Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park

 by Patricia Frischer

Unidentified maker - Girl's blouse and skirt, Fulani Wodaabe culture, 20th Century, probably Niger

Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo is a very large exhibition covering the entire top floor of  the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park showing until March 16, 2025.  Of the 180 works on display only 26 are on loan to the museum, the rest come from the permanent collection. As part of the PST(Pacific Standard Time) : Art and Science Collide the show is more complex than usual aided by a $200,000 grant from the Getty Foundationh which have given out more than $17 million in funding in Southern California for the PST project. 

My recommendation is that you start clockwise i.e. turning left at the top of the stairs. Even though you will see wall hangings including tapestries, quilts and rugs as well as clothing all using indigo dye, by going in this direction you will more easily follow the science part of the show with explanations of the processes for making the dye followed by a whole lot of ways to use the dye. Don’t worry if you see a variety of colors at the beginning, they all do have some of the blue gold in them. The exhibition is not chronologically or geographically organized, but instead it seems like it is set to delight the eye with different stagings of the objects. You could view this show just for the remarkable visual experience. 

Unidentified coat and vest in Dragon motif - Dong, China

Aranya Naturals Artisans - Collarless shirt, India, 21th Century

Keisuke Serizawa- Summer Kimona, Japan mid-20th century

Unidentified maker, Boys pants, Yi culture, China

Unidentified maker - Huipil (Tunic), Guatemala

Unidentified maker, Thob Dress, Palestine, 20th C

Look out for some of the specially commissioned works like the slides show of indigo stained slide specimens and the special rescued indigo recipes used to make a ceremonial outfit which was lost of generation but now back. One of my favorites is the room within a room of intense blue hangings featuring the flight and blight of butterflies.
 

Lou Ann Moses  - Canneci Apache Camp Dress, part of the Lost Blue project

Porfirio Gutierrez - Temporary Spaces, 2024, USA. A comparison of the monarch butterflies migration with the migration of indigenous people of the Americas. Each butterfly represents 200K Zapotecs who are living and working in South California

Throughout the space are market racks, displaying lots of more samples of cloth, a hint to the enormous economic role that indigo played in world trade.

Lisa Kina -Hajichi Quilt, Hawaii, USA, 2023

Unidentified maker -Huari culture, 6-9th century Peru

It was thought that the earlies know use of indigo dye was in the Fifth Dynasty Egypt around 4400 BP. But in 2007, it was discovered at the Huaca Prieta ceremonial mound in northern Peru dated at around 6200 BC. We were told that dye vats can last centuries and they are some in existence today that go back to the 14^th century. A couple of centuries ago indigo was so exclusive that only royalty and the aristocracy could afford it. It was a major trade commodity in ancient Egypt,  China, Japan, India, and for Native Americans and Mayans and of course throughout Europe. Thirty countries are represented in Blue Gold:  Japan, Laos, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, China, India, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Niger, Egypt, United States, Bermuda, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Palestine, France, England, Greece, and Turkey.

Shelly Jyoti - 18th Century Merchant Ship, 2023, India

In South Carolina in the 18^th century, everything to do with indigo production was handled almost entirely by African slaves. In Bengal, India in 1859 there was a huge revolt when peasants refused to grow indigo for European planters. Thirty-give barrels of indigo was used by Benjamin Franklin in 1776 when he went to France to gain support for the American revolution. 

Unidentified Maker, Yoruba culture, "Adire Eleko (Cassava Paste Resist-Dyed Cloth)," 20^th Century. 

 Unidentified Maker, "Shibori Textile." Japan. Cotton, indigo. Collection of Eriko Saito.

Detail: Unidentified Maker, "Shibori Textile." Japan. Cotton, indigo. Collection of Eriko Saito.

Unidentified Maker, "Shibori Textile." Japan. Cotton, indigo. Collection of Eriko Saito.

Unidentified maker- True Lover's Knot quilt, USA, late 1870's

Indigo can be process from many, many plants types. So no one country or people discovered the leaves or invented the process. Artisan from all over kept the process alive so it was not lost.  

Unidentified maker -Indigo resist printed quilt. USA or Bermuda, 1750-1770

To activate the dye is equally complex.  It is not water soluble so has to have a chemical change. When the fabric comes out of the dyebath, the oxygen in the air changes the dye back to an insoluble deep colored indigo depending on how often the fabric is submerged.

American Navajo Indian Chief rug

To derive indigo dye, basically the leaves have to be fermented. This can happen by leaving them in water and letting natural fermentation happen by organism and cells. Or they can be cut pounded (West Africa), shredded and dried (Japan) or ground (Europe) or they can be put in a dye vat where an alkaline like ash, lye or urine  is added along with water to start the fermentation process. The result can be a cake or ball of dye or the liquid dye. Now we have artificial indigo colors, of course.

Although fabrics can be dyed an overall color, to created patterns, a resist is used that can  be any kind of a block,   There are mechanical resists like using ties, stitches or folding to prevent dye from reaching certain areas like tie dying and Shibori. There are chemical resists that uses wax or paste to block the dye from reaching certain areas like Batik. Ikat means that the yarns are tied dyed before the object is woven.  

Jessica Hanson York, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Mingei International Museum

Co-curated by Guusje Sanders  (above), Emily Hanna, Director of Exhibitions and Chief curator and guest co-curator Barbara Hanson Forsyth

Indigo did go out of fashion for a while until Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis invented blue jeans. Did you know that originally there were crotch rivets, but they were removed when cowboys sitting in front of fires got uncomfortably hot.  A reminder that the faded wrinkles cause by wear on blue jeans are called whiskering,  probably as they look like cat’s whiskers. This sign of the human touch adds to the story of indigo.

• Mural by local artist Stephanna Bennett in the study room

  

There are workshops and talks led by local artists, including a Master Craftsman Lecture with Porfirio Gutiérrez and Dyeing Classes with Sarah Winston at the Mingei, but there is a study room on site, a chance to add to a jean tapestry in the main lobby, and a very clever display of other blue objects in the Mingei collection including, glass, gems and ceramics.

 

Arianne King Comer, Lampshade

This enormous exhibition might take several visits and luckily it is on view until March 16, 2025. We see indigo blue in all of our futures and you can start at the gift shop with a wide selection. My blue jeans are calling….

Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park is one of many PST (Pacific Standard Time): Art and Science Collide projects that we are covering this month.  PST is an  initiative of the Getty Foundation with more than 60 exhibitions on this year’s theme in southern California with 818 artists participating. (Of course, you know SDVAN did it first in SD with the DNA of Creativity back in 2014!)

Other exhibitions to watch for in this column are:
San Diego Museum of Art: Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World  on view from Sept 7, 2024 to Jan 25, 2025  

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego: For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability on view from September 19, 2024 to February 2, 2025.

Oceanside Museum of Art: Transformative Currents: Art And Action In The Pacific Ocean through Jan 19, 2025.

Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo at Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park
September 14, 2024 to March 16 2025.
Co-curated by Emily Hanna and Guusje Sanders, and guest co-curator Barbara Hanson Forsyth
Tue, Weds, Thurs, Sat, Sun 10 to 5, Fri. 10 to 8 pm, Closed Monday