In this two-day workshop, artist Paige Emery will guide participants on an ecology walk through a portion of the Arroyo Seco and teach about native plants along the way.

Topics covered on the first day will include introductions to plant identification, taxonomy, and ethnobotany as well as introductions to traditional uses for native plants and their beneficial properties.
During the hike, participants will have the opportunity to create botanical drawings from observation and make their own plant monographs.

The second day of the workshop will commence at the Armory Center for the Arts, where Paige will demonstrate techniques for making plant-based paint from native flora. Paint made on site will be used to complete the monographs drawn the previous day.

Additionally, each session will begin with a thematic tea ceremony, during which Paige will speak about herbs that can cultivate self-love and support cognition and memory.

Drawing and painting materials will be provided.

This hands-on event will take place partially outdoors. We ask participants to please bring water, sunscreen, sunglasses, and a hat, and to wear clothes they don’t mind getting dirty.

Tending Ecologies is a workshop program about caring for the land around us and the landscape of our bodies. Each session engages with ideas of release, nourishment, attention, and renewal in resonance with Earthly cycles and practices of bioremediation, bioregional herbalism, ecological art and sound, and healing arts.

Attendance at past workshops is not a requirement for joining.