Tag Archives: Ruchin Soni

Searching for Indigo in India: Countdown to Travel

It’s a 24-hour flight from California to New Delhi, not including the layover in Tokyo. I’m getting ready for a month of travel, focused mostly on the India State of Gujarat, with my Canadian friend Fay Sims, leaving San Jose on November 15.

Indigo dye pot, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico

Indigo dye pot, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico

My motivation to go to India is multi-fold:

  • to experience first-hand indigo dye history, artisanry and textiles
  • to visit my first cousin, Odissi dancer Sharon Lowen, who has lived in New Delhi, India for 43-years after leaving the USA on a Fulbright


Sharon Lowen’s Odissi Dance in Swarnakamalam…by kasuvandi

  • to embrace my 99-1/2 year old aunt, my mother’s younger sister, who now lives with my cousin
  • to reconnect with friends, textile artist Nidhi Khurana and her painter-muralist husband Ruchin Soni
  • to compare and contrast the textiles of Oaxaca and Gujarat
Eric Chavez Santiago at the indigo dye pot

Eric Chavez Santiago at the indigo dye pot (happy birthday, Eric)

  • to write and photograph the processes and people
  • to get yards of hand-spun cotton Khadi cloth, Ghandi’s symbol of India’s independence from England
  • to discover who knows what else!
Variations of indigo blue, depending on wool color and number of dye dips

Variations of indigo blue, depending on wool color and number of dye dips

Natural Dye and Textile Study Tour, One-Day in Oaxaca

My friend, master weaver Federico Chavez Sosa, asked me to bring him back a chunk of native India indigo to experiment with. My friend, master weaver Alfredo Hernandez Orozco, asked me to bring him any type of native India fiber to experiment with on his flying shuttle loom. They are innovators.

Indigo blue shirts are first made with natural manta cotton, then get four dye dips.

Oaxaca: indigo blue shirts on natural manta cotton, with four dye dips

I am going with one empty suitcase, the second half-full.

What advice do you have for me on the quest for India textiles with natural dyes in New Delhi, Gujarat state and Mumbai?

Example of indigo block print from India, on cotton and silk cloth.

Indigo block print on cotton and silk, from India

Indigo block print on cotton and silk, from India

 

 

Visiting India Artist Ruchin Soni Shows Work, Thursday, January 28

For one night only, Thursday, January 28, 2016, visiting India artist Ruchin Soni will present his work at an art opening to be held at  La Curtiduria studio, Barrio Jalatlaco, at 7:00 PM.  The public is invited.

RuchinInvitation

La Curtiduria is a graphic arts incubator studio space, whose director, Oaxaca printmaker Demian Flores, was mentor to Ruchin during his three-month cultural arts exchange program between Mexico and India, sponsored by the Mexican government. Ruchin competed and won support for this artist-in-residence program.

Ruchin worked in the studio to create woodcuts and other art pieces that represent his view of Oaxaca. Also a prolific muralist, painter and illustrator, Ruchin designed and painted street murals that bridge the intersection between popular art in Mexico and India.

Open Studio, Saturday, January 30, with Visiting India Textile Artist Nidhi Khurana and Ruchin Soni, 6 PM, at El Diablo y La Sandia Boca del Monte

Nidhi

Open Studio with Visiting India Artists, January 30, 6-8 PM

Textile artist Nidhi Khurana and artist/painter Ruchin Soni are wrapping up their three-month Oaxaca residency, sponsored by the Mexican government as part of a Mexico-India cultural exchange program.

Nidhi

Both are well-known in Delhi, India, for their innovative approach to large format art installations. Nidhi came here to experiment with natural dyes, and especially cochineal which is not sourced in India. She dyed cloth that is becoming textile maps of Oaxaca.

Ruchin completed a larger-than-life wall art mural on the highway to Ocotlan, portraits, sketches, and woodcut prints. Their tiny apartment in Oaxaca served as laboratory and design space, too.

Ruchin

They are leaving Oaxaca in early February. We hope you have a chance to drop by to see their work and wish them good journeys.  Gracias, Maria Crespo for opening your space for this exhibition.

 

I had the pleasure of mentoring Nidhi and Ruchin during their stay, helping Nidhi complete her competitive application to the Mexican government, and introducing her to textile artists and artisans to make her experience more complete. They arrived at the time my mom was dying, so my sincerest thanks to friends Martha Sorensen and Hayley Samuel for stepping in for me during my absence from Oaxaca to make key introductions.