Title: Cyan Comes from Indigo - Wu Yuanxin's Blue Calico Collection and Design Works

Address: South exhibition hall on the first floor of the China National Arts and Crafts Museum

Time: July 25th to September 10th, 2023

Blue calico, also known as "medicine-stained cloth" in ancient times, is a textile made by leaking paste through a flower plate to prevent dyeing, and then dyeing it with indigo extracted from woad. The printing and dyeing techniques of blue calico originated from the folk of Jiangnan in the Southern Song Dynasty. Due to its convenient materials and rich patterns, it has been widely used in daily life such as bedding, wrapping cloth, awnings, and clothing, and its pattern themes and image paradigms have been absorbed and integrated with other folk crafts. "There must be meaning in the picture, and the meaning must be auspicious", recording important moments in life, expressing the people's beautiful vision, and imbued with rich cultural connotations. This exhibition focuses on the collection and creation of Wu Yuanxin, a Chinese arts and crafts master, the first batch of "representative inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage", and the director of the Nantong Blue Calico Museum. Through the four sections of "Lifelong Blue Collection", "Colorful World", "Diverse Contexts", and "Endless Creativity", it showcases the historical origins, cultural aesthetics, diversity of contexts, creative transformation, and innovative development of blue calico.