon, we were making our own charcoal sticks, ink and paint. Then we found how color came from flower petals when you applied heat or pressure, and then how to really observe the hues emerging day by day in the spring. For one full year together, we explored the world of color waiting for us to see.
My eyes never went back to how they were before.
Why the Madrone?
Perhaps because she is the first tree
who made me gasp in awe
*
Or because she lives with her newest bark exposed to the elements,
while the oldest bark crumbles back
until it disappears.
*
Or because she can live in the most inhospitable of climes
*
Or that her red bark aflame after the rain
lights up in my eyes and I cannot look away.
*
And perhaps it is because she sings the tales
of woe of what we have chosen and continue to choose
to do to the earth and all her inhabitants.
My heart already grieves for the day I will have to say
goodbye to the last one of the friends, the Madrones.
Fall Sumac-near a gravel pit in Whitefield, Maine
Colors of the Earth-near and far
Katherine West
- Soil in the sieve
2.. An Ink palette in preparation for an artist.
3. Shades of the Season in Silk
4. Friend Goldenrod, in dye bath
then made into lake pigment.
Studio Glimpses
Delora Butler
006
Experience
Katherine is in a
Residency for The Arts
Apprenticeship within the
School of 3 Lights in Whitefield, Maine under the tutelage of Laura Stelmok.
It is through this apprenticeship that my senses are finding their way to a deepening connection with the earth: her colors, soils and waters.
Education
BA in Environmental Education
& Creative Arts in Learning
Lesley University
MA. in Fine Arts, Integrated Arts and Education
University of Montana
Contact Info:
katherine@inthenameofthemadrone.com
IG: inthenameofthemadrone