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Photos by Nikki Davidson
ABOVE: Sullivan Daire works along art pieces, plant clippings and resident
felines at Dream Bird Studio in Astoria. LEFT: Sullivan Daire removes
a textile piece from a bath of indigo dye. BELOW LEFT: Sullivan Daire
inspects a rainbow of natural dyed textile pieces hanging in her studio.
BELOW: Sullivan Daire paints her pieces with natural resist components
before dying them to create pieces of art.
here,” she said. “You can use the
cones to dye with, the leaves to dye
with and you can use the bark off of
your firewood to dye with.”
She said she’s most excited to
teach after-school programs at the
Sou’Wester, eager for the opportu-
nity to teach kids that every color
of the rainbow can be created from
just three different plants. The
classes will be held three days a
week for three weeks.
“If you get exposed to it, it’s
totally exciting,” she said.
Sullivan Daire served as a
nature guide in college and feels
her workshops are essentially guid-
ing young students through nature
in a different way. She plans to
focus her lesson plans on a new
color each week, and give her
class hands-on experience to create
something of their own.
She’ll also be hosting Sat-
urday natural dying classes at
the Sou’Wester for students 12
and older. The weekend work-
shops will cover everything from
indigo dying, flower printing on
silk pillowcases and eco-printing
tablecloths.
The workshop series comes at a
time when many people are becom-
ing more aware of where their
clothes come from. According to a
2017 report from the Ellen MacAr-
thur Foundation, textile produc-
tion pollutes water and generates
more emissions than all interna-
tional flights and maritime ship-
ping combined. The dying indus-
try uses more than 8,000 chemicals
and many, including sulfur, arsenic
and formaldehyde are harmful to
human health.
Sullivan Daire only uses non-
toxic natural dyes.
She believes introducing peo-
ple to more sustainable alternatives
like natural dying can make a big
difference in attitude. She doesn’t
believe in shaming people for past
purchases.
“Just having one textile that you
know the source of, that’s mean-
ingful to you and enriches your
life in huge ways, that’s the sort of
experience that encourages peo-
ple to seek that out more,” she said.
“I’d rather do that than just telling
people ‘everything in your closet
is bad and wrong, you’re bad and
wrong for having bought these
things.’”
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 // 9