Naturally dyed fabric by Jovana Sarver
Harrisburg-based artist Jovana Sarver doesn’t let an onionskin, avocado pit or rose petal go to waste.
While most people are quick to toss them into the trash once peeled, plucked or withered, Sarver sees their potential. She takes cast-aside items and makes them her medium.
Sarver take pride in her natural fabric dying technique—as opposed to synthetic—that she uses to create one-of-a-kind pieces of clothing under the name Dirt Petal. Over time, she’s found that red onionskin, interestingly, can create a vibrant green dye, avocado skins and pits elicit a dusty pink, and florals make a rainbow assortment.
Jovana Sarver
As much as Sarver loves the “magic” of experimentation and crafting dye recipes out of nature, her art has a larger purpose—promoting re-use over destruction.
“It’s a way of working with abundance and natural resources,” she said. “You’re using something that already exists. There’s a greater positive impact.”
Sarver isn’t the only artist interested in making an environmental impact through her work. Art groups, organizations and creators in central Pa. are using their talents to get people to think deeper about nature—its beauty, but also the threats to its harmony.
For Sarver, that means avoiding synthetic dyes, which, she said, are artificially made using fossil fuels, and, instead, using natural dyes and fabrics, many of which are upcycled and vintage. Her choice of materials also won’t harm the land when they’re eventually returned to it, she noted.
Wearable art is unique in that it’s a “living gallery,” Sarver said, and that’s what she loves about it. Her canvases range from graphic T-shirts to slip dresses, ankle socks, blouses and matching sweat sets. Each piece is different, and she utilizes a variety of dying techniques. Some clothing items are hand-painted with color blocking, some are eco-printed with plant patterns and others are tie-dyed.
“When people see my work and know that it’s made with natural dyes, it blows their minds,” Sarver said. “It creates a lot of curiosity and deepens people’s attention to their environment.”
Pen-and-ink drawing by Ned Smith
Best of Both Worlds
Over Peter’s Mountain and tucked away in Millersburg is the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art.
If the name didn’t immediately give it away, the center brings together brush and bark for art and environmental education. Specifically, the facility serves as a memorial to the late Ned Smith, a local artist and naturalist.
“He drew inspiration from what he saw and photographed,” said the center’s archivist, Alexis Rich. “Protecting wildlife was important to him.”
Smith’s paintings, which are permanently on display in the center’s gallery, depict moose in a forest, bluebirds feeding their babies, a pair of foxes on a snowy bluff, and many other nature scenes.
Emily Rosmus, director of educational programming at the center, was always interested in art and nature, but didn’t realize she could combine both of those passions in a career. Having previously worked at nature centers, she came to the Ned Smith Center interested in the way it incorporated art education.
“I can’t say I’ve been to a place like this,” Rosmus said. “We focus on those two aspects so distinctly.”
Rosmus uses Smith’s art to teach students, who come to the center for summer camps and field trips, about wildlife, introducing them to creatures and plants. The staff will then take them for nature walks, pointing out animal tracks, mushrooms, snakes and birds.
When a student is more interested in nature, the more they will care about its wellbeing, she explained.
“It gives them more appreciation for when we take them into the woods,” she said. “We are guests there, it’s not our territory. We try to do our best by leading by example.”
While Smith died in 1985, Rosmus believes that, had he still been alive today, Smith would be concerned about threats to the environment, specifically, climate change.
“Based on what we know about Ned, I think he would be very alarmed,” she said.
Impact Change
When Martha Taylor retired, she finally had the time to pursue a long-time interest of hers—painting.
Then she heard about the Farmland Preservation Artists of Central Pennsylvania, a group that works to promote the preservation of the land through their art. Taylor grew up going to her grandparents’ dairy farm, so the thought of combining her two interests made getting involved in the art group an easy decision.
The group, which formed in 2005 as a joint effort between the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania and the Centre County Farmland Trust, is made up of about 18 artists. They travel around the region painting farm scenery, produce and animals, and they host a few exhibits each year.
Taylor and her fellow artists also sell their paintings to raise money for the art alliance and farmland trust, although the education and advocacy work is even more important to them.
“I really started to see a lot of development at places I remember as rural farmland,” Taylor said. “I think it’s important to maintain farmland, not just for food security, but for the sense of place.”
A selection of the group’s work, 51 pieces, was showcased in the state Capitol building this past October. That exhibit was especially meaningful to Taylor as they were able to get their art in front of lawmakers.
“That was a big step forward in our efforts,” she said. “I feel like we were being seen by the people that make the decisions.”
Ultimately, being seen is what all of the artists and organizations advocating for the environment want. To them, getting eyes on their art is deeper than receiving personal recognition, as viewers ponder their message.
Sarver, for one, is excited about her recent collaboration with a large company to develop natural dye recipes for their use. Designers from clothing brand Alexander McQueen commissioned also a piece from her.
“I’m seeing the bigger industries try to adapt,” she said. “That gives me hope that companies want to change.”
Whether it’s through opportunities like this, or through smaller instances, like staff at the Ned Smith Center seeing a child’s wonder and curiosity of nature sparked, art has a chance to make a difference.
“It gives me a great sense of responsibility and pride that I can use art to impact change,” Sarver said.
For more information about Jovana Sarver and Dirt Petal, visit www.dirtpetal.com or find her work for sale at Found Collab, 25 S. 3rd St., Harrisburg.
The Ned Smith Center is located at 176 Water Company Rd., Millersburg. For more information, visit www.nedsmithcenter.org.
To learn more about the Farmland Preservation Artists of Central Pennsylvania and upcoming exhibits, visit www.artallianceofcentralpa.org/farmland-preservation-artists-central-pa.
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