Research
The Sustainable Colour Lab (SCL) focuses on exploring relational approaches to place, space, and time, with an emphasis on sourcing pigments and materials from local, ethically produced sites. The research centers on critical cultural inquiries and collaborative partnerships with Indigenous communities and makers, such as Beam Paints, to foster supportive communities of practice rooted in land-based pedagogies. By making knowledge through material, form, and practice, SCL aims to develop a holistic production process that considers the entire lifecycle of art and design—from source to final form, therefore, encouraging a deeper understanding of individual impact while advocating for the divestment from plastics, petroleum-based solvents, and volatile organic compounds.
In Fall 2024, the lab hosted a symposium focused on sustainable alternatives to plastic-based paints and products. The lab’s trans-disciplinary approach bridges art, design, science, and technology, integrating scientific knowledge with the practical needs of artists and designers. SCL also aims to build a collaborative database, partnering with academic institutions, materials scientists, conservation experts, and Indigenous collaborators. The inaugural OCADU SCL Summer Institute will run May-June 2025.
Nicole Collins
Southern Ontario is the northernmost climate of the Eastern American Black Walnut (juglans nigra). The fruit of this deciduous tree has historically been utilized to produce dyes and inks alongside the use of the nut (food source for humans and other-than-humans) or the production of and edible oil and paint binder. Collins has been developing methods to produce astable (or ephemeral) pigment for use in the production of paints. The presence of juglone (a toxic organic compound) in the leaves, stems and husks of theBlack Walnut deters many other plants from thriving in its’ vicinity. This “anti-social” or possibly self-protective characteristic is also being explored for its’ implications in concurrent artworks.
In conjunction with this study of the black walnut, Collins is also laking plant-based pigments in collaboration with Julia Rose Sutherland, to expand the scope of Sustainable Paint Practices. An interdisciplinary studio-based course, it builds on the long history of paint making at OCADU and introduces students to alternative methods, drawing on the historical (oil, egg tempera, encaustic, silverpoint) and current practices in local plant-based and mineral colour sources.
Instagram: @nicolecollinsartist
See Watercolour/ Encaustic workshop by Nicole!
Julia Rose Sutherland
(She/They) is passionate about land-based colour research, ethical foraging, and Land collaborations. As a participant in the Sustainable Future Fellowship "Lessons from The Land: Textiles Dyeing MAAD,” she enriched student inquiry on sustainability by exploring dyeing techniques through a decolonized, land-based lens. Her work involved using Indigenous plants from the Tkaronto area, transitioning away from synthetic dyes, using soy based binder instead of more harsh mordants, fostering community engagement including our relationships with the Land and non human relations, and critically examining water usage and collection in the studio.
Julia Rose is currently working with Nicole Collins in the Sustainable Colour Lab to create lake pigments for natural dye marbling, which will be featured in her Fall 2025 Textile Surface Design course!
See her latest Dye workshop by Julia Rose!
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Hello! We are OCADU Sustainable Colour Lab! The lab is a space and community for artists and designers to conduct, create and disseminate new knowledge in the area of material colour research.
Developed in collaboration by Nicole Collins (Associate Professor, Faculty of Art) ,Julia Rose Sutherland who is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Design (MAAD-Textiles) and the Faculty of Art in Indigenous Visual Culture and Lauchlan Reid (Associate Professor, Faculty of Design), our focus on sustainability includes aspiring to be plastic-free; health & safety centered for the land, the community and the artist; ethical foraging practice; renewable colour sources and using what we have including waste-stream materials.