Indigo Dyeing Opens Whitefish Bay Farm Gallery

Photo by Len Villano.

Whitefish Bay Farm Gallery kicks off the 36th season May 18 at noon. The gallery specializes in fiber art – hand felting, hand weaving, knitting and crochet – along with naturally colored (un-dyed) and naturally dyed yarns from the resident flock of Corriedale sheep. The gallery also features functional pottery and a smattering of photography.

A weekend of indigo dyeing begins May 18. On Friday, Gretchen Regnery will concentrate on creating shades of blue on white, light gray and medium gray yarns. On May 19, she will create shades of green on yarn previously dyed yellow. Shades of purple will be the focus on May 20. The dyeing will take place outside the large barn from 1 to 4 pm, weather permitting.

This season, Regnery will experiment weekly with a different dye material found at the farm. The experimental dyeing takes place on Saturdays, weather permitting. So far, the plans include dyeing with dandelions, birch leaves, birch bark, and a common lichen. Other dye materials may include mullein, nettle, lily of the valley and purple iris. Since these are experiments, only a small amount of yarn will be dyed each week. A sample of the yarn dyed in the weekly experiments will be on display in the gallery throughout the season.

Whitefish Bay Farm Gallery is located 1½ miles east of Highway 57 at 3831 Clark Lake Road (County WD) – the road to Whitefish Dunes State Park.