Contributors

Emanuela Appetiti is a Sociologist with a specialization in Ethno-Anthropology, who has done research in several institutions throughout the world. For the past thirty years, she has focused her research on the history of medicine, of botany and ethnobotany, dividing her interests between Australian Aboriginal traditional medicine and the transmission of knowledge on the uses of medicinal plants in the ancient Mediterranean worlds. A co-founder and the President & CEO of the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions (Washington, DC, USA), and a co-founder of the UNESCO Chair Plantae Medicinales Mediterraneae- Plants for Health in the Mediterranean Traditions (University of Salerno, Italy), she is affiliated with the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University; the Pharmacognosy Institute of the University of Illinois, Chicago; the Department of History of Science at the University of Oklahoma; and the National Centre for Natural Medicine at Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia. Indigo: Mediterranean or Indian?

Karthika Audinet is the academic coordinator of the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center at The George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. She is a textile designer, professor, and researcher with more than twenty-five years of international experience. After a successful career in designing high end furnishings in India and France, she established the innovative social enterprise Coletta Collections in 2011 to develop and promote fine craftsmanship by adults with disabilities in Washington, DC. Audinet has published papers in the Textiles Asia Journal, the chapter “Important Woven Textile Specimens in World Museums” in a handbook published by Wiley Scrivener, and contributed technical analyses and catalog entries for fragments at Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. She has also served as adjunct professor at The George Washington University and at Montgomery College for more than ten years. Audinet holds two master’s degrees in textile design from the National Institute of Design, India and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle, France. The Art and Science of Natural Indigo in South India

Aurore Ballengée, a former project manager in investment banking, took a major shift in 2012 to become a culinary educator and studio manager for Brandon Ballengée. She now has 10 years experience in the art world, overseeing exhibition organization, public art projects, grant writing and much more. Brandon and Aurore Ballengée have run numerous art & science programs and summer camps nationally and internationally, as far as Australia! Together, they started Atelier de la Nature, an eco-educational campus and nature reserve in Arnaudville, Louisiana, in 2016.
A native of France, cooking is Aurore’s passion and making locally sourced, sustainable and healthy food accessible is her mission. Aurore co-founded a food co-op in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, interned at Ger-Nis, a then Brooklyn based culinary center focused on sustainability, to learn more about the ins and outs of food education, and ran classes with under-privileged youth and single mothers in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Troy, NY, and around the US. Aurore has given educational food programs at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), Natural History Museum Utah (Salt lake City, UT), McColl Center for Art + Innovation (Charlotte, NC), Sculpture in the Wild (Lincoln, MT), The Point CDC (Bronx, NY), The Sanctuary for Independent Media (Troy, NY) and others. Le Bleu Perdu: The Lost Blue of Louisiana Indigo

Brandon Ballengée, Ph.D, is a visual artist, biologist and environmental educator based in Arnaudville, Louisiana. Ballengée creates multi-media artworks inspired from his ecological field and laboratory research. In 2013 the first career survey of his work debuted at the Château de Charamarande (Essonne, France), which travelled to the Museum Het Domein (Sittard, Netherlands) in 2014. In 2016, a mid-career retrospective of his work opened at the University of Wyoming Art Museum (Laramie, Wyoming). He has created variations of his trans-species public art series, Love Motel for Insects in nine countries and delivered a TEDxLSU talk about this work in 2020. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2017), Awards from the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (2015, 2016), Creative Capital Award (2019), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2021/22) and was included in the 2020 Grist 50 Emerging Environmental Leaders. He holds a Ph.D. in Transdisciplinary Art and Biology from the University of Plymouth (England). Currently, he is an Adjunct Faculty of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University studying the impact of the 2010 oil spill on Gulf of Mexico fish species. In 2016, Ballengée in partnership with his wife sustainable food educator Aurore Ballengée began the Atelier de la Nature an eco-educational campus and nature reserve in Arnaudville, Louisiana. Le Bleu Perdu: The Lost Blue of Louisiana Indigo

Rosa Sung Ji Chang is an artist based in Baltimore and New York whose work is deeply rooted in fostering a harmonious relationship between humans and nature. Drawing inspiration from natural materials and environments, Rosa creates art in various forms, mediums, and scales. Her current focus is on sharing the cultural significance of Korean and Asian traditional indigo and natural dye processes through community engagement and exchanges. Rosa is an adjunct faculty member at the Maryland Institute College of Art and serves as the Executive Director of Hand Papermaking, Inc., a nonprofit publication dedicated to advancing both traditional and contemporary practices in the art of hand papermaking. Weaving the Threads of Korean Culture and Heritage

Benjamin Dubansky, Ph.D.; Louisiana State University, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Office of Economic Development. Developmental, LLC. Benjamin is a developmental biologist and consultant in biomedical and related environmental sciences. Benjamin’s lab is well-known as a Histology Resource Centre - attracting consults, students and international visitors to this cost-free histology lab for specialty training and free equipment use. From a foundation of scientia gratia scientiae, Benjamin’s application of artistic techniques to scientific knowledge are based in histology, developmental physiology and environmental science applications. Thus, Benjamin’s produced art is anchored to his active scientific inquiry and ongoing production of experimental data. Prior to entering graduate school in 2007 at LSU, Dubansky worked for several years as an Artist-in-Residence at ActionSpace/The Spanish Kitchen film studio and art gallery in Los Angeles (740-742 E. 3rd St.90013.) Since 2010 Dubansky has collaborated with Ballengée and contributed artwork to Ballengée’ s programs and licensed out digital artwork, while staying involved in the art-science community through NAS and other programs. Le Bleu Perdu: The Lost Blue of Louisiana Indigo

Brooke Hopkins Dubansky, Ph.D. HTL(ASCP)CMHCM ; Louisiana State University, School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences. Brooke is a Clinical Associate Professor and a board certified Histologist and Hematologist. She serves as Associate Editor for Anatomia, Histologia, Embryologia and Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Histotechnology. The former director of Tarleton’s Histotechnology Degree program, Brooke has taught in the morphological sciences (anatomy and histology) for 18 years. Brooke received multiple academic honors related to histology and including critical acclaim for her work using the American alligator as a model for heterotopic ossification, a brutal and common connective tissue disease initiated by severe trauma and more rarely by aberrant genes in young people. Le Bleu Perdu: The Lost Blue of Louisiana Indigo

Catharine Ellis immersed herself in the exploration of natural dyes following her retirement from teaching a fulltime textile program at Haywood Community College in NC. She traveled extensively to teach and to learn from master dyers all over the world, including locations in China, India, France, Madagascar, and Mexico. Catharine now uses natural plant dyes exclusively in her own textiles, grows dye plants in her garden, and has written extensively about the process. She has authored two books including Woven Shibori (Interweave Press, 2005, 2015) and The Art and Science of Natural Dyes (Schiffer Press, 2019) with co-author Joy Boutrup, Danish textile chemist and engineer. Catharine’s current work is focused on indigo fermentation vats. Indigenous Indigo Practices in the Americas

Andrea Feeser received a BA in 1984 from Williams College with a double major in History and Art History. In 1996, she received a PhD in Modern and Contemporary Art History from the City University of New York Graduate Center. Andrea is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory, and Criticism in the Art Department at Clemson University. Her research into the histories of place and community with respect to intertwined cultures and environments has helped to redefine perceptions from the tourism industry in Hawaii to colonial indigo production and use in the British Atlantic World. She explores the latter in her book Red, White, and Black Make Blue: Indigo in the Fabric of Colonial South Carolina Life. Slavery and Indigo Culture in British South Carolina

Sarah Franzen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Anthropology and an Affiliated Faculty in African and African American Studies at Louisiana State University. Her research broadly focuses on the diverse ways of knowing embedded in practices associated with farming and how these practices can be used to retain culture, foster environmental relationships, build institutions, or create social change. In her research, Franzen uses film as a tool to better understand the tacit, embodied, affective, and sensory aspects of these practices. Franzen has worked extensively with African American farmers and farm cooperatives as a researcher, filmmaker, and participant. Her future research projects look at the effects of the changing climate on small-holding farmers and the role of farmers markets in supporting small-holding farmers. Le Bleu Perdu: The Lost Blue of Louisiana Indigo

Judy Frater believes that value is the key to sustainability. An Ashoka Fellow, she lived in Kutch 30 years, where she founded Kala Raksha Trust and Museum, and Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, the first design school for artisans. She later reinvented the school as Somaiya Kala Vidya. She has been honored with the Sir Misha Black Medal for Design Education, the Crafts Council of India Kamla award, the Designers of India Design Guru Award and more. Previously Associate Curator at The Textile Museum, author of Artisans by Design: An Odyssey of Education for Textile Artisan in India, Threads of Identity: Embroidery and Adornment of the Nomadic Rabaris, and The Art of the Dyer in Kutch, she currently teaches the values of hand craft through direct personal experiences. Indigo in Kutch, India: Art and Science, Environment and Economics

Rebecca Hall received her PhD from UCLA in Southeast Asian art history and focuses her research on the relationship between Buddhist art, practice, and belief in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. Before UCLA, she centered her attention on textiles: a BFA in Fiber art from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MS in Historic Costume and Textiles from the University of Rhode Island. Rebecca taught Asian Art History at Virginia Commonwealth University and many other places and had a postdoctoral curatorial fellowship curating the Southeast Asian collection at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. She has been Curator at the USC Pacific Asia Museum since 2018 where she has curated exhibitions on Asian textiles and contemporary art with specific attention paid to expanding the museum’s relationship with Los Angeles’s Asian diasporic communities. Indigo in Southeast Asia: Knowledge, Identity, Power

Emily Hanna is the Director of Exhibitions and Chief Curator at Mingei International Museum. She co-curated the exhibition Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo with Guusje Sanders MA and Barbara Hanson Forsyth, MA. Emily joined Mingei in 2022. During her career, she has curated over forty exhibitions, ranging from Haitian sequined textiles to Alabama folk art. She began her museum career as a doctoral fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and has held curatorial positions at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the High Museum of Art, and most recently the Birmingham Museum of Art. Introduction - Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo

Barbara Hanson Forsyth initiated, researched, and developed the ideas and concepts for the exhibiton Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo. She co-curated the exhibition with Emily Hanna, PhD and Guusje Sanders, MA from Mingei International Museum. Barbara has worked in the arts for over 25 years in various capacities, including museums, auction houses, galleries, and most recently the classroom. Her experience includes curating exhibitions and managing collections, as well as working in appraisals and sales, education, marketing, and development. With expertise in fine art, decorative art, folk art, design, and craft, she is especially drawn to art that defies easy categorization. Barbara earned her BA in Art History from Stanford University and a MA in the History of Decorative Arts, Design and Culture from the Bard Graduate Center.

Mingei International Museum was founded in 1978 and presents works of folk art, craft, and design. The Museum has a rich history and commitment to furthering the understanding of art of the people (mingei) from all eras and cultures. Objects in our Collection reflect a joy in making, by hand, useful objects of timeless beauty that are satisfying to the human spirit. The Museum is located in Balboa Park, San Diego, California.

Kathleen Martin is the Textile Conservator for the Avenir Conservation at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. She was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Textile Conservation at the National Museum of the American Indian in Suitland, MD where she researched blue colorants on Native American basketry of the Northeast Woodlands. She holds a Master’s Degree in Textile Conservation at the University of Glasgow and her current work is focused on collaboration with North American Indigenous communities to further understand and reconnect the personal and social histories inherent in textiles. Indigenous Indigo Practices in the Americas

Moupi Mukhopadhyay is a PhD candidate in the Conservation of Material Culture program at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she merges her expertise in technical imaging and spectroscopy with a deep passion for cultural heritage. Her current research focuses on applying these scientific techniques to better understand and preserve wall paintings in Kerala, India. With advanced degrees in engineering, art history and conservation, she has enjoyed enriching her perspective by applying her skills in a museum setting at the Mingei. Moupi aspires to further contribute to the preservation and interpretation of cultural artifacts through similar projects. In her free time, she loves dancing, painting, and navigating the Los Angeles public transport system. Indigo Illuminated: Using Reflectance Imaging and Spectroscopy to Peer beyond the Visible

Guusje Sanders joined Mingei International Museum as Curator in August 2023. She co-curated the exhibition Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo with Emily Hanna, PhD and Barbara Hanson Forsyth, MA. Prior to this position, she worked as the Associate Curator for over six years at the Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego, formerly Lux Art Institute. She has a Master’s in Exhibition and Museum studies from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Bachelor’s in Art History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Introduction - Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo

Jeffrey C. Splitstoser, Assistant Research Professor of Anthropology at George Washington University, is on the Editorial Board for the Textile Museum Journal and Vice President of the Boundary End Archaeology Research Center. Splitstoser’s research centers on ancient Andean textiles and khipus, which are colored-and-knotted-string devices used to record information in lieu of writing. Splitstoser discovered (with Tom Dillehay, Jan Wouters, and Anna Claro) the world’s earliest known use of indigo blue in a 6,200-year-old cotton textile from the Preceramic site of Huaca Prieta. He co-curated (with Juan Antonio Murro) the exhibition, “Written in Knots: Undeciphered Records of Andean Life” April 2-August 18, 2019, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D. C. Splitstoser’s research has a strong focus on learning through making, reproducing the khipus and textile structures he encounters in the field. This work includes growing fiber and dye plants, processing, spinning, and dyeing fibers, and weaving. Splitstoser is an editor of two journals, The Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing and Ancient America. He is a research associate of the Institute of Andean Studies and a Cosmos Club Scholar. Splitstoser received his PhD in anthropology from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. Indigenous Indigo Practices in the Americas

Alain Touwaide holds a PhD in Classics (Louvain, Belgium, 1981) and researches the history of ancient science and medicine, particularly therapy and medicinal plants, in the Mediterranean world from archaic Greece to the Renaissance and beyond. He has been in residence in Medical Schools, Colleges of Pharmacy and Faculties of Sciences around the world, he has co-founded the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions and is the Principal Investigator of the UNESCO Chair on the history of medicinal plants at the University of Salerno. He is affiliated with the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University, the Pharmacognosy Institute of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Department of the History of Science at the University of Oklahoma. Touwaide has extensively published in a great many aspects of the history of medicine, and he has been a featured lecturer worldwide. He has received many prizes, the most recent of which is the 2023 Urdang Medal awarded by the American Institute for the History of Pharmacy to recognize a life-time dedication to research and, in his specific case, an “exemplary standard for pharmacy historians and scholars worldwide.“ Indigo: Mediterranean or Indian?

Kay Triplett is Curator for Quilt & Textile Collections, which manages the Poos Collection. She has co-written five bestselling books about the Poos Collection and quilt history. Her most recent book co-written with her sister Lori Lee Triplett, is Hidden Treasures, Quilts from 1600 to 1860: Rarely Seen Pre-Civil War Textiles from the Poos Collection. Previous award winning and best-selling books include: Pioneer Quilts: Prairie Settlers’ Life in Fabric, Over 30 Quilts from the Poos Collection; Indigo Quilts: 30 Quilts from the Poos Collection; Chintz Quilts from the Poos Collection; Red and Green Quilts from the Poos Collection. Seventeenth-Century Indigo-Resist Textiles from Bermuda

Lori Lee Triplett is Business Manager for Quilt & Textile Collections has successfully combined a variety of passions which include research, writing, and performing into the quilt world. She shares her knowledge as a university professor and enjoys presenting at local quilt guilds, national conferences and international events. She is an award-winning quilter frequently working with hand dyed or hand painted fabrics to create her quilts. As an award-winning writer Lori has written more than 16 books and her most recent book co-written with her sister Kay Triplett, is Hidden Treasures, Quilts from 1600 to 1860: Rarely Seen Pre-Civil War Textiles from the Poos Collection. Previous award winning and best-selling books include, Pioneer Quilts: Prairie Settlers’ Life in Fabric, Over 30 Quilts from the Poos Collection; Indigo Quilts: 30 Quilts from the Poos Collection; Chintz Quilts from the Poos Collection; Red and Green Quilts from the Poos Collection. Seventeenth-Century Indigo-Resist Textiles from Bermuda

Jessica Hanson York is the Executive Director & CEO of Mingei International Museum. With 14 years of experience leading diverse aspects of the Museum’s operations, she played a pivotal role in the fundraising and execution of the Museum’s $50+ million transformational renovation, which reopened to the public in 2021. Prior to her work at Mingei, she spent a decade in public broadcasting and was part of the leadership team that successfully launched The New Children’s Museum in San Diego. She has also served as a consultant for the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and other local nonprofit organizations. Currently, York chairs the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership and teaches graduate courses in arts and culture leadership at the University of San Diego. She is also an alumnus of the Museum Leadership Institute.Director’s Foreword