The plants are fading, and my time on the farms has come to a pause. When I started this project back in March, I knew almost nothing about which plants could yield which colors. Now, I’m stepping into the next phase: learning how to work with frozen and dried plants to create pigments. I’ll be grinding stones, dirt, and bones, making charcoal from branches—delving into new techniques and materials. Ink is alive. It changes over time, and that initially frustrated me. But this month, I realized something important: I don’t have to fight against this quality. I can incorporate it into my work. I’m developing a conceptual piece called Time Lapse, where I’ll allow the ink’s natural shifts to document the passage of time in the artwork itself. Time Lapse is a quiet reflection on what we’ve gained and lost over generations: the wisdom of seasons and soil, the traditions passed down through families—so much of which has faded with industrialization. As farming has become more mechanized, we’ve lost some of the intimate knowledge that once connected us to the land. This piece highlights those changes, holding both the enduring beauty of what remains and the sorrow for what’s been left behind. Stay tuned for how the winter months produce a time for more research, more experimentation and more opportunities to refine my final exhibition.
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June-August was filled with weekly farm visits and experimenting in the kitchen to create pigments. It's a slow process since I'm learning as I go, but I've had some great results so far. One of the highlights of these visits is spending time with the animals—Soph, Marsh, the alpacas, and all the others.
I love wandering through the land and soaking in the atmosphere. I'm thinking of naming my next exhibit "Meander" to capture the relaxed, enjoyable experience of each farm visit. Here are some images from the visits from June- August. I hope they capture this feeling. P.S.I wanted to include an image of Judy Dogherty, my photographer friend, who graciously photographed the farms in July. She has sense moved our of state so she will no be a part of the project anymore. I will post her photos at a later date because they are lovely and capture the farms and farmers so well. September is a time when the harvest is rich. I have been waiting for many fruits and berries to ripen enough to harvest for my pigments. The weekly farm visits are thrilling as we find abundant material that can produce inks. Plumbs are sticky but the color is rich, rabbit brush is in full bloom, and Sand cherries are dropping in droves. I can hardly keep up making inks so I decided to freeze and dry some.
I was able to run my first community event at a farm-to-table dinner in Adams County. People were so eager to try the various inks and curious about how they were made. I have one more event this year at Barr Lake for their Harvest Festival. I can’t wait to share what I am learning. I continue to explore ways that I can incorporate these inks into my own art. I have enjoyed drawing with them and recently I started drawing and painting right onto the wood panels and covering them with a layer of wax. This whole process makes me smile and I can’t wait to see the final product. September is a time when the harvest is rich. I have been waiting for many fruits and berries to ripen enough to harvest for my pigments. The weekly farm visits are thrilling as we find abundant material that can produce inks. Plumbs are sticky but the color is rich, rabbit brush is in full bloom, and Sand cherries are dropping in droves. I can hardly keep up making inks so I decided to freeze and dry some.
I was able to run my first community event at a farm-to-table dinner in Adams County. People were so eager to try the various inks and curious about how they were made. I have one more event this year at Barr Lake for their Harvest Festival. I can’t wait to share what I am learning. I continue to explore ways that I can incorporate these inks into my own art. I have enjoyed drawing with them and recently I started drawing and painting right onto the wood panels and covering them with a layer of wax. This whole process makes me smile and I can’t wait to see the final product. In March 2023 I made my first visits to the Farms that I planned to visit throughout the year. I will also say that whenever you start interesting projects you always find unexpected resources. I found one of those with an artist Jamie and her daughter Mikayla who was learning about the plants behind their hope in Bennett Co. She was my first “expert” and it was thrilling just getting started. The land changed for me on those visits. I realized two things in those days, one, many, many of the plants on the Eastern Plains are not native but brought here by humans. Two, I needed to really know how to identify plants not just for their ability to produce pigment, but for my own protection. (And watch out for snakes!) Here is my list of plants that do provide pigment: Black-eyed Susans Rabbit Brush Prickly pear Wild Merigold Curly Dock Choke Cherry Mullein Oak gals Here is the list of unknowns: Buffalo Berry-Shepherdia argentea, commonly called silver buffaloberry, bull berry, or thorny buffaloberry, is a species of Shepherdia in the Oleaster family. Native people used to make red dye. Plumb- The pits could be ground and used to make pigment Burdock Sunflowers Rosehips Coyote willow Sumac- This produces a pigment Below you see some of the amazing land owners and experts that I met in March. You can also see Larry with his alpaca and his angora goat. Drawing on my rich heritage as a descendent of Colorado Homesteaders, and farmers living on the prairie, my artistic journey re-conceptualizes the notion of "working the land." I am intimately bound to the geographical and emotional landscapes that have shaped my heritage. In 1922 my Great-great Grandparents moved onto a small piece of land outside of Springfield Co. It was a time of growth for the area. Between 1910 and 1930 the population grew by 8,000 people to over 10,000. They came because others bragged of green lush lands where you could grow wheat. My family were not wealthy people, they were simply trying to live. As I read more about this time in our history, I realize that my Great Grandparents made the best of what they knew. And we now know that the farming methods of planting mono-crops in straight lines and depending on consistent climate patterns led to the disastrous dust storms of the Dust Bowl. Photo: My Grandfather Hill and his brother Ted. Photo: My Grandma Hill with Jack her first born.There are three main farm that I have chosen to visit regularly. They provide a diverse sampling of what is means to work the land.
The first one is Lazy B Acres Alpacas, an alpaca farm in Bennett Colorado. Larry and Becky raise alpacas for for their beautiful wool. The next farm is Berry Patch Farms in Broomfield Colorado. They are an organic farm owned and operated by Tim and Claudia. Finally is Flying B Bar Ranch, a grass fed cattle ranch in Strasburg Colorado. They ranch in ways that better for the planet, the animals and the customer. "Dust to Apples" is an innovative community-based land art project that reimagines the concept of "working the land" by transforming plants and minerals found on the Colorado Plains into captivating artworks. Rooted in the rich heritage of Melody Epperson's great-grandparents, who were both Colorado Homesteaders and farmers, this project aims to engage with landowners and open spaces. It aims to reconnect us to the land and better understand the meaning of “working the land”.
The project will take place over two growing seasons with the culmination being an exhibition of Epperson’s art as well as documentation of the process. It all began with a trip to Springfield Colorado with my mother. This is where her grandparents homesteaded a small farm in 1921. Charles Hill and his wife and family moved here to begin their new life as people who worked the land. |
Melody EppersonA profoundly curious artist exploring what it means to be human through art and life. Archives
October 2024
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