Rowland Ricketts, III, Untitled Noren Partition, 2006. Warp: hemp. Weft: hemp. Stenciled paste resist, indigo dyed. Blue at The Textile Museum, Washington, DC
April 4 to September 18, 2008
BLUE explores the creation and meaning of the color blue on textiles produced across time and place, with particular emphasis on contemporary artists’ use of natural indigo dyes. Until the invention of chemical dyes in the late 19th century, peoples worldwide relied largely on indigo-bearing plants to achieve blue-colored garments, household furnishings, artworks and even body paint. Many cultures attributed talismanic properties as well as health benefits to indigo, and the mysterious transformation of this temperamental dye has long been steeped in myth and magic.
The exhibition features blue textiles ranging from Greco-Roman and pre-olumbian tunic fragments to installations by internationally renowned artists. Hiroyuki Shindo, a Japanese artist who grows and processes his own indigo to produce innovatively patterned textiles, as well as Maria Eugenia Davila and Eduardo Portillo, who raise silkworms and dye threads with natural dyes in Venezuela, highlight the ways that artists around the world are embracing this ancient dye to create works that speak to their own experience.
BLUE is curated by Lee Talbot, Assistant Curator, Eastern Hemisphere Collections, and Mattiebelle Gittinger, Research Associate, Southeast Asian Textiles.
