ArtClothText

Materialized from the soil, rain, and air around them, plants physically embody place. Plants also embody their individual histories, as well as the history of their species and its interactions with humans. Using gathered and cultivated plants as dyes I transfer their color to cloth with traditional dyeing techniques honed over centuries. The colors obtained are enriched by each plant’s historical, cultural, and physical substance as well as by the connection across time to all who ever worked within these traditions.

View more of Ricketts` work HERE

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.

Gasali Adeyemo, a Textile Artist from Nigeria, will give a talk about his work, his culture and its history on Wednesday, October 31 at NOON in the weaving seminar room H240 at NSCAD University. Gasali specializes in batik, indigo dyeing, quilt making, appliqué, embroidery and adire following traditional Yoruba techniques. Learn more about Gasali Adeyemo HERE.