SHADES OF BLUE, The many lives of Indigo

“Shades of Blue” is an a Festival, celebration about Indigo, the pigment, the dye, the plants, the processes that gives the magical colour blue that has been capturing the imagination of many around the world by century.

I am curating an exhibition hosted by The Auld Kirk in Kirkintilloch which will feature my journey over the past 7 years learning from Indigo Masters around the World. With Art work, collected objects, plant things and many samplers it will open your eyes about the diversity of Indigo.

The “100 dyers” collaboration project will features skeins of yarn dyed by dyers from 15 differents countries using a huge range of Indigo baring plants and a variety of processes that will capture your imagination. i have asked those dyers to come together in a collaborative where they can exchange and learn from each others.

100 SHADES OF BLUE – DYERS PROJECT

“SHADES OF BLUE, The many lives of Indigo”,

Opening 26th September at 2.30pm

The Auld Kirk Museum, Kirkintilloch, Scotland (FOC, last day 29th of October)

ONLINE TALKS

“SHADES OF BLUE” CONVERSATIONS, THE CHIANGDAO CONNECTION, FARMING INDIGO IN NORTHERN THAILAND AND TEACHING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

“SHADES OF BLUE” CONVERSATIONS, THE HISTORIC FERROUS VAT WITH ELISABETH VIGUIE CULSHAW

“SHADES OF BLUE” CONVERSATIONS, with William Ingram from “Threads of Life”, Indigo community dyeing and paste supply in Bali – 10th October – 2pm GMT

“SHADES OF BLUE” CONVERSATIONS, THE TAMARIND FERMENTATION VAT with Prach Niyomkar, a traditional Thai vat

“SHADES OF BLUE” CONVERSATIONS, THE 123 FRUCTOSE VAT WITH MICHEL GARCIA, An “opportunistic” vat

“SHADES OF BLUE” CONVERSATIONS – THE HISTORIC SIG VAT WITH DYERS JOHN WALKER (AUSTRALIA) AND PAUL HENRY (ENGLAND)

“SHADES OF BLUE” CONVERSATIONS – BHUTAN MASTER DYER KENCHO DEKAR

“SHADES OF BLUE” CONVERSATIONS – GROWING THE INDIGO PLOT IN THE BOTANICS AND INTRODUCTION TO THE FESTIVAL

ABOUT GROWING JAPANESE INDIGO AND THE INDIGO PLOT

In 2022 The Glasgow Botanical garden offered her a space to grow Japanese Indigo and Woad in a tiny garden she called @ The Indigo plot. There for several years she grew two large beds that she shared comes the autumn in an exhibition “Feeling Blue” in the garden’s Kibble palace.

In 2026, The Auld Kirk museum in Kirkintilloch has offered her a space to share what she has learned in the past 7 years in a 5 weeks exhibition of plants, yarn, dyes, artwork and knowledge. The exhibition will be only partly about Elisabeth’s own work. It will be mainly a way for her to share what she has learned about Indigo with the general public and she hopes they will travel from far.

In 2026 The Indigo plot has moved just outside The Barony Hall outside The Auld Kirk and in a great box Elisabeth is growing with the help of the Museum staff 600 plants of Japanese Indigo with an aim to share the fresh leaves dyeing with the public during the exhibition. It is hoped that children will also be present to discover the magical blue.