Feral and Invasive Pigments

2022 Fall semester

• 30-minute painting demonstration, Sept. 14, 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. in the gallery
• Opening reception with the artist Sept. 14, 5-7 p.m.
• Artist lecture Sept. 15, 11:10a, Duke 2004
• Plant walk and demonstration at the Arboretum’s Terrace, Sept. 15, 2:30-4 p.m. 

This exhibition features New York-based Ellie Irons' work with "the spontaneous plant beings–commonly known as weeds–who thrive in areas heavily impacted by extraction, industry, urbanization, and climate change."  Over the past decade, Irons has used their leaves, petals and berries to make watercolor paint.  At the same time, these often undervalued plants have taught her how to tune into the vibrant life animating urban landscapes. From the brilliant blue of Asiatic dayflower, which thrives on sidewalk cracks in Kyoto and monoculture crop fields in the Midwestern United States, to the deep magenta of pokeweed, sprouting from deteriorating parking lots in Taipei and brownfields in New York City, I work with plants where they are valued as native species, overlooked as common weeds, and maligned as invaders.

Reframing them as companion plants for compromised times, I work with local participants (humans and plants, native and migrant) to build an archive of the palettes offered by the vegetal beings who create life in the feral edges of our shared habitats. Through group harvesting sessions, paint-making, art-creation workshops, gardening experiments, and solo studio and research work, I develop palettes that directly reflect the land that grew them and use those palettes to inspire maps, charts, guides, videos and texts that explore plant-human relationships in the face of climate chaos. Making these palettes provides a hands-on approach to contending with compromised ecosystems that are both flexible across habitats and intensely site-specific. Engaging with the vegetal beings who are learning to heal land damaged by extraction is both nourishing and sobering.