The color blue evokes mystery, beauty and allure. It can express the intense exhilaration of a blue sky day, yet also suggests the pit of despair, as in singing the blues. For ages humans have mined the gems turquoise, lapis lazuli and cobalt and manipulated them to re-imagine the world in glass, enamel, ceramic glaze and striking adornment. Indigo is a fabled plant that since ancient times has dignified and enriched hand-made fabric and paper. TRUE BLUE celebrates these four natural materials and their combination with human emotion, technical skill and the spark of creativity. This exhibition of objects from Mingei’s permanent collection will feature a broad variety of media from many different cultures.
On September 28, 2012 the museum, in conjunction with Grant Barrett, hosted an event of food, music, short stories, and poetry, with a demonstration by bookmaking artist Liza Alvarez. On October 27, 2012 the museum hosted a workshop on indigo dye let by textile artist Sarah Winston.