Between the seams,
a fibrous journal
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| Everloving (top) / Because You're Safe |
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| I don't do well |
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| after all these years who is that staring back at me? |
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| you're more graceful than that |
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| My stomach hurts |
By Tom Wachunas
“What does it feel like when our race against the clock
overshadows the likelihood of preserving memories? Moving through grief, time,
and the end of a transformative decade, I explore my origins in an effort to
grasp this new life…” - Sarah C.
Blanchette artist statement
“Sometimes you will never know the value of something until
it becomes a memory.” - Dr. Seuss
EXHIBIT: Sarah C. Blanchette: All Shook Up—textiles
and mixed media prints / Through July 23, 2023, in Studio M at
Massillon Museum / located at 121
Lincoln Way East in downtown Massillon. For more information, call 330-833-4061,
or visit https://massillonmuseum.org/blog/MassMu-News/MassMus-Studio-M-to-Exhibit-Artwork-by-Sarah-C-Blanchette
From Massillon Museum: “Sarah C. Blanchette is a
photo-based fiber artist who works out of the Detroit area. Through repetitive
acts of hand and machine sewing and physical manipulations of the
self-portrait, she documents her coming of age in a digital world while
embarking on a journey toward growth and autonomy in womanhood.”
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Inside this
remarkably provocative Studio M exhibit of works by Sarah C. Blanchette, the
very air in the room feels dense, even desperate. Saturated with introspective
solemnity. The walls themselves project a gravitas. They’re not supporting
bright, eye-popping colors. Instead, they appear stark and heavy, weighted with
billowy splotches of …what?
All the pieces were
made with digital thermal print scans printed on velvet, cotton thread, vinyl
and batting, and largely handsewn. Blanchette calls them “tactile tapestries,”
and “journal-esque monochrome velvet quilts.” Imagery and words are stitched
together, gleaned from personal and familial sources, spanning various moments across
time, including voice recordings and family communications posted in social
media. In her statement, the artist writes that, “…when brought together,
these documentations served as resources to express the terror that time is
slipping away…” Blanchette also adds
that her artworks “…beg the viewer to consider their weight.”
So here’s one of
those potent occasions when viewing art evokes, of all things, spelunking. Don’t
just glance at this art. See into it, as if peering into,
and then entering, a cave. A cave holding memories. Some bright and bold,
others a bit murky. In any case, what I find most engaging about Blanchette’s works
are the intriguing questions they raise about the dynamics, the lifespan, the
preservation of memories and the truths they hold, or hide.
Does a memory have
a physique, a measurable mass or weight? Can a memory exude light? If so, will
that illuminated physical presence, that present-ness, be necessarily
diminished by the relentless passage of time? And during that inevitable passage,
will the light from our accumulated memories be dimmed or fade away completely?
Making art is certainly one of our culture’s
most courageous – and loving - acts of memory preservation. As Blanchette so
poignantly observes in her statement, her new pieces “…have become the most
dependable form of preservation…They won’t ever disappear, even as their
subjects do.”
One more metaphor.
Truly compelling artworks are like the sturdiest of ships carrying real
treasure, and able to survive the storm-ravaged seas of passing time. Sarah
Blanchette’s creations are indeed see-worthy vessels.
.JPG)
