Studio | Early Futures

pigments

Ochre Archive
- Research
- What is Ochre?
Shop
Studio
Workshops
About
Contact
Support

pandemic memories

pandemic memories

insanely gorgeous earth offering prayer from @ketu

insanely gorgeous earth offering prayer from @keturah.stoltzfus, and land of south carolina.

no need for more words here. ok but also look at their beautiful handwriting. and dried flowers! and soul!!!!!!

soils of the pacific northwest in honor of #worlds

soils of the pacific northwest in honor of #worldsoilday... foraged from near where i was born and raised and still live (currently on nooksack land) and barely scratch the surface of what soils are around me and inform my daily life.

thank you to all the soil workers, laborers, handlers, guardians, scientists, and my environmental monitoring engineer daddo, (and my hydrogeologist uncle!) who taught and teach me how to touch earth with more care every day. long live earth!

ochre work is 24/7: i discovered these yesterday o

ochre work is 24/7: i discovered these yesterday on new route back from mountains bcs the usual pass is closed for winter. "the tug" (as @emfrei put it) called my attention across the river. so yu know i detoured. followed two roads to private dead ends ('cause America), then eventually a road that goes up and becomes dirt. i get out and walk the ditch (pic 3)

>>> take note ... this is how ochre work works, YOU WILL NOT SEE IT WITH YOUR EYES AT FIRST, your soul is the organ of perception for ochre <<<

upon getting closer yu'll start to get the sense (pic 4, 5)

i see a worn in deer trail up the sagebrush hill and slowly find my way to deeper ochre exposures (pic 6,7,8). a magic place. i m careful. i do offerings, notice whats already been offered here before (some rotten corn cobs, some bones, bullets, rusty cans, coyote poop, sage) and take some rocks in my pocket home to start and see what wants to speak or come to. who areeeee you rainbow hearth bb??

i gathered xtra of this dirty dark purple (pic 2) with a sense it cld be a red of red which hides. yessssss. "see" how that rock made the pigment behind it?

love.
love.
love.
earth.
love.
love.
rocks.
love.

also started my period (in sync w my sis!). this almost always times up with when i find deep mater rocks that bleed too....

my friend Anita Ekman's ochre &&& pintadera work i

my friend Anita Ekman's ochre &&& pintadera work is featured in @theodreview, GO READ (in english or portuguese)!!! she collaborates with the transmedia artist Anani Dodji Sanouvi (born in Togo) and the indigenous Brazilian artist Sandra Nanaína Tariano (from Rio Negro, Amazonas state) to celebrate ochres voice in a central ritual place. good work.

loving yu and grateful for you Anita @anitaekmanartist 🙌🏽

#redochre #ocre #ochre #sobreocre #ochrearchive #ochreritual #ceremonialochre

rare chance to tune in for my collaborator, mentor

rare chance to tune in for my collaborator, mentor, pigment scholar and loving mountain neighbor @nativepaintrevealed 's talk on pigments & history for FEEDBACK FRIDAY on @botanicalcolors . come hang with us!!! RSVP on their site 💙

Melonie's bio via @botanicalcolors:

Melonie Ancheta has been studying pigments for more than 40 years, (traditional native pigments for more than 25), to analyze and properly identify pigments, and to assist museums, conservators, collectors, artists and scholars to determine the materials, tools and techniques used in traditional Native American paints. This information is used in the restoration, conservation and appropriate storage and care of Native American artifacts, and to teach contemporary artists how to use traditional materials.

Through her extensive, multidiscipline research of pigments and color use, Melonie is recognized by such prestigious institutions as the Smithsonian Institute, the American Museum of Natural History and many others as the sole keeper-of-knowledge and authority on traditional NW Coast Native pigments and paint technology. She has also become one of the leading experts on the blue mineral pigment, vivianite.

a week of many dark northern hours grinding and ch

a week of many dark northern hours grinding and chewing hearth dust of rock for people. yes, it cld be also medicine to fight plague and a coup and the co-opting and antisepticifying of imagination and erthheart...

those in the 2nd photo are blends of geologically distinct parts of the same region or land, held together in cultural terms. adding a pinch of salt here, sum fat of the earthe, a trampling ground... 🤎

土 soil library of japan by 栗田宏一 koichi k

土 soil library of japan by 栗田宏一 koichi kurita now on view at @yamanashi_art_literature_park ! koichi a soil gathering master sensei 🙌🏼
.
.
1st pic thx to @yuilutei

2 billion yr old pigments frm banded iron stromato

2 billion yr old pigments frm banded iron stromatoliths (aka memory stone document of when microorganisms synthesized our modern atmosphere into existence) in north america and australia. deep respect to the littlest among us, thank you for yr teachings.

sea stories for closer look...

dust to dust evrrryday. crushing rocks for people.

dust to dust evrrryday. crushing rocks for people...do you see the

gastropod heart turned to dusk sunlight?
ocean warmed soil?
ditch peach from islands far away?
tsunami mineralized tree baby?
magnetic sand?
mammoth plant food w 80,000 yr ol vivianite?
limestone from an old quarry in the San Juans?
every bit of extra dark i ever made mixed into one?
seabed menstrual iron ?
furnace roasted specular hematite?
real cemetary mummy brown?
ye ol ochre window blushin?

dont forget to drink water and charge yr talismans

dont forget to drink water and charge yr talismans! iron breathing ions are excellent for that practice. if u only have pigment, simply rub a little bit on your jewels. did you know most jeweler's rouge polish IS red ochre?

see my stories for more abt these pieces here from @nandi.naya and @takaradesign and myself and my bff who died in august 🖤

i needed this magic from s. africa today, via the

i needed this magic from s. africa today, via the wonderful earthworker @belinda_blignaut. see my stories for soil tones people are playing with around the usa.... if you are making pigments or playing with soil or rocks today, send me a DM (since tags are off for election protection), so i can share?

stayin close to the connective medicine work as limbo realms reveal new old canyons cracking open in th earth 💔

same rock, different tones. red's heated, fire? ye

same rock, different tones. red's heated, fire? yellow, no. green's some creatures i dont know who.

"admire the riot of colors, the magnificence of th

"admire the riot of colors, the magnificence of the material itself" ~ caillois, the writing of stone

glauconites from two distant lands meeting togethe

glauconites from two distant lands meeting together....

& missing this very good sewage pipe. & yes, for g

& missing this very good sewage pipe. & yes, for geeks who r wondering....that IS a literal shitload of vivianite 💙

missing this very good ditch

missing this very good ditch

thought i might share a few personal ochres i gath

thought i might share a few personal ochres i gathered + work wth for divination, dream, shapeshifting, altar, offerings, protection, walking, handling things, feasts. except that one in th long shell, it was a netherworld gift via @foundandground .

speaking of protection, did anyone else think the latest SNL w kate mckinnon as dr wenowdis is a beacon ochre?

pacific northwest soil colors i made as inspiratio

pacific northwest soil colors i made as inspiration for integral food peeps of @eat.carnal in beloved Bellingham ... if yr food is sourced locally, why not yr material color choices too?

a recent ochre archive offering from Aotearoa via

a recent ochre archive offering from Aotearoa via @meghanjacksonart. beautiful, thoughtfully foraged and tended. in her note to me she speaks of majestic kauri tree epidemic alongside our corona one, ancient ones dying from human activity and how stewards of land have made protected paths away from these trees, the pigments here being essentially what she dusts off her feet from walking these paths.

pls see @kauae_raro for deeper dive into Aotearoa terrain and land-care work from a Māori heart. @wildpigmentproject mentioned Sarah's recent book, which i too highly recommend getting (finally ordered it myself after being on my to do list!) and supporting their research.

eərth walk openings of late

eərth walk openings of late

hand being taught by al mater earth

hand being taught by al mater earth

whatever is not stone is light ~~~~~ Cierra los

whatever is not stone is light

~~~~~

Cierra los ojos y abrelos:
No hay nadie ni siquiera tu mismo
Lo que no es piedra es luz

Close your eyes and open them:
There is nobody not even yourself
Whatever is not stone is light

~octavio paz
from "piedra nativa"

dusts gathered in the past few months

vivianite i found when construction crews were dig

vivianite i found when construction crews were digging a building foundation in my rural town. they were kind enough (and amused!) to let me climb down in the pit to retrieve a couple handfuls before cementing over half of it and turning it into drainage pond for the car parts store 😖

image from @craftcouncil generous feature "the ochre whisperer" which i know many of you have read and sent such deepening comments, questions and support for this basic old vital earth practice. thank you for being here.

if yu havent read yet, go see their recent post for more !! 🤎 thank you @craftcouncil for all the work you do.

with brilliant @kjphotos1022 & @emfrei

and shout outs to pigment collabs with @hana.shahnavaz @rowenwhite @kirstievannoort @juliegreen_art

yet again sacred Ngarranggarni (dreaming) land is

yet again sacred Ngarranggarni (dreaming) land is being harmed by global mining in Australia. please visit @garnkinynotgranite to learn more, sign petitions to help support the protection of this land being.

they explain how Kimberly Granite Holdings is mining black granite which is considered the tail of Goorlabal the serpent, keeper of the Law and a dreaming being who also carries ancestors.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF BEING ALIVE (or sleek countertops) WITHOUT DREAMING BEINGS?

may our actions benefit beings everywhere, especially right now the giant serpent protectors of Earth.

.
.

1st image is land sheddings and portals offered from around Australia protected in the ochre sanctuary (a limited display of dusts that are allowed to be shared on social media, many others are not).

2nd + 3rd image from @garnkinynotgranite

thanks to contributor @elainesuhui for sending the heads up on this. if you see local mining activities that are threatening sleeping rainbow beings of your region, please share and let me know.

charnel grounds

charnel grounds

there are many projects i work on behind the scene

there are many projects i work on behind the scenes that don't get to be shared here publically (for sacred or professional reasons) ... but was psyched to be ok'd to share a little window into a confidential project involving local & deep geologic story telling with @dlr_group. i love these WA rockling exposures so so much, many from nearby regions where i was born and raised in la northwest. they feel like my big brothers and sisters and kin.

can you feel which pigment is from mineralized marine fossils? or from ice age sediment? or carbonized logged stumps? future rust? volcanic ooooze? miocene? my backyard?

ashes, ribcages, coal mining memories of lookouts

ashes, ribcages, coal mining memories of lookouts past... curiously out tracking a lot of carbon cycle deep time travels this week... thinking with carbon, limelight, heat, fissures, fires, futures....

copper and iron land tears

copper and iron land tears

grėęěəêēéĕen earths from ochre archive, mo

grėęěəêēéĕen earths from ochre archive, mostly all from west north america, plus a few foreign realms. celadonite, glauconite, chlorite, vivianite and a few idk clays and soils.

several of these were sent to me by friends (hi and thnx!) via USPS, without which my archive wld not exist. i work in a rural place where postal mail is essential to my exchange practice, my soul and actual livelihood (plus I mail-in vote).

one of the less known uses of green earth pigment is found in older camouflage face paint and clothing and tents. i think i am going to make some for myself everytime i go to my beloved post office now...

Follow on Instagram

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: API requests are being delayed for this account. New posts will not be retrieved.

Log in as an administrator and view the Instagram Feed settings page for more details.

© Early Futures 2009-2020

Newsletter

First Name

Last Name

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human: