2022

MINDFUL COLORS: SUSTAINABLE BALANCE BETWEEN ARTMAKING, COMMUNITY BUILDING AND HEALING JOURNEY WITH PLANTS

Rosa Chang developed a new class/curriculum called “Mindful Colors: Natural Dyes from Korea and beyond”. The curriculum touches three major aspects: cultural identity, sustainability, and building a connection between the community and inner self.

For Rosa Chang the curriculum itself is an art of evolution and intervention of her hands-on experiences with natural dyes; Several years of experiencing and practicing fermented indigo dyeing, four years of involvement in community projects with indigo farming and natural dyes in Baltimore, an online mapping research project and community “Indigo Shade Map”, and a recent trip to South Korea to meet natural dyers.

Group quilt making in the Mindful Colors class,MICA, Baltimore, MD, 2022 © Rosa Chang

In the course, her focus is about teaching sustainable practices of natural color development on fiber materials, fermentation processes, and the beauty of microorganisms from plant matter. She hopes to share Asian cultures, philosophies that are connected to nature, incarnation, and spiritual journey with students through the natural dyeing and interacting with natural materials. In the GREEN CYCLES presentation, as an artist and educator Rosa Chang will share experiences, that inspired her to develop the body of the course.

Group quilt making in the Mindful Colors class,MICA, Baltimore, MD, 2022 © Rosa Chang

Rosa Sung Ji Chang is a Korean-born multi-disciplinary artist, researcher, consultant and educator based in Baltimore, USA.

Focusing on visual and fiber art and visual storytelling, both of which, for her, convey a sustainable balance between humans and the natural world, for the last 7 years, nature, farming, and natural dyeing processes, especially natural fermented indigo dye processes, have become an increasing part of her art practice.

Further to dyeing fabrics, these aspects became a major theme for her paintings, illustrations, and even short stories. Rosa Chang believes, that farming and planting is a fundamental activity for connecting humans and nature to a coexisting relationship, which for her is the true value of practicing both art and social justice. Rosa Chang is one of the core members of the Baltimore Natural Dye Initiative. Currently Rosa Chang cultivates Asian indigo (Polygonum tinctorium) and other plants for natural dyes – mainly at the Hidden Harvest Community Farm & Blue Light Junction in Baltimore, US State Maryland. Just this autumn 2022, Rosa Chang started teaching a course called “Mindful Colors: Natural Dyes from Korea and beyond” in the MICA Fiber department – Maryland Institute College of Art.