Can a garden help revitalize neighbourhood?
DALLAS — Kara Wigzell, 2, dipped her brush in cochineal dye, painted and then watched with delight as her masterpiece melted ever so slightly with the help of a fresh-squeezed lime.
The magic happened at the recent open house of the new MAC POP Garden planned near the MAC, formerly known as the McKinney Avenue Contemporary.
That’s the kind of joy Rachel Rogerson, MAC executive director, hopes the garden will provide for artists of all ages when the first crop of plants that provide natural dyes is ready to be harvested.
A Rejuvenation
The project is a partnership of the MAC, Promise of Peace Gardens, which has a mission of transforming vacant spaces into gardens, and Tierra Firme, a collaboration of artists Analise Minjarez and Sarita Westrup, who have helped guide the University of North Texas Natural Dye Garden.
The plan, Rogerson said, is to bring artists and the community together and to rejuvenate what had been an abandoned urban environment.
‘Character and Texture’
Rogerson and Elizabeth Dry, founding executive director of Promise of Peace, looked optimistically at the four raised beds awaiting seeds and plants.
On a table adjacent to Kara, artist Lucas Martell of Dallas, who works with Tierra Firme, demonstrated how to paint with natural dyes.
Martell described the unique properties that natural dyes gave to his watercolours.
“You can create your own characteristics for the colour depending on how you mix it,” he said. “There’s a granular quality, a residue that gives it character and texture.”
For Kara’s mother, Katie O’Brien of Dallas, it was a first look at a place in her neighbourhood and she looked forward to returning.
O’Brien had volunteered with the MAC gallery in its old location and had helped out with Promise of Peace in another location.
“I’m so glad this is happening,” O’Brien said. “It’s helping the artists and revitalizing this cool area of Dallas.”