Intensive Natural Dye Weekend with Fiber Artist Porfirio Gutiérrez
At the Museum
Join us for an unforgettable two-day weekend workshop featuring 11 hours of hands-on instruction in the traditional use of cochineal insect dye. Learn directly from the renowned Zapotec-American fiber artist Porfirio Gutiérrez as you practice techniques for mordanting wool, grinding cochineal, preparing the dye vat, and dying a wool scarf to take home.
One of the oldest pigments used in Mexico, cochineal’s red color was symbolically associated with the gods, sun, blood, and rituals. Used as medicine, as well as to decorate buildings, murals, codices, and the human body, it was culturally, symbolically, and economically valuable. For Gutiérrez, cochineal and its color are still sacred and precious. A direct descendant of the civilization that helped domesticate and develop this globally influential pigment, he teaches the deeper cultural context beyond the surface of cochineal’s vivid red.
For ages 16 and up; teens 16–17 must be accompanied by someone 18+. This workshop will be held outdoors, January 24–25, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM, and participants should wear layers, sun protection, and comfortable clothing that might get dirty or colored. Bring a notebook, lunch, and water bottle. Instructor is bilingual and ready to support Spanish-speaking participants by request.
Advance registration required. Click here to sign up online while space lasts.
General admission: $300
Members: $280
Not a Member yet? Join us today.
Whet your appetite for this workshop during a talk and special sale of the artist’s functional work on Friday, January 9. Both events are brought to you with support from the Christel Bejenke fund. For more information about either event, contact kperry@sbnature2.org.
More About the Artist
An internationally known and exhibited artist based in Ventura, CA, Porfirio Gutiérrez has taught materials and color at Harvard University, and serves as Fellowships Advisory for the Smithsonian. His work is in the collection of LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and the Tucson Museum of Art. A selection of his dye materials was also documented and added to Harvard Art Museums’ Forbes Pigment Collection, the world-renowned archive of artist materials. In 2015, he received the Smithsonian Institution’s Artist in Leadership fellow, in 2021 he received the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation Art Prize, and in 2023 he was the finalist for Frieze Art Prize. His work has been covered by ARTnews, The New York Times, PBS, the BBC, Vogue, and Artforum.
Process photos by Liz Fish, artist photo by Luiz Garvan
