Lives Well-Lived: Hiroyuki Shindo (1941-2024)
"We were honoured to represent Shindo’s work and to present it in a variety of contexts. We loaned his works to exhibitions across the US, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,Massachusetts, the Dennos Museum, Michigan, the Palo Alto Cultural Center, California, the Greenwich Art Center, Connecticut, the Albuquerque Museum, New Mexico, the Denver Botanical Gardens, Colorado, and the Warehouse Art Museum, Wisconsin, in addition to exhibiting it several times at browngrotta arts. We were delighted to have met him when he and his wife, Chikako, came to Wilton to help install Sheila Hicks and seven artists from Japan in 1995. He had a delightful sense of humor. He shared memorable stories with us about his indigo process and dedication to continue that tradition." Tom and Rhonda Brown of
Image: Hiroyuki and Chikako Shindo at browngrotta arts Sheila Hicks, joined by seven artists from Japan exhibition in 1995. Photo by Tom Grotta.
In the world of indigo, Japanese dyer and artist Hiroyuki Shindo, born in 1941, was a gentle giant whose influence was boundless. News of his death on 28 June brought tributes pouring in, each with personal memories as well as extolling his role in revitalising indigo.
Image: 21hs Hemp & Cotton, Hiroyuki Shindo, linen, handspun and handwoven, indigo dye, 82″ x 44″, 1998. Photo by Tom Grotta.
I first met Shindosan in 1992 at a pioneering small symposium on woad/indigo held in Erfurt, a mediaeval woad centre in eastern Germany. My diary entry mentions that: ‘there was a slide show by Hiroyuki Shindo, a really lovely man who lives deep in the countryside in Japan and uses Japanese indigo in his highly modern artwork’.
The following year my own friendship with Shindosan began when, like so many others, I made the pilgrimage to the thatched house in the mountain village of Miyama, north of Kyoto, where he lived and worked with his late weaver wife Chicako. Here, from 1981, he nurtured his indigo vats, using ancient traditions of dyeing and patterning in combination with his own unique developments to create distinctive modern abstract art. In the late 1960s at art college, when a master indigo dyer told him that his traditional craft was in jeopardy, Shindosan had decided to use indigo – which combines universal appeal with a mystical quality - as his expressive medium. He in turn inspired students from 1997 when he became a Professor and head of the textile department at Kyoto College of Art,
In 2005 Shindosan added a ‘Little Indigo Museum’ to his home, to display both his own work and his personal collection. He still found time to welcome visitors and encourage those embarking on their own indigo journeys.
In memory of Hiroyuki Shindo, Jenny Balfour-Paul, renowned writer and researcher on indigo, looks back at his career, remembering personal memories of him and his commitment to indigo and its future.
In the world of indigo, Japanese dyer and artist Hiroyuki Shindo, born in 1941, was a gentle giant whose influence was boundless. News of his death on 28 June brought tributes pouring in, each with personal memories as well as extolling his role in revitalising indigo.
I first met Shindosan in 1992 at a pioneering small symposium on woad/indigo held in Erfurt, a mediaeval woad centre in eastern Germany. My diary entry mentions that: ‘there was a slide show by Hiroyuki Shindo, a really lovely man who lives deep in the countryside in Japan and uses Japanese indigo in his highly modern artwork’.
The following year my own friendship with Shindosan began when, like so many others, I made the pilgrimage to the thatched house in the mountain village of Miyama, north of Kyoto, where he lived and worked with his late weaver wife Chicako. Here, from 1981, he nurtured his indigo vats, using ancient traditions of dyeing and patterning in combination with his own unique developments to create distinctive modern abstract art. In the late 1960s at art college, when a master indigo dyer told him that his traditional craft was in jeopardy, Shindosan had decided to use indigo – which combines universal appeal with a mystical quality - as his expressive medium. He in turn inspired students from 1997 when he became a Professor and head of the textile department at Kyoto College of Art,
In 2005 Shindosan added a ‘Little Indigo Museum’ to his home, to display both his own work and his personal collection. He still found time to welcome visitors and encourage those embarking on their own indigo journeys.
Image: Shindigo Space 07
By the mid 1990s Shindo was exhibiting in seminal international exhibitions, starting in USA with Sheila Hicks’ show in collaboration with seven Japanese artists. His work featured in many subsequent prestigious US and other overseas galleries, as well as in Japan, and was widely collected. Britain was slow off the mark, but Shindosan created a significant new installation for Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery’s major 2007 touring exhibition ‘Indigo: a Blue to Dye For’ (illustration). It wowed visitors and joined the Gallery’s permanent collection.
Many publications feature Shindosan and the 2011 documentary film ‘Blue Alchemy: Stories of Indigo’, by New Deal Films, includes beautiful footage of the artist at work. These will be among the invaluable lasting memorials.
Thanks to his generosity, skill and creativity, Shindosan’s prodigious contribution to the intersecting worlds of indigo, textiles and art will colour the future. In Japan the word ‘Ai’ is shared between indigo and love. Shindosan was the embodiment of both.
Text by Jenny Balfour-Paul
With special thanks to Jenny Balfour-Paul and Tom and Rhonda Brown of browngrotta arts
2 comments
In 2008, as a mature student, I joined a group lead by our tutor Tim Parry Williams to Japan. The highlight of our visit was spending time at the home of Hiroyuki and Chikako Shindo – a gentle kindly couple who shared their love and enthusiasm for the magical transformation that dyeing with indigo involves.
I will never forget the bubbling vats of indigo set in the earth floor, and the beautiful small museum where we were able to buy small bags made from off cuts of dyed fabric, all hand made by Chikako.
One of life’s very special experiences. Thank you Shindigo.
In 2016 I went with a small group of textile enthusiasts to Miyama where I had the privilege of seeing the precious exhibits in Shindosan’s museum as well as experiencing firsthand his indigo dyeing methods. It was an gift from a modest man of incredible talent whom I shall never forget and who will remain forever an inspiration.