Sarah Westrup

Sunbeam Operations is lead by fibers artist Sarah Westrup. Sarah leads natural dyeing workshops throughout the North Texas area in hopes to inspire natural color in people's creative processes.

The Sun is the most grand and powerful renewable energy source that we have. Its warmth and sunbeams can be harnessed in so many ways to create vital resources such as oxygen and electricity. Sunbeams are also the primary source for obtain beautiful and natural color. Solar dyeing, a technique of natural dyeing, uses the sun's heat to extract vibrant pigment from plant material.

Natural dyeing is a resourceful process of obtaining color in natural fibers. A dyer may use plant material that they harvest from their natural environment or eat in their daily diet as a source for vibrant pigment. Natural dyes also carry a deep conceptual relationship to the place and form they originate from. Sarah utilizes natural materials that are native to her South Texas heritage, environment, and diet such as black beans, avocado pits, prickly pear, and hibiscus flowers for color inspiration. Her work strives to explore her own sentiments about the Rio Grande Valley region and her Mexican- American identity.

If you would like Sarah to lead a natural dye workshop in your area, please visit her contact link.

If you would like Sarah to lead a natural dye workshop in your area please shoot her an e-mail at [email protected]