Earth Pigment Monoprints with Mara Baker | November 22

$180.00 
Saturday, November 22nd
10:00 AM-4:00 PM

Mara Baker’s interest in color goes beyond its perceptual quality—she considers color itself to be a material, shaped by the geology of the earth, water, air, place, deep time, and transience. Mara has turned her own yard into a living studio, rewilding it with native prairie plants and establishing a dye garden where plants are cultivated for their pigments. Her current body of work employs plant and earth colorants to create hybrid paintings, drawings and installations. We have invited Mara to share this way of considering color through a full-day exploration of earth pigments, both foraged and cultivated. 

Within this Saturday session, participants will learn about pigment foraging and how mineral pigments are processed into inks for painting or printing using simple non-toxic materials like burnt plate oil, magnesium carbonate, and gum arabic. In the afternoon, participants will then use earth-based inks, handmade from ochres, Venetian red, and other earth pigments, to create monoprints. 

Using Mara’s approach of combining found and newly made materials as a springboard, participants will be invited to create layered and transient artworks (monoprints), working both additively and subtractively. 

All materials will be provided, with participants invited to bring scraps of thin, flexible, and textured materials (string, crepe paper, fabrics, etc.) to use as stencils during the monoprinting portion of the workshop. 

Participants should bring their own lunch (or grab tacos from around the corner). Campfire will provide tea, coffee, water, and access to a fridge and microwave. 

Saturday, November 22nd
10:00 AM-4:00 PM

Mara Baker’s interest in color goes beyond its perceptual quality—she considers color itself to be a material, shaped by the geology of the earth, water, air, place, deep time, and transience. Mara has turned her own yard into a living studio, rewilding it with native prairie plants and establishing a dye garden where plants are cultivated for their pigments. Her current body of work employs plant and earth colorants to create hybrid paintings, drawings and installations. We have invited Mara to share this way of considering color through a full-day exploration of earth pigments, both foraged and cultivated. 

Within this Saturday session, participants will learn about pigment foraging and how mineral pigments are processed into inks for painting or printing using simple non-toxic materials like burnt plate oil, magnesium carbonate, and gum arabic. In the afternoon, participants will then use earth-based inks, handmade from ochres, Venetian red, and other earth pigments, to create monoprints. 

Using Mara’s approach of combining found and newly made materials as a springboard, participants will be invited to create layered and transient artworks (monoprints), working both additively and subtractively. 

All materials will be provided, with participants invited to bring scraps of thin, flexible, and textured materials (string, crepe paper, fabrics, etc.) to use as stencils during the monoprinting portion of the workshop. 

Participants should bring their own lunch (or grab tacos from around the corner). Campfire will provide tea, coffee, water, and access to a fridge and microwave. 

Bio

Mara Baker is an interdisciplinary artist and educator interested in the myriad ways we experience color. Her current work employs plant and mineral colorants foraged and cultivated in her dye garden.

Baker received an MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2024, she completed the Stanford Life Design Studio training for educators. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally, including in Chicago, New York, Santa Fe, Minneapolis, Budapest, and Toronto. Some notable exhibition venues include Bert Green Fine Art (Chicago IL), Riverside Art Center Sculpture Garden (Riverside, IL), Currents New Media Festival (Santa Fe NM), The Soap Factory (Minneapolis, MN), The Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL), Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (Grand Rapids, MI), and The Luminary Arts Center (Saint Louis, MO). She has been the recipient of artist’s grants and residencies from Hambidge Art Center (Rabun Gap, GA), The Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Illinois Arts Council Agency, Center Program Residency-Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL ), and Chicago Artists Coalition (Chicago, IL). She has received SSA public art grants from Chambers of Commerce across the city of Chicago for the Chameleon Blind Window Project.

Baker is a professor of art at the College of DuPage, a nationally recognized community college serving the greater Chicago area.

Photos Credits:

  • Process Photo, Drying out Chicago Brick for Pigment Making, 2025

  • Foraging for Pigment near the Tropic Resevoir, Utah, 2025

  • Mara Baker at Chicago Market, Grant Kessler

  • Remnant Rainbow, 2025. Naturally dyed fiber, monoprints, found materials, and acrylic on wood panel. 20" x 20”