A Deep Dive into Indigo: Highlights from My Guest Lecture at Lafayette College

I was delighted to give my indigo lecture last week to two classes at Lafayette College, thanks to an invitation from Professor Eric Hupe, an Italian Renaissance art scholar. The course, Color: A History of Making and Meaning, explores a different hue each week—and last week was about Indigo!

The students were wonderfully inquisitive, and they especially enjoyed the live demonstration of dyeing in an indigo vat. The reveal of the shibori pattern at the end is always a thrill, and they were amazed to see that the design came from just two triangles and a clamp.

I also shared a very exciting update to the history of indigo use—a discovery reported only in the last few months. If you’d like to hear the full story, I’ll be giving this lecture again on December 3 at 6:30 pm at the Greenwich Botanical Center. Click the link to get tickets.