SOU’WESTER EVENTS!

Direct dyeing silk with Japanese Indigo plants creates beautiful turquoise blues, colors that can’t be created in any other way.  Come immerse yourself in the magic of fresh indigo. This class is great taken in conjunction with the other dye workshops, but not required. Materials fee for this workshop is $30

Register here then follow the link in the registration confirmation to submit payment.

• Adult Saturday Workshop (youth under 12 accompanied by an adult) 10AM – 2PM
• $50 + materials fee
• Sign up for all Natural Dye Saturday Workshops (four total) 25% off
• *Scholarships Available

In this class students will explore using common local plants to create a variety of yellows, greens, oranges and blacks to make a joyful string of flags for autumn bunting. This class is great taken in conjunction with the other dye workshops, but not required. Materials fee for this workshop is $30

Register here then follow the link in the registration confirmation to submit payment.

• Youth After-School Program Ages 7-11
• T, W, Th 3:30-5:30 with possible transportation from LB Elementary
• $75/week + materials fee
• All youth Natural Dye Workshops (Four weeks and four Saturdays): 25% off
• 20% off when you sign up for all After-School Workshops!
• Sibling discount an additional 10% off.
• *Scholarships Available

Flower dyeing silk to capture summer sunshine. In this workshop we will use flower petals to bundle dye silk pillow covers with many colors for wintertime dreaming. This class is great taken in conjunction with the other dye workshops, but not required. Materials fee for this workshop is $30

Register here then follow the link in the registration confirmation to submit payment.

• Adult/Youth Saturday Workshop (under 12 accompanied by an adult)
• $50 + materials fee
• Sign up for all Natural Dye Saturday Workshops (four total) 25% off
• *Scholarships Available

Luke Borsten: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Luke Borsten is a songwriter/saxophone man in Portland. After opening for Amanda Palmer, touring nationally, releasing an album at the Wonder Ballroom, and performing on cruise ships for two years, he’s now looking forward to his first live show of 2021. His energetic, front-porch folk performance style keeps crowds singing and clapping along, and he frequently invites special guests up to perform, making for an eclectic and memorable experience.

Luke’s band, Ghost Towns, recorded part of their album at the Sou’Wester, as part of a week-long artist residency in 2014. When not performing live Luke can be found shooting/editing live videos for bands around Portland, and is currently directing his first music video.

Madder and Cochineal are ancient and rare red dyes with fascinating stories. One comes from a root, the other an insect – both profoundly impacted the world. This week we will explore these fabulous dyes using printing and painting to create patterns that appear magically in the dye pot. This class is great taken in conjunction with the other dye workshops, but not required. Materials fee for this workshop is $30

Register here then follow the link in the registration confirmation to submit payment.

• Youth After-School Program Ages 7-11
• T, W, Th 3:30-5:30 with possible transportation from LB Elementary
• $75/week + materials fee
• Sign up for all youth Natural Dye Workshops (four weeks and four Saturdays) 25% off
• 20% off when you sign up for all After-School Workshops!
• Sibling discount an additional 10% off.
• *Scholarships Available

Once upon a time… traditional dye stuffs are filled with myths and stories, in this workshop we will hear some of them, then use the raw dyes to create bold colors that look like fireworks on large square silk scarves that can be worn, or used to make a play cape. This class is great taken in conjunction with the other dye workshops, but not required. Materials fee for this workshop is $30

Register here then follow the link in the registration confirmation to submit payment.

• Adult/Youth Saturday Workshop (under 12 accompanied by an adult)
• $50 + materials fee
• Sign up for all Natural Dye Saturday Workshops (four total) 25% off
• *Scholarships Available

Did you know that iron comes from stars? Why is Titanium named after the Titans? Find out more during this week as we will gather leaves to print onto cotton bags with the help of Iron and titanium. Because nature adventurers and treasure hunters always need a good bag. This class is great taken in conjunction with the other dye workshops, but not required. Materials fee for this workshop is $30.

Register here then follow the link in the registration confirmation to submit payment.

• Youth After-School Program Ages 7-11
• T, W, Th 3:30-5:30 with possible transportation from LB Elementary
• $75/week + materials fee
• Sign up for all youth Natural Dye Workshops (four weeks and four Saturdays) 25% off
• 20% off when you sign up for all After-School Workshops!
• Sibling discount an additional 10% off.
• *Scholarships Available

Botanical printing, or Eco-Printing, is a way to make clear images of leaves, like portraits of plants. In this workshop we will print leaves onto cloth and paper to create table runners, and a leaf printed paper for drawing treasure maps on. This class is great taken in conjunction with the other dye workshops, but not required. Materials fee for this workshop is $30.

Register here then follow the link in the registration confirmation to submit payment.

• Adult/Youth Saturday Workshop (under 12 accompanied by an adult)
• $50 + materials fee
• Sign up for all Natural Dye Saturday Workshops (four total) 25% off
• *Scholarships Available

The Hackles: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

“We’re processing a lot of things going on in our world right now,” reflects Kati Claborn during a respite from touring. Along with her partner Luke Ydstie, Claborn is striving to make sense of the present by looking to the past in The Hackles’ upcoming album, A Dobtrich Did As A Dobritch Should, out on Jealous Butcher Records on November 8, 2019. “We’re looking at the big picture through individual lives,” says Claborn.  In an era rife with discord, The Hackles are using melodic, shimmering indie folk to chronicle means of control and autonomy through idiosyncratic narratives.

 Ydstie and Claborn first met in Portland in the mid-2000s after Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski of Blind Pilot recruited additional band members to flesh out the band. Still members of Blind Pilot today, Ydstie and Claborn first met at these initial band practices, and now live in Astoria, Oregon with their five-year-old daughter. After discovering how well each of their creative processes’ enrich one another’s, Ydstie and Claborn decided to form their own musical project. “I think one of the reasons why it’s so successful when Luke and I write together is that we feel very safe and open,” says Claborn. “Both of us feel like we can throw out any idea and it’s okay. We can try anything.” Co-producer Adam Selzer expands this environment of experimentation. “Going into the mixing process, we gave Adam free reign to do whatever he wanted, and he made a lot of interesting mixing choices and added effects that had a huge effect on how the album turned out.”

Though The Hackles’ upcoming record title might at first seem imbued in mystery, the  eccentric name is a nod to the life and death of 20th century Bulgarian circus impresario, Al Dobritch, who appears most markedly in “And The Show Goes On.” The chief producer of famed Circus Circus Casino in Las Vegas, Dobritch made a name for himself after escaping World War II and settling in America, eventually rubbing elbows with celebrities and marrying film star Rusty Allen. His gilded life came to a dark end when he was charged with kidnapping and, soon after, jumped to his death on the Las Vegas strip. “Dobritch went through so many crazy things in his life,” says Claborn, “And though he was able to persevere and create this incredible life, it goes to show that at the end, there are sometimes things you can’t control.”

The interwoven notions of predestined fate, as well as the hopeful antithesis of regaining power over one’s personal circumstances, stream throughout The Hackles’ upcoming release, complemented by the album’s serene sound. The duo’s propensity for glowing chords shines, though it soon becomes apparent that the expert delicacy of the couple’s guitar work only barely contains the graceful, mounting power prevalent in the meeting of Claborn and Ydstie’s voices. Similar to the tug-of-war stories that Claborn and Ydstie portray, the dynamism of the duo’s vocals never overpowers the tranquility of the chords below. Instead, both strengths support and enhance one another. “There’s a thread going through the album about the things that control us in our lives and the things that we’re able to take back,” surmises Claborn, “It’s about the impact of inevitability, the webs you can weave, and the webs that weave you.”