PRI is the result of one person asking a question no one could answer. More than 25 years after that question was asked, this organization became a reality out of knowing there were others out there asking questions that were not getting answered.

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In the 1990's Melonie Ancheta began researching the traditional pigments and paint technology of Northwest Coast Indigenous people who are the original people spanning the territory from Washington, through British Columbia and up into Alaska.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a desire to use traditional materials in her art practice she began asking questions about the traditional pigments used in this region only to find the knowledge had been lost due to colonization.

Over the next two decades, she worked singlehandedly to revitalize this knowledge and today is acknowledged by the Smithsonian Institute, the National Museum of the American Indian, the American Museum of Natural History, and other preeminent institutions as the sole authority on this subject.

While working alone all those years, she realized there must be other people doing the same thing in their own parts of the world so she, with friends Heidi Gustafson and Tilke Elkins, organized the first international Pigments Revealed Symposium.

When the symposium ended Melonie knew it was time to take another big step and began creating PRI as a space where pigment people could learn

from each other and share knowledge, as well as build collaborative relationships with each other.

Melonie also recognized the importance of reintegrating pigment knowledge into the world as a vital step in cultural revitalization and evolution, learning to steward our lands, and working together with one another and nature.

 

And here we are, 5 years later, going strong!​