The first of a two-part workshop with MAD Artist Studios alum Victoria Manganiello on creating natural dye using food scraps and other natural color resources to apply to paper and textiles found in the home.

For Part 1 of the workshop, participants will follow Manganiello’s step-by-step instructions for using the “bath and vat dye” technique to produce monochrome color dyes. If you would like to collect food scraps in advance of the workshop, onion skins, avocado pits and skins, pomegranate skins, hibiscus tea, turmeric, and carrot tops are all good places to start.  Easy-to-follow recipes, a list of tools, materials, and vendors will be provided prior to the workshop and discussed during the class so that participants can work on their projects throughout the week.

In Part 2, participants will explore eco-printing and Shibori processes, as well as finishing techniques, such as steaming, sewing, and washing. There will also be time for people to share their work and ask questions. A short reading will be provided prior to the second workshop that will be the subject of a brief discussion on the history and theory of natural color.

Each workshop will be one hour long and the second workshop will build on the knowledge attained in the first. Registrants will receive an email 24 hours in advance of the program with instructions for joining the workshop on Zoom.

 About the artist

Victoria Manganiello is a textile artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Exploring the intersections between materiality, technology, geography, and storytelling, Victoria’s multi-disciplinary and installation work, abstract paintings, and kinetic sculptures are made meticulously with hand-woven textiles using hand-spun yarn and hand-mixed natural and synthetic color dyes alongside mechanical alternatives and modern technologies. She has received multiple international, recognized grants, commissions, and residency appointments including from Museum of Arts and Design, Wave Farm, S&R Foundation, Center for Craft, The Wall Street Journal, Harvest Works, Silver Art Projects, and AIR Gallery. She has exhibited her work internationally including in Romania, Bulgaria, Taiwan, Croatia, and Italy and throughout the USA including at the Tang Museum, Museum of Arts and Design, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, The Armory Center, and the Queens Museum. She is also an adjunct professor at NYU and Parsons The New School.