University Colour Garden- Cultures of Place
University Colour Garden
The University Colour Garden is a place-based project by natural dye artist, Kayleigh Davis and embroidery artist, Elnaz Yazdani. This project is explored through co-creative community practice involving growing, dyeing and constructing textiles using embroidery techniques.
Kayleigh and Elnaz have created a shared community textile garden, which is embedded within the staff wellbeing allotment on The University of Huddersfield campus. This wellbeing allotment is led by master’s researcher and project collaborator, Elnaz Yazdani. Together, Kayleigh and Elnaz saw the potential to create a combined textile garden within the existing allotment.
This Queensgate Market Garden exhibition brings together Kayleigh and Elnaz’s research by showcasing elements of the University Colour Garden, from dye plants grown in the garden to textile pieces dyed using its pigments. Alongside embroidered pieces inspired by the natural forms found within, and embellishments of cultivated components; the central market space reflects the campus garden through storytelling images and film which shares the project’s development.
Kayleigh Davis
Kayleigh Davis is a natural dye textile artist and PhD Researcher, whose research seeks to understand the perception and legacy of textiles craft and industry in Kirklees through the co-creative structure put in place by WOVEN in Kirklees. She is one of the artists involved in natural dye movement ‘Growing Colour Together’, a project rooted in sustainable values and community practice with a focus on increasing education and accessibility to natural dye practice.
The artworks exhibited explore a range of natural dye processes including eco-printing, dip dyeing, scattering powdered dyes and silk painting. Kayleigh incorporates both grown and responsibly foraged dye materials obtained from the University Colour Garden and surrounding local woodlands. In reflection of the wabi-sabi philosophy which underpins Kayleigh’s research, each piece is embellished with delicate gold leaf accents and intuitively selected dried botany, which is stitched onto each piece by embroidery artist Elnaz Yazdani.
Through the imprints created and the plants and dyes used, these artworks each tell a seasonal story of the landscape from where they originated and the garden which has nurtured their pigments.
Find out more about Natural Dye Artist, Kayleigh Davis:
@ocre.uk
www.craftscouncil.org.uk/directory/ocre
Elnaz Yazdani
Elnaz Yazdani is an embroidery artist and educator, her research explores themes of community connection. After two years of lockdowns, illness, and isolation Elnaz believes that communities need to come together through creativity in order to improve community wellbeing. She believes the act of coming together through embroidery can improve wellbeing and support the reconnection of communities. Throughout this exhibition she is exploring how gardens and embroidery combined can improve community connection and wellbeing.
Elnaz is exploring how embroidery can support the connection of communities; how the process of hand stitching can allow time for communities to reflect, observe and connect with each other and their surroundings.
The artworks exhibited explore hand embroidery techniques such as couching and goldwork, combined with dried and pressed flowers from the University Colour Garden to make embellishments. The work explores the meditative processes of both hand stitch and gardening combined. These processes are explored with the Kirklees community through a series of workshops carried out throughout the exhibition. Some pieces are combined with naturally dyed fabrics from The University Colour Garden by dye artist Kayleigh Davis.
Find out more about Embroidery Artist, Elnaz Yazdani:
@elnazyazdani
Growing Colour Together, Woven In Kirklees
Growing Colour Together is more than a project, it’s a MOVEMENT! And our ambition is to create a district-wide, natural dye colour garden!
Working in partnership across the district we want to give everyone the opportunity to ‘have a grow,’ use what’s grown to make natural dyes, and learn about the environmental implications of chemical dyes and what we buy.
Growing Colour Together is an evolving project and we want people to join in with the areas that interest you. Grow, make, create, debate!
WOVEN and partners are excited by notions of active citizenship, citizen growers and makers and for Kirklees residents to take ownership of the programme.
GET INVOLVED – get growing
A natural dye garden gives eco-friendly, natural dye pigments and stains for textiles, knitting yarns, soap making, and even artist paints and prints.
GCT’s natural dye colour gardens can be of any size and we encourage everyone to get growing from absolute beginners to those with lots of growing experience. If you have a window ledge, a pot, garden, allotment, school garden, community space… now is the time to get started.
In the exhibition in the Market Garden at Queensgate Market find the University Colour Garden Potting Station
Take part and plant a seed for the University Colour Garden:
Step 1: Take a pot
Step 2: Fill with soil
Step 3: Make a small dimple in the centre
Step 4: Plant a seed
Sep 6: Cover
Step 5: Water
