Field Note

High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree CA

A week of foraging, fire, and dye pots under open sky.

Felise hanging a pole of plant-dyed yarn skeins against desert boulders

Residencies are how the work stays close to place. Not a list of institutions — a stretch of days with a basket, a fire, and whatever the land offered that week.

A woven forage basket of green plants on a sandy desert path Dye pots of green plants simmering over a fire, with a forage basket nearby

Mornings started on the path with a forage basket. Evenings, pots sat on the coals — stems, bark, and the last of the light in the water.

Plant-dyed yarn skeins drying on a line beside a desert cabin A small open-air sleeping shelter among desert boulders Joshua tree and desert shrubs at sunset Residency process still Residency process still Residency process still Residency process still Residency process still Residency process still

Yarn dried on a line beside a cabin, then against the rocks — the same gradient that opens the site. Time away from the studio table, so the vat could be tended like a living thing.