Between the seams, a fibrous journal

 

Between the seams, a fibrous journal

Everloving (top) / Because You're Safe

I don't do well

after all these years who is that staring back at me?

you're more graceful than that

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.