We can rise up from the charred cinders of our brokenness by transforming our hands to be creative.
Category: The Blues
Healing Through Indigenous Textiles
Beginning a new journey of healing and transformation after walking out 3 sun rotations of 13 moons associated with the death of my mother.
Still I Rise: The Blues On Cloth
Transformation through indigo dyeing and healing brokenness with creative hands.
Flying the Coup to Freedom in Canada
A Personal Celebration of Indigenous Eastern N.C. Cultural Heritage ~ From the Last Toisnot Tuscarora Gatekeeper Yesterday, while braiding my hair, Felicia Farmer asked me how I felt about my upcoming trips to Calgary, Canada and New Orleans. I told her I was fearful because I’m alone and, as a woman, I don’t want to…
Otahpiaaki 2018 Workshop Preview
Link to YouTube Movie previewing next weeks workshops at Otahpiaaki 2018.
Indigenous Textiles As A Holistic Practice
Teaching, learning, sharing and healing through indigenous textiles.
Realizing A Dream Isn’t Coming True
Transforming The Blues into Textiles using cloth in an indigo vat.
Momma & Me: Indigo Blues & Slow Stitching
Sunday was my birthday and I had a writing assignment in my Loft Literary Center class to write a 26 sentence story. I had never heard of such a thing but the idea is to begin each sentence with the letters in the alphabet, i.e. A, B, C etc. The hardest for me was “X”,…
My Indigo Blues Journey
I’m a Teaching Artist from a family of teachers and women who loved sewing, quilting, dyeing fabric, weaving rugs, embroidery and crochet. I grew up in a multi-generational home where handmade was a way of life. I earned a BFA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Studio Art with concentrations in…
Free Writing, Drawing, Indigo Dyeing & Stitching: Marks 4 Healing
A Healing Balm To Comfort Grief: Free Writing, Drawing, Indigo Dyeing & Stitching As an acknowledgment to my momma’s Crossing Over one month today, I’m sharing my Free Write Blog post. To honor promises that I made to my momma, Doris Lee Jones, her mother, Minnie Eva Woodard and my grandmother caregiver, Mattie (Yat) Burnette…
A New Year With Penland On My Mind
The blessing of a new year is the privilege to roll the dial back to 001. Being at one signifies a new day, a brand new start, having another opportunity to get living life right. My reward to myself is a continuous 28-day pledge to draw, make color and journal the process. I’m a teaching…
Crying The Blues Away
After crying for twenty hours because I’m going to be an orphan soon, I surrender all. I’m at the end of my bloodline because I’m dirt and river water. I’m Toisnoit Skaru:re to Contentnea Creek, a Gatekeepers off-spring that hid in plain sight for 300 years. I’m this black earth where people from Fort Neyuheru:ke…
