I have long been fascinated by the color blue. Why blue? Blue is the color of water. Why water? Water is fluid like memory, like the unconscious. It changes shape from mist to rain to snow and back. Blue is the color of the infinite untouchable sky.
I have always wanted to create a series of work dyed in the blue of natural indigo. Indigo’s propagation occurs around the globe from Japan through Central Asia, the Americas and Africa. The color of true indigo is varied yet unmistakable for its richness and subtleness of hue. It is Japanese indigo that fascinates me most.
In Fall 2019 I travelled to Bloomington Indiana, to dye yarn with Rowland Ricketts, Master Dyer and associate professor in textiles at Indiana University. Rowland practices indigo in the Japanese tradition. He studied in Japan, and brought these skills to Indiana where he grows, processes, and dyes with natural indigo.
Here’s what Rowland says about his work:
“My decision to work this way is one that consciously favors slower, natural processes and materials over more immediate, synthetic options. Today, with petroleum-derived indigo readily and cheaply available, my choice to plant, transplant, weed, harvest, winnow, dry, and compost the indigo by hand is not one of necessity. Instead it is a conscious act of recognition that all the energy extended in the farming and processing of the indigo plants is just as much a part of the final dyestuff as the indigo molecules themselves.”
Rowland Ricketts
You can learn more about Rowland’s work and studio practice at www.rickettsindigo.com
