Skip to main content

When Bio and Art Collide..

Share on:

Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Departments of art and biology at Westminster College team up for a semester-long study of plants, patterns and processes.

This week, students hiked to the campus nature center, collecting plant samples that might yield dye. They identified plants, flowers, berries, mushrooms and bark.

According to Peggy Cox, professor of art at Westminster College, students tested the "plant product" by placing the plant into a heat resistant mason jar and covering it with scalding water. After that, a piece of cloth pre-treated with aluminum is added and steeped for several minutes.

Products like bark and mushrooms will take up to a week of soaking before revealing any dye color. 

Next week, the class will make dye from fresh indigo plants grown in Westminster's dye garden.

For questions about this project, contact Cox at (724)946-7266 or Dr. Ann Throckmorton at (724) 946-7209. Follow this class on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, searching #wcpanow.