Learning kit for middle school and secondary school children Make a Rainbow by Laura Garbštienė.

The textile industry is one of the world’s biggest polluters and dyeing is one of its most environmentally harmful processes. In an attempt to counter this, natural dyes are now being produced in ways that are better for the environment. These methods are still being developed and have not yet been industrialised, so in this lesson we will explore some historical methods of natural dyeing that are easy to work with at school or at home in an improvised lab environment.

The learning kit contains information about the artist Laura Garbštienė, a lesson plan with key terms, activity workbook, a reading material on the history of the textile industry, and presentation materials about the chemistry of plants.

Produced during Empowering Tools residency at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Art, 2022.

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LESSON PLAN

ACTIVITY

TEXTILE HISTORY

CHEMISTRY OF PLANTS

TEACHING MATERIALS

Subjects: Chemistry, biology

Interdisciplinary links: Botany, history, ethics, geography

Age group: Primary school, secondary school

Duration: 3–4 lessons

Learning outcomes: Students will learn about the chemistry of plants and at-home methods for producing organic colour pigments that can be used to make their own dyes, as well as making a collective rainbow by quilting their dyed samples together. They will also learn about the history of the textile dyeing industry and some of the processes involved in making clothes.

NEXT STEPS

Discussion

Students can begin to record their journey in making environmentally safe and ethical clothing. Perhaps open a discussion about some of the alternative economies relevant to making clothes, and how these systems work.

Documentaries

“River Blue”: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/riverblue

“The True Cost”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-0zHqYGnlo

Additional Reading

Make Ink: A Forager’s Guide to Natural Inkmaking, Jason Logan, 2018

Earthen Pigments: Hand-Gathering & Using Natural Colors in Art, Sandy Webster, 2013

The Art and Science of Natural Dyes: Principles, Experiments, and Results, Joy Boutrup & Catharine Ellis, 2019

Singing the Blues: Soulful Dyeing for All Eternity, John Marshall, 2018

Fibershed: Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy, Rebecca Burgess, 2019Fray: Art and Textile Politics, Julia Bryan-Wilson, 2017