Teaching natural dye techniques since 2010, Sierra has led workshops and lectures sharing in her art practice and teaching practice.

Workshops & Lectures cover topics such as:
Plant Dyes
Indigo Dying
Project-Based Learning
Student-Centered Design

Locations have included:
Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, CA
Makeshift Studios, Oakland, CA
Sacramento State University, Sacramento, CA
Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MA
The Exploratorium;   San Francisco, CA
Berkeley Botanical Garden;  Berkeley, CA
Full Belly Farm;  Guinda, CA
California College of the Arts;  Oakland, CA
Mandela Marketplace;  Oakland, CA
The Space Gallery;  Portland, ME
The Textile Lab;  New York City, NY

How can we leave evidence of an interaction between people?

Eating as a Time-Based Art is an ongoing dinner party that allows for participants to engage in sharing a meal together, and leaving a trace, a memory, of that time together.

"Darn It!"
Site specific, ongoing mending assignment to fix all worn and loved clothing.

All mending is done for free or trade.

"Darn It" has been hosted in Oakland, CA, Baltimore, MD, and will continue for all loved gear. 

 The conversations began after the election.  Another conversation happened after Oakland's Ghost Ship Fire.  Now we have continuing conversations as we share ideas, mourn our loved ones, and rally for positive change.  During the candlelight conversations I invite people to gather around a piece of cloth, we light candles that are held by the participants, and I give the participants a prompt to discuss as the wax drips upon the cloth.  The prompt changes every conversation, pertaining to the current social/political climate.  Each participant is given time and space to respond to the prompt while others listen, and once everyone has had a turn the conversation is open for discussion.  Though I have never made rules about leaving, no one has even left the circle until all candles have fully burnt out.  
     After the conversations, I take this wax-soaked cloth and I dye it in a natural indigo vat that I care for in my studio.  When dyeing with indigo, you don't leave it in the vat longer to let the color get darker, like other dye processes.  Instead you have to continuously dip the cloth over and over, layering the color to build a darker hue.  Many traditional dyers believe that by doing this, the cloth actually gains strength from the layering.  
     When the cloth is dyed, the wax is exposed.  All of our shared ideas, mourning, and rallying are exposed.  The more me talk to each other, the more we learn can learn from one another.  Gaining strength from our shared interactions.