Earth to Color: Pigment, Pattern, and Transformation is a week-long immersive painting and textile arts experience for teens that explores how color emerges from the natural world and is shaped through human creativity. Grounded in place-based making, this program invites participants to work directly with pigments and dyes derived from plants, soil, charcoal, and other natural materials.

Throughout the week, teens ethically gather and prepare natural pigments, experiment with extraction and fixation techniques, and explore painting and fabric dyeing on paper and textiles. Participants learn how color behaves across different surfaces, how patterns emerge through resist and bundle-dye techniques, and how cultural traditions have long used natural dyes to communicate identity, symbolism, and meaning.

Emphasizing experimentation and process, the program encourages curiosity, patience, and thoughtful risk-taking. Through studio practice, guided critiques, and reflective journaling, teens develop technical skills and artistic voice while deepening their understanding of nature as both source and collaborator. The week concludes with a shared exhibition of paintings and dyed textiles, accompanied by artist statements that reflect on transformation—of materials, ideas, and self.