ABOUT THE BOOK
As we follow her through orange swamps, red tides, green soil secrets, blue clay exposures, and more, she offers immersive stories, techniques, and how-tos for working with pigments made from land—no matter where you live or what minerals are available to you—and applying these skills to inspire and deepen respect, reciprocity, creativity, and connection with what is at our feet.
In Book of Earth, Heidi's poetic passion, field experience, and cross-cultural relationships with other ochre stewards around the globe not only challenge how we interact with the inanimate world around us, but also help us appreciate how ochres uses throughout history connect us closer to the earth and to one another today.
From the publisher of BOOK OF EARTH:
Art meets science in this guide to creating color with earth's extraordinary pigments and exploring their fascinating uses today and throughout history
Part anthropological study, part art book, and part how-to, Book of Earth immerses you in the world of ochre, a naturally occurring mineral used to make pigment.
Each chapter delves into author Heidi Gustafson's rare pigment archive and provides a thorough exploration of natural color, while challenging our notions of the inanimate world. The book includes practical advice and techniques for creating your own pigments and applying these skills in everyday life.
Called the "ochre whisperer" by American Craft, and noted as the "woman archiving the world's ochre," in the New York Times, her personal collection of more than 600 pigments from around the planet is a unique treasure, and her passion and field experience will captivate you from the first page to the last.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heidi Gustafson is an artist and ochre specialist with a working archive of hundred's of pigments. She frequently collaborates with artists, award-winning scientists, paleontologists, and other experts, including Jason Logan, author of Abrams' bestselling book Make Ink. She lives in the Pacific Northwest.