Foraged was a collaboration between textile artist Annabella Sardelis and visual artist Annie Irene Hejny, two artists who have dedicated their lives to celebrating the natural beauty of Minnesota in their art. Their unique artistic process involved months of foraging for local plants to create natural dyes and pigments that grow abundantly around the Twin Cities. Foraged premiered Hejny’s first body of abstract paintings created exclusively with handmade natural pigments alongside Sardelis’ new line of wool scarves and an installation of sample specimens that the two women have collected on their journey.

Hejny and Sardelis invited viewers to reconnect with nature and recognize the wisdom of plants in our everyday lives. These works will feature handmade colors created from eight plants including jewelweed, tansy, black walnut and buckthorn, gathered from diverse places in the Twin Cities’ bioregion from wooded paths and riverbanks to city boulevards. A personal connection to the natural world defines the on-going work of both artists, whose practices involve the use of organic materials, waste reduction, and environmental stewardship. As Hejny says, “Our work is made for the earth, in honor of the earth, and for people to connect with the earth.”