Art in the Arboretum: Botanical Printing Workshop with Jan Quarles

Name: Art in the Arboretum: Botanical Printing Workshop with Jan Quarles
Start: 2025-09-13T09:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-09-13T16:00:00-04:00
Location: 901 South Illinois Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN, United States, Tennessee 37830

Schedule

Sat Sep 13 2025 at 09:00 am to 04:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

901 South Illinois Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN, United States, Tennessee 37830 | Oak Ridge, TN

Did you know many leaves and flowers will share colors and create beautiful natural prints on fabric? Botanical printer Jan Quarles will teach a workshop on the basics of this amazing process on September 13, 9am to 4pm at the outdoor Sharp Program Shelter on the grounds of the UT Arboretum, 901 S. Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge.
Due to the hands-on instruction, the class is limited to 10 participants. The fee is $140 (plus service fees) which covers instruction and all materials including two silk scarves that each participant will print and take home. Registration with payment is required to reserve your spot in the class. Registration link is available at utarboretumsociety.org under Programs. The class is open to ages 16 and up. UT Arboretum Society members receive a 15% discount on registration. One scholarship is available for a high school or college student participating in the class. Contact Michelle Campanis, UT Arboretum Education Coordinator at [email protected] for more information about the scholarship or any questions about the class.
Students will learn how to choose leaves that transfer their color and patterns well. Each student will make two beautiful silk scarves by placing plants (leaves and flowers) for a design on a prepared fabric. They will roll, dye, and steam the fabric in a layered technique for beautiful prints. Work will be done with two prepared scarves – one with eucalyptus that turns an amazing red and another with materials provided by the Arboretum.
A minimum of four participants is needed for the class to be offered. Depending upon weather, class may be moved inside.
Jan Quarles is a long-time fiber artist who works with the beauty of the natural world. For more than 30 years she’s been a dyer, weaver, knitter, seamstress, and spinner. Today, with her small business, What Nature Leaves, she is a botanical printer who marries natural dyes with nature’s leaves and flowers to document colors and seasons.
She’s also an indigo dyer and practitioner of shibori and katazome who deeply loves the magic of indigo and layers the blues with other natural dyes in her botanical practice.

Quarles had a solo show of her indigo and botanical prints in Nashville in 2022. She has a botanically printed flag in an international show and has studied with many teachers at Arrowmont, Penland and other craft venues nationally and internationally. She is a former journalist and professor of mass communication in the United States and overseas who has always practiced her fiber arts in the hours that were her own.