June 12, 2019 Curator-led Tour of Japanese Indigo Exhibition Some pictures click on the thumbnail for the full picture. IHBS members toured the Indigo Threads exhibition at the Japan Information and Culture Center, led by curators Atsushi Iwai and Ann Marie Moeller. The Japan Information & Culture Center (JICC), Embassy of Japan, DC, presented “Indigo Threads : Weaving Japanese Craftsmanship & American Heritage,” an exhibition exploring the rich history of indigo dyed fabric and garments in Japan, including the current hype on Japanese denim and jeans. While the United States is undisputedly known to be the birthplace of blue jeans, traditional Japanese craftsmanship has helped resurrect the classical American blue jean in extraordinary ways in recent history. Atsushi Iwai took the position of the Exhibition Coordinator at the JICC in 2016. Since then he has led numerous popular exhibitions at the JICC by bringing in new ideas for exhibits and inviting notable figures such as Erik Demaine for the 2017 annual origami exhibition and W. David Marx for the current Indigo Threads exhibition. While leading the exhibit projects by researching and directing the aesthetics of exhibitions, he fully uses his background of being a studio sculptor, having graduated with an MFA from California State University-Chico, by doing most of the hands-on works to design and mount the exhibitions. For example, in the Indigo Threads exhibition, the specially designed walls and hanging system, on which all of the exhibition items are displayed, are hand made by Atsushi. These walls and hanging system were designed to reflect Japanese regional aesthetics as well as to complement the color of denim. Yakisugi (charred boards), which is used in the exhibition, are seen in the architecture in the Chugoku area where most premier Japanese denim and jeans are produced. Throughout the exhibitions he has led, his aim was not only introducing Japanese culture to the American public but also introducing what that culture is becoming outside Japan through the minds and hands of non-Japanese scholars, artists, practitioners and enthusiasts. Ann Marie Moeller is a scholar and independent curator of Japanese textiles who has collected kimono since her student years at Harvard. She was Consulting Curator for the exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Kimono and Obi: Romantic Echoes from Japan's Golden Age, which is also featured in Google's Arts and Culture online exhibitions. She lectures nationally for a wide variety of institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, The Asia Society, The Textile Museum, The Japan Foundation and the Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan. She is the main author of Reading Kimono: Nature Symbols and Motifs on Japanese Kimono to be published by Schiffer. Ann Marie has also curated exhibits for The Kennedy Center, The International Monetary Fund, The National Cherry Blossom Festival and the Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan. return to home page