Meet the artist

Hi. I’m Rebecca Porche, the maker behind Alum + Iron Textiles. Thanks so much for stopping in to check out my site. I live in Western North Carolina near Asheville, NC. I’m an artist, a teacher, a mom, a life coach, and a writer to name a few. I’ve always been an artist, but it took me quite some time to discover my passion for textiles. I came to the world of fiber via a degree in design, many service industry jobs, workshops at craft schools like Penland and Arrowmont exploring different craft disciplines, and countless conversations with other craftspeople. 

It was in 2009, during a summer at Arrowmont, that I dove in and began to look into a two-year program in Fiber here in the WNC mountains. In that program, I explored all things fiber: weaving, surface design, shibori, embroidery, felting, sewing, and above all else, dyeing. I fell head over heels for natural dyes. It was love at first sight. I poured over dye books at every chance and reveled in my sample collection. Knowing my enthusiasm for the subject, my mentor Amy Putansu introduced me to another mentor, Catharine Ellis. I went with Catharine to John C. Campbell halfway through my first pregnancy to assist her in a Woven Shibori with Natural Dyes workshop. That opportunity changed everything, my amateur interest expounded into a pursuit. 

Since then I’ve been raising two kids, teaching Con-Ed classes at my alma mater, participating in exhibitions and workshops, evolved as a life coach, and learned to embrace all the varied parts of myself. In my leisure time, I love a good book, podcast, cooking project, Louisiana crawfish boil, every type of music, dancing in the kitchen, puzzles and games with my kids, wandering through a farmer’s market or art fair, yoga, oracle cards and traveling the world. If you’d like to check out my coaching website, it’s marigoldinmay.com. Thanks for being here. It means the world to me.