In the Strange Beauty series of articles I focus on the unique creative processes of Bisbee artists, their businesses and original practices. In looking at original clothing design and apparel in Old Bisbee we soon discover that, taken as a whole, the old Bisbee retail market can actually compete in very unique and inspiring ways with any shopping mall in the larger cities. The difference is one of going on an adventure from beautiful building to beautiful building, shop to boutique shop, which are built into the lower basin of the Mule Mountains. Or help yourself to the florescent lit drywall and plastic tombs of tarrified imports found in most contemporary retail in the larger cities and suburbs.
Though in recent years Bisbee has become known for the success of the very chic Classic Rock Couture, Object Trading Post, Panterra Boutique, and Visions, because Bisbee enjoys a generous amount of both historical and progressive tourism, one thing you’ll find a lot of is the quintessential Bisbee T-Shirt. This is starting to become a thing! Often designed by Bisbee artists and other sorted characters, I’ll go into more about this, and where to find them, in another Strange Beauty article. Likewise, Bisbee is also known for a number of its textile artists who re-envision found and vintage clothing and other objects. It is the most ancient of forms if you think about it, with quiltwork re-using scraps of cloth to create a larger blanket, and even tell a story. Bisbee artists often embroider, paint on, knit into, or collage found clothing, as though a found poem, works of functional art. And then there is the modern tie dye, taking your standard manufactured t-shirt, dress, or pillow, and turning them into explosions of hand-tied and manipulated clothing and apparel. Welcome to Doc’s Dyes, 67 Main Street, Unit D, in Old Bisbee. Open on weekends, but check for regional fairs at docsdyes.com
Doc’s Dyes is run by military vet Doc, and our local K-8th grade art teacher Katie along with their staff C.E.O. MoNo, C.O.O. Kukui, aided by their Director of Fabulousness, Rooster, Director of Security – “just bite it” Lola, and Kennelist of Hooman Resources, Winnie. See fury pictures on their website because some of this work stays at home! One of their inspirations has been collaboration with the Bisbee Animal Shelter, and we’ll learn more about the Shelter’s connection to clothes in the coming week. But speaking of the joy of naming, “We actually name our shirts either after those who have inspired us with color, pattern, etc, or just the beauty of nature. Examples include: There’s Uncle Joe, Aunt Jan, Teaghans, The Hustle, Oceans (day/night) Mermaids, Alderaans, Electric Rainbow, Reflections and my signature dye; Bisbee ROCKS!, as well as traditional colors and patterns. We certainly did not rewrite any book on tie dye, but as we’re both self-taught, the names came along with the process and they stuck.” So you soon see that like other artists, there is a personal journey wedding their art process to their creative identity, which can’t just be wedged between the brackets of technique, idea, or materials. As though the dyes and chemistry itself, their “makings” are fluid.
Doc’s unexpected journey to becoming a Bisbee artist largely is the story of love, and his need for a new (at first covert) mission, for which life has given him this assignment. “We began by making a few shirts for Katie’s Elementary School class for “field day” which were well received. That led to trying our local Farmer’s Market, and our first venue during Bisbee PRIDE. We got tons of supportive encouragement – so much that we decided that we’d form a LLC and give it a go in 2016… When COVID-19 hit, all outdoor venues were unavailable, so we decided to open a “brick and mortar” store in Old Bisbee. As outdoor venues come back, we can be found either in OB or out on the road.”
When it comes to technique, and I’ll add that in art original technique is often the arbiter of original style, even pertaining to standard genre’s like tie dye, they have proved themselves industrious. “With tie-dye, there are some rules that must be followed in order for the process to work. Nothing earth shattering, just some basic dyeing techniques that have been around for ages. Credit where credit is due, and that’s to the hippies who took at-home dyeing to a popular clothing style that is truly American and has withstood the decades. What sets us apart is our use of colors, and I do mean Color! I joke about dyeing with the Crayola 64 box of dyes, but I’m not really joking. (I’d have to count). We do traditional wet-dye, ice-dye (a newer technique), and snow dye if we get enough – nobody else does that. We don’t do designs like kitty-cats and guitars, but I can put at least 20 different colors on a shirt. My Bisbee Rocks is a 16 color traditional wet-dye. It is inspired by the local minerals found here: Bisbee Blue Turquoise, Azurite, Malachite, and Copper Poryphyte.”
Doc and Katie are drawn to many colors and patterns to fit our bodies through their personal stories in life. Bisbee Rocks, the Oceans series, it’s a “challenging dye to make to get the waves right along with the sun/moon. The Hustle is named after our dear friend Jim Hust. We’ve known him for years, and had never figured him a fan, let alone an inspirational one. The Hustle is a rather bold color choice that pairs nicely with the vertical double spiral.” In cutting cloth to the body, part of it is in the image, the pattern, the “spiral placement is critical on dresses.” To more subtle degrees in other garments. We both make the dresses now, but Katie had to show me how to do it. She’s still moother than I am, and she does more of both dresses and skirts than I. Certain colors/patterns are each “ours” so, sometimes it has to be one of us specifically.”
For instance, Katie tends to gravitate toward nature. She originally minored in art, “with an emphasis in photography (black and white, on film). I focused on macro work (usually flowers) and architecture (interesting angles of building, reflections, and historical details). I also became fascinated with night photography and extended exposure.” So it is fascinating that Katie tends to be drawn to values in the gray scale, as her years of photographic process migrate into her techniques and styles of tie dye. She is also an avid self-taught knitter and crocheter, as well, which we see informing her ties, dyes and other creative flourishes with cloth and design. And just as a teacher encouraging her students to learn how to use as many types of materials as possible, so also is her intuition informed as a seer of design.
There are other arts and artists represented at Doc’s Dyes. “Everything in our shop is made by local artists. We have mandala art by Magical Marie and we have Concrete Dick’s gargoyles exclusively. We do more than just tie dye! We can do Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV) and we have started doing some silk- screening. This is a service we hope to offer to other small businesses/organizations here in town. There may be some expectation management with regard to volume on orders. If you’d like to see what else we can do, drop by Electric Brewing – we do both tie-dyed and non-dyed shirts with silk-screening next.” A shirt for Po’Boys(a local food truck found in the Warren District of Bisbee) got to be their first experiment with silk-screen, and that got the bonus of a dye-job on top, so proof of concept was achieved. You might consider them achieving something for your own business or club!
Ken Boe is a Bisbee artist and writer. Support his work at patreon.com/kenboe including his Poem At Night series, his new blogs and videos, and his soon to be relaunched Bisbee Poetry Normalization Project (#BPNP) infamously normalizing a presence of poetry all over Bisbee and beyond. Find a poem on an old telegraph or telephone pole, in a shop window, or bulletin board. You may see where to get his artwork locally at kenboe.com, or buy directly by scrolling down at the online artfarmiowa.com/store where he held a residency summer of 2024.