While I was in Santa Fe, I viewed the Unsuspected Possibilities exhibition at SITE gallery. This project is a collaboration between three artists. My attention was firmly on the monumental installation comprised of 11 blanket works by Marie Watt. The installation is “configured to evoke a partial longhouse, a form of architecture built by the Haudenosaunee”. Apparently Marie Watt was inspired by research into the Mohawk ironworkers that built many of Manhattan’s skyscrapers, and an “abstract correlation between the structure of the longhouse and the structure of the skyscraper“.
Coming recently from Chicago, the skyscraper architectural allusion was immediately apparent to me. The works were suspended from the ceiling in a staggered and angled formation. This creates canyon-like corridors between the works where you have to crane your neck to see to the top. I was struck by the scale of the works and how heavy they must be.
There is a collection of installation photos on the SITE website. In addition some, but not all, of the works are shown in the 2014 and 2015 pages of Marie Watt’s website.
Blanket Stories Inspiration
Marie Watt identifies as “half cowboy and half Indian”. She has created an ongoing body of work known as Blanket Stories and remarks:
We are received in blankets, and we leave in blankets, The work…is inspired by the stories of those beginnings and endings, and the life in between. I am interested in human stories and rituals implicit in everyday objects…Marie Watt
The blankets carry associations not only with an a range of life experiences but also with Native American communities. These communities have a long history of exchanging blankets for resources and other goods with settlers and traders as well as marking life transitions with the giving and receiving of blankets.
The works are created from reclaimed woollen blankets that she has sourced from the community. Manila tags remain on some of the works showing the provenance of the blankets:
The tradition of potlatch, a gift-giving ceremony and economic foundation practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States is reflected in Witness, 2015 (71 × 180.5 in). This embroidered work is based on a photograph showing a blanket being cast into a crowd. (See the photo and other background information on Marie’s website.)
This detail shows a pile of blankets stacked up.
Other works in the exhibition were also embroidered such as First Teachers Balance the Universe, Part II: Things That Fly (Prey) and its companion First Teachers Balance the Universe, Part II: Things That Fly (Prey), 2015
I was wondering how the artist coped with the physical challenge of creating such large and heavy work. This video Sewing Circles for SITE Santa Fe reveals that the blankets were actually cut into much smaller pieces and smaller motifs were embroidered by other contributors as part of a collaboration with students from the Santa Fe Indian School, Santa Fe University of Art and Design, Tierra Encantada High School and the Institute of American Indian Arts, and other members of the Santa Fe community. (Now I want to go back and see up close how those parts were reassembled!)
Other works were intricately pieced as shown in this detail from Dreamcatcher:
Satin blanket binding and embellishments add a reflective element in Butterfly 2015 (94 × 126 in):
And Generous Ones: Chair, Observer, Ancestor, 2015 (75 × 164.5 in.) is a densely layered, 3D log cabin-like work that showcases the range of hues that blankets come in.
Santa Fe has literally hundreds of galleries. For the newcomer, it can be difficult to work out which ones to focus on. I am indebted to Betty Busby for alerting me to this inspiring and thought-provoking exhibition at SITE. (Conveniently, the gallery is across the road from the Railyard Brewery.) It was also great fun to catch up with Betty, Ann Anastasio, Gale Oppenheim-Pietrzak (and assorted spouses) later that day over some authentic southwestern food.
Unsuspected Possibilities continues until 4 January 2016.
Call for Blankets
Marie Watt is seeking blankets for her next project. Blanket Stories: Textile Society, R.R. Stewart, Ancient One is a site-specific installation commissioned by the United States Department of State’s office of Art in Embassies for the new embassy in Islamabad. Read more on how to participate in this project.
Tarnya says
Love the Dreamcatcher. At the recent festival of quilts we saw a return to hand quilting Quilting Focus: Hand Quilting at Auckland Festival of Quilts and a wool quilt was also featured. I had never thought of quilting blankets.