Above hangs a modern noren made from indigo-dyed ramie. The piece is positioned alongside an installation of 1200 locks of wool that Rowland Ricketts created for Douglas Dawson’s gallery space.

As a lover or organic and natural materials, I am beyond excited to introduce you to the work of Roland Ricketts. He is something of an anomaly. Not only does Rowland practice the traditional Japanese craft of indigo-dyeing, he grows the indigo from seed to plant. It’s just my luck that Roland established a farm not too far from Chicago. With his wife and the help of students at Indiana University, Roland harvests a crop annually and produces a natural indigo dye which he uses to create his textiles.

Last week Rowland was kind enough to answer a few questions about his farm in Bloomington, Indiana and about indigo dyeing itself. Because there is so much information regarding Rowland and his work, I thought it would be neat to do this over 3 posts:

1. A Personal Interview + Exhibition at Douglas Dawson Gallery
2. Indigo Farming in Bloomington, Indiana
3. Indigo Dyeing the Japanese Way

Part One -  A Personal Interview + Exhibition at Douglas Dawson Gallery

From November 5 – December 4, 2010 Rowland is exhibiting at the Douglas Dawson Gallery in Chicago. Thanks to Wally Bowling from Douglas Dawson and Michelle Geoga, who came out last minute with me to photograph this special collection of indigo dyed textiles by Rowland Ricketts.

Hung at the entryway of Douglas Dawson Gallery is an indigo dyed noren by Rowland Ricketts.

Nikko I am so happy that you are showing your work in Chicago. When viewing your work, I felt as if I was transported to Japan as the color of you textiles are so saturated with that distinct purplish-blue hue. Can you tell me about why you chose to create noren and about the designs you place on them?

Rowland If you don’t mind, I’ll quote a bit from some writing I’ve done about noren that covers my interest in them as an object, a textile, and an artistic ‘canvas’. -Oddly enough I don’t really see the noren I make (or any of my work for that matter) as Japanese per se in that I’m not interested in copying something from a culture that is not my own. To me the noren I make is an exploration of the idea of a suspended cloth partition. I use the noren format because of its overall simplicity which is a narrow width cloth joined at the selvedges and hemmed at the top and bottom. It’s a very matter-of-fact, straightforward presentation of the cloth itself. Nothing else is added, and nothing is concealed. There is a front and a back, but in essence they are the same, an idea that compresses the three dimensionality of the cloth into two dimensions. I’m especially fascinated with this last idea and how it emphasized the thinness of the material and the ephemerality of the division it creates. These ideas have been influencing my recent work – I can see it in there, but I’m still working out just how to express it in words, so I apologize if this isn’t very clear.

Below is Rowland Ricketts’s Indigo Exhibit at Douglas Dawson Gallery in Chicago.

Nikko I love this quote about your work:

Through simple forms and a straightforward presentation I strive to present the viewer with a color so rich that they see beyond the dyed material to examine all that lies within a color’s substance.

There must be something really satisfying to work with a material from beginning to final form. It’s like knowing the truth about something. What is your favorite thing about working with indigo from seed to using it as a dye?

Rowland I used to think that it was the idea that I could, on my own, comprehend and do all stages of the process – that I could understand a seed and a plant and do the composting and fermentation in a way that I could never understand – let alone actually make – synthetic dyes and the auxiliary chemicals they require. But now that I’ve worked with indigo for 14 years, I’d have to say that my favorite thing is the fact that it has nothing to do with me, or that It’s all much bigger than me. I plant the seeds, but the plants make the indigo. I dry the leaves and moisten them with water, but the bacteria on the leaves do the composting. I make the wood-ash lye and mix it with the composted indigo leaves for vatting, but again bacteria in the composted leaves reduce the indigo and make dyeing possible. I facilitate the process, but I don’t make it happen, so in a sense it’s a collaboration from which there’s always something to learn.

Below is a detail of an installation of 1200 locks of indigo-dyed wool. I love how it wraps around the corner of this wall.

Shown above and below, Rowland’s textiles are displayed openly and unhindered by a conventional frame so that the viewer may get intimately close and really see the textures. I love how transparent the fabric becomes the darker the indigo dyed it is.

Nikko In regards to the 400 felted stone piece and 1200 wool locks installation, I feel like they are have a much more modern approach than the noren. What inspired you to create each piece?

Rowland For me I wouldn’t say that one is more or less modern than the other, but I would agree that the wool and stones are unburdened by the recognizable form of the noren and the associations that form carries for people familiar with Japan. The stones have had many iterations over the past few years. The impetus for making them was precisely the desire to move away from the prescribed form of noren that I had been working with for a number of years and a growing interest in felt and it’s potential to capture the dye and the dyeing process. I’ve recently settled on the gridded format because, again, it’s a very straight-forward way of organizing information. As I started working with them this way I realized that they’re not unlike te-ita 手板 – a way of measuring the indigo content of the composted leaves by kneading it into a ball and pressing it onto very fine paper. The color of the mark it left reflected the concentration of the dye and was used historically to determine the dyestuff’s market in Japan. As an apprentice in Japan I saw a number of books of te-ita kept by by teacher’s family over several generations. Each page consisted of many blueish circular pressings arranged in a grid for easy comparison. I use the format similarly, again with the hope of drawing attention to the color.

Below is an installation by Roland Ricketts who created 400 indigo-dyed stones. Each piece was hand-felted, mounted on a stainless pin and meticulously set into the wall.

Nikko I think it’s really neat that you are Rowland Ricketts the third. I can’t help but to think that being named Rowland Ricketts III plays a part with your interest in an art form that is passed from generation to generation. Do you think you’ll pass your practice of indigo onto your children?

Rowland It wasn’t until I was 30 that I actually made peace with my name – it seems a bit pretentious, when in reality my family comes mostly from coal mining immigrant backgrounds. I am very interested in the idea of knowledge being passed from one generation to the next – my work with indigo has made me really aware of this. Still, I’d never force this on my kids – it takes an exceptionally crazy sort of person to want to work this hard just for their love of it.

Nikko I noticed that you have many roles beside being an arist. You are also a farmer, college professor, husband and father. Can you tell me how these roles affect you as a whole?

Rowland That’s a really difficult question…  They’re all equally demanding and rewarding, and I guess that I’m in the space where they all overlap. Working with indigo the way I do, it both connects and permeates all aspects my life, often making life and art and teaching indistinguishable. Mostly, though it means that as long as I’m awake there’s always something that needs tending.

Nikko Thanks so much again for sharing yourself with me and my readers, Roland!

Stay tuned for more on Rowland Ricketts and indigo farming and dyeing in the Midwest!

-{ The photography for this post was provided by Michelle Geoga and Rowland Ricketts }-

-{ You can see more of Roland’s exhibit right here and here }-

-{ Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! }-

It was great to visit with Kia Neill over the holidays and preview her latest project Terrain, an installation where viewers walk through an intimately lighted, textured environment. It is being exhibited at the Women and Their Work Gallery from January 16 – February 27, 2010 and is a must see geological discovery for those of you in the Austin area!

Each of the crystal formations are made out of Compact Dics (CDs). What an ingenious and brilliant way to recycle materials!

I am also excited to show you more pieces from Kia’s new collection of work, shown below.

Kia created the sculpture Frost, shown above and detail below.

Exquisitely tactile and visually stimulating, Kia’s sculptures contain an unexpected use of materials such as paper-mache, plaster, steel, polyurethane, glitter and flocking fiber.

Below is another one of Kia’s pieces Geode, a small cavity of rock that is embellished with a splendor of rhinestone crystals and plastic flora.

[ You can see more work by Kia here.]

Architecture of Nature woodcut prints by Deborah Weiss. Clockwise from top-left: Calligraphic, Palm, Vine and Cascade.

I am so excited to welcome artist Deborah Weiss to Ashes & Milk whom created the above collection of graphically eloquent woodcut prints called the Architecture of Nature. Through relief carving and a distinctive print technique, Deborah pieces together deconstructed silhouettes of botanical imagery onto Nepalese paper.

Deborah in her Connecticut Studio composing ‘Architecture of Nature – Vine.’

Nikko: Can you tell me a little about your process of creating a woodblock print and how you come up with your ideas?

Deborah: I have a degree in graphic design and art history. -That said the textile studio was my second home in college. Also, textiles to this day remain an unending source of inspiration. I found my way to printmaking about 6 years ago when I began spending time at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, Connecticut.

The printmaking world is vast, traditional techniques and new digital media offers a limitless opportunity for artists.  However, I became enamored of the woodcut print. About 5 years ago I began to commit my time and energy to solely exploring the woodcut print. For me it is a technique which is boundless and fascinating. Although I have had the opportunity to work with a couple of established woodcut printmakers I consider myself for the most part self taught.  It is through endless experimentation that I arrive at a body of work.  I thoroughly enjoy the carving process and print all of my own work.  Unlike the traditional edition – I use and reuse my carved blocks – reinventing them and printing them in different ways.

The exquisite detail of Deborah’s hand-carved print block.

Deborah: I work in a very non traditional way – my initial concept is based on the carved block not the finished print.  When I begin to carve I am thinking about form or imagery that inspires me. When the block has been carved I begin to explore the possibilities as I print it in numerous different ways. -I can rotate the block, overprint several layers and in the case of the Architecture of Nature series I began to print only selected sections of the carved block.  When I had numerous selected areas of the block printed I began to reassemble them. I “rebuilt” the plant/flower form in a way that is recognizable yet fractured. The title “Architecture of Nature” seemed like the appropriate title to this body of work as I do feel like I am building a natural form block/piece by piece.

[ You can see the Architecture of Nature collection by Deborah Weiss here. ]

[ For those of you in the Connecticut area, you can personally experience the artwork of Deborah Weiss at ArtSpace located at 555 Asylum Avenue in Hartford. ]

The above stones were created by French artist Lionel Esteve called Again the Night.

Eight stones (huit pierres) in varying dimensions are delicately embroidered with yarn (pierres, fils à broder). They remind me very much of Ashes & Milk’s artist Yoran Morvant and his Pierres Graphiques.

Photography of Lionel Esteve’s artwork is courtesy of Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.

Below are Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi, the founders of the Chicago screen printing studio Sonnenzimmer. In the background is a mixed-media painting created by Nadine. I love the book cover in the left corner!

Nikko: First off I wanted to say thank you for doing this interview with me. I wanted to do it as a thank you for doing my business and gift cards. It’s good timing too because you guys are going to have your show February 11th, 2009 at Lula Café so you’re probably full of…

Nick: Anxiety.
Nadine: Yes, it’s true.

Nikko: I have spent a good amount of time examining your prints and paintings and love what you do and wanted to know more about the new body of work you’ve both created.

Nick: With time and by working on thirty different things at once, I start formulating ideas. Nadine and I are also doing some record covers and some of those ideas get translated back into this work. I like the texture of simple shapes with screen print dots over them. It’s sort of an experiment of printing techniques. To me it’s like still all these different pieces, but with a week left I have to make decisions and finish. I am not good at finishing stuff unless I have a deadline. I can just go forever…

Nikko: Like everything is a work in progress.

Nick: Yes, it’s never finished. Previously my pieces were getting really quiet, stripped down. There was a lot of work put into it, but visually not a lot of impact. The new direction is a larger introduction whereas my old stuff you can just walk by and not see it. The new work has more of a focal point. Before I wouldn’t use a hard black or make things so colorful. Now I am finding out that I want to make things a little bit louder.

On the left is Nick with a silk screen created by Nadine. Right is a view of the studio with paintings Nick is finishing up for the Lula Café exhibit.

Nikko: What are you submitting for Lula and how did you come up with ideas for these pieces?

Nadine: I wanted to do something more painting installation-y. I’ve been into using textural spatial stuff as elements for composition. -Like found drawing boards, canvas stretchers and green bars which are old type spacers.

Nikko: I think those are the textures that are on my business and gift cards!

Nadine + Nick: Yes they are!

Nadine: I like it when paintings are out and about in a studio and are treated nonchalant. I can put something on it and it becomes it’s own composition. It has stillness to it that I feel it’s different when it’s hung in a gallery which is like “now it is done and there is nothing more to it.” -But for me it’s like I hang it up and the composition is not yet done. The contextual part is always evolving and the one part that I am interested in. Imagery is all about what you read in context. I feel like painting can be a little bit dead. It’s this thing where you wear your gloves and you hang it on a wall and its done. A painting in someone’s house is going to feel a lot different than a painting the Guggenheim. The way I like art to be is this organic thing in people’s lives.

Nikko: I think that the best part of going to artists’ homes or studios. Art is treated like a daily object like a coffee cup, something to interact with.

Nadine: One of the reasons I like abstract things is it seems like there’s room where anything is possible. It’s funny because when I work in abstract I associate figurative things to it and if I do something figuratively I see the abstract in it. I think it’s a possibility to see boring or ugly things in a new way.

Nikko: When you were creating my business cards, we had a conversation about your style, how it is textural, subtle and abstract. -While some people do figurative, illustrative work. I guess it’s a certain type of mind who likes to play around with stuff like yours.

Nick: I like both. I do both. They each sort of magnify the other. When I get bored doing one thing it’s nice to have another place to go. It’s like what Nadine was saying, when you see the abstract you want to make sense of it.

Nadine: The reason why I do the things I do is that I am not good enough to do photo-realism painting. Maybe I don’t have the patience for it. I think people gravitate to a solution that is within their skill set.

Nick: I think it’s something you can work towards, Nadine. You are making things that you are happy with and you can use it as a testing ground. From there you can slowly make your way to realism.

Nikko: I agree with that you do what you’re capable of. I like the abstract and organic style too. When I draw I am slow, my style is blocky and textured where some people are very line based and they can just zip it out. -So I never really thought of it that way. I was just like,“This is my preference, this is what I like.” Haha!

Nadine: Haha! –Which is fine. I think that its good to critique yourself, to school your skills and remain open to the fact that there’s more to be learned. -To venture into other parts. The best thing for me is when I discover the art masters did something that I did before, but I didn’t know it. Like when I was into book covers, Nick was like Rauschenberg did that. I didn’t know what he was doing! The fun part is to discover an epiphany in my own rightful way, not trying to be big or anything. It’s really empowering to see these stages that I can attain myself, and it’s the same activity fields that big names have done. That feels reassuring in a universal way. -That a lot of people can get that experience from making art and can be out of the spotlight.

Nick: For me I need to have my work totally finished and done before anyone sees it, whereas Nadine can show her work at any stage. She always wants to show something new.

Nadine: We’re totally opposite. I work and when the deadline comes, I stop. For me putting a deadline to a painting is cutting a painting’s life off.

Nick: I wish I could work like that. I am inspired to try but it’s so hard to let it go where Nadine is much more free. Our personalities are opposite. In life I am laid back but when it comes to art it has to be finished. No questions.

Nadine: That’s the one part of art that doesn’t have to do that for me.

Nick: Maybe that’s why I reserve that for the rest of my life.

Nikko: In regards to your paintings when they sell, it’s like the person who is choosing to buy it is deciding that it is complete. -Cause if they don’t buy it, the painting would come back to you and you’d work on it more.

Nadine: Well, unlike me Nick sells all of his paintings.

Nick: That’s not true…

Nadine: I don’t have that experience so I am going into it with no expectations and am totally cool showing stuff raw. It’s a very honest way of working.

Nikko: It is a very pure approach! Thank you Nick and Nadine for speaking with me today and for taking the time to do an interview with Ashes & Milk! I can’t wait to see your show at Lula.

Nick + Nadine: Thanks it was fun!

All images photographed by Nikko Moy and hosted on flickr here + here.

[ You can see more work by Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi right here. ]

[ For those of you in the Chicago area, you can personally experience Nick and Nadine's new body of work at the Lula Café from February 11th - April 15th. ]

Bryan Nash Gill created the above bronze sculpture for an exhibition in the U.A.E.

This morning I was thrilled to hear from Bryan Nash Gill and am happy to congratulate him on his upcoming gallery show in Dubai. Since November he has been preparing for this show and amazingly during this time Bryan was also able to create Hemlock 82 for Ashes & Milk.

The opening reception is on January 15, 2009 from 6 – 9PM hosted by the Guy Flichy Gallery. For more information contact Guy at guy@guyflichygallery.com.

Bravo to you, Bryan!