Imagine a space where you can create colours and textiles, then weave them into a life-size, ever-evolving work of art.

Kimberley Fisher envisioned The Living Loom as an interactive installation – one that the public could help create at Masterworks – but she never expected to be the one bringing it to life.

Her inspiration came from Re-Telling Our Stories, a community art and wellness project that Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art partnered on two years ago with the holistic and wellness centre Solstice.

“It was such a lively [event] where we had people from all over the community, new faces in the museum,” said Ms Fisher, Masterworks’ education officer. “We had a space in the schedule, and so I suggested doing a version of that again and because I was the one that put my hand up, I’m the one that’s doing it.”

The Living Loom is “designed to be both a collaborative canvas and an intimate personal experience”. The public is invited to contribute to a communal tapestry, experiment with natural dyes in hands-on workshops, and paint directly on the walls, floor, and furniture of a life-size living room. Other interactive elements include an embroidery corner, peg boards for pattern design, and opportunities to explore the origins and processes of textile materials.

The installation is part of a wider launch of new programming and community building at Masterworks in anticipation of a new art and design building.

“We are rolling out new workshops in fibre arts, printmaking, ceramics, woodworking and film photography to build foundational skill sets. My hope as education officer is that by offering these classes now, the new space, tools and equipment will be fast-warmed by the ideas and talents of an active creative community,” Ms Fisher said.

As for The Living Loom, once the idea was introduced “it kind of took on a life of its own”.

“I brought my personal practice into the space – which is finding or foraging or cultivating pigments for paints and dyes – and I wanted to do that in a way that people would connect with in their own lives,” she added.

To bring her vision to life, she worked with natural dyes made from such things as yellow onion skins, madder root, marigold petals, and loquat leaves. The colours will be applied to thrifted fabric, cut into ribbons and woven into a tapestry on a large-scale loom – one that grows with each contribution.

“There’s also a living room set up where people can imagine using these natural colours in their lives. You can dye your hair with indigo, you can dye your dinner napkins for a dinner party, or make cushions for your couch,” Ms Fisher said. “So we’re asking people to imagine how they would do that and [having them] literally draw it on to the space.”

She hopes that Bermuda’s high cost of living will inspire people to reconsider traditional practices as a sustainable way forward.

“There's also an embroidery circle, which I'm really excited about. It's a practice that I think we used to do a lot more – mending our socks, mending torn jeans. Now, we tend to throw them away but there's some really cool, aesthetically pleasing ways to thread and embroider and fix things.”

Although Ms Fisher was always interested in art, she did not discover her true passion until she came across natural dyes while apprenticing on a farm.

“I've always dabbled in art but I didn't really know what my thing was. I was just always trying my hand at something but when I found natural dyes something really turned on in me,” she said.

She creates her own printmaking inks and handcrafted paper from recycled materials.

“It really came at a time when I was moving back to Bermuda, which has such a high cost of living. My anxiety was really high and it was interrupting my work.”

Plants had always been her “safe space” and so when she discovered she could incorporate them into her art, it “literally made [her] feel alive”.

Ms Fisher found guidance through books, DIY videos, and an online class with Sasha Duerr – an American author, artist, and designer specialising in plant-based colours. She also received valuable advice from Ronnie Chameau, a St David’s Islander renowned for her extensive knowledge of plants.

“I also read books by Kuni Frith, an advocate of folk medicine remedies. If something's medicinal and has a strong scent, it's usually also a great dye source. So I’m just kind of piecing all of this knowledge together.”

Much of her success has come through experimentation, although not every plant has produced the colours she hoped for.

“It doesn't mean giving up on them. It just means harvesting them maybe at a different time of the year, or maybe they work better with wool than cotton. There's so many factors. Really I'm still learning and I'll probably be learning it for the rest of my life,” Ms Fisher said.

Her hope is that other people are similarly enthusiastic about the skills on show as part of The Living Loom.

“I think that in the way we live, it's very easy to need what's convenient and what's at hand. But then there's also a very special quality about making your own and I think that's why we've had such a resurgence in DIYs. I think people really connect with creating instead of consuming – whether that's cooking a meal, or dyeing or mending,” she said.

“I think when we have the opportunity to do that, people are very curious. I'm working outside in a container right now and people are walking by with their dogs and I'm having 30-minute conversations with them about what I'm doing and what they used to do and what their parents used to do and the different careers that used to exist here.”

• The Living Loom opens on March 8 when Kimberley Fisher will host a free natural dyeing workshop with Jordan Carey. To attend, RSVP here:https://masterworksbermuda.org/event/natural-dyeing/. The installation is open until April 12. Admission is free through the support of Butterfield Bank