Rhizomatic: Portrait and Collage Workshop

Exploring Personal Ancestry through Texas Native Plant Knowledge

Presented by Essentials Creative × Collide Arts 

Explore the underground connections between Texas native plants and their ancestral stories through photography and mixed-media collage. Inspired by Essentials Creative's Rhizomatic installation on the library's rooftop garden, this hands-on workshop guides you in creating visual collages that honor Indigenous knowledge, scientific understanding, and personal memory—using photography, illustration, and paper cutting.

Drop in anytime, leave when you need to, and work at your own pace. Whether you stay for 30 minutes or the full 3 hours, you'll have materials and guidance to create something meaningful.

• Learn photography and collage history through the lens of BIPOC artists who use these mediums for cultural reclamation
• Photograph Texas native plant specimens in studio portrait and still-life sessions
• Create layered collages using Essentials Creative's printed photos, botanical illustrations, scanned watercolor, fabric, and patterns
• Explore the connections between the ten featured plants and Indigenous knowledge systems
• Reflect on your own ancestral or personal plant knowledge and relationship to the land

Featured Plants Include: Purple Coneflower • Goldenrod • Prickly Pear • Cattail • Apache Plume • Chile Pequin • Amaranth • Horsetail • Turk's Cap • Maguey

No art experience necessary, recommended ages 13+, materials included.