Tuesday, May 16, 2017
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Free for Rockwell Members (and up to 2 Guests per Member) | RSVP Encouraged
May is Membership Month at The Rockwell, and we’re pleased to introduce this all-new membership benefit to our loyal supporters.
Enjoy light refreshments and warm conversation at this members-only coffee hour with The Rockwell’s Curator of Collections, Kirsty Buchanan.
Explore The Rockwell’s featured summer exhibition, Blanket Stories: Western Door, Salt Sacks and Three Sisters, by Seneca Native artist and proto-feminist, Marie Watt. Kirsty will be available to talk through the blanket-gathering process, the artists’ background, and behind-the-scenes tales of the installation and undertaking of this impressive sculpture.
Reminder for Members: Recruit a NEW member in the month of May and earn two additional free months to your own membership. Consider bringing a friend for coffee to show them what The Rockwell is all about!
About the Exhibit
Photo by Robbie McClaran
This summer at The Rockwell, explore the histories and memories tied to humble household objects – blankets. How can a simple blanket ignite conversations? What memories are held in the folds? How can fabric tie an individual to the community at large, or to a place and time?
Marie Watt is an American artist, drawing her inspiration from history, biography, Seneca proto-feminism, addressing the interaction of the arc of history with the intimacy of memory.
“Blankets are everyday objects. We take them for granted, yet as we use them, they quietly record our histories: a lumpy shape, a worn binding, mended patches. Every blanket holds a story. In the secondhand and thrift-store blankets I use in much of my work, I can only guess at the story. But when I can work with contributed blankets, I ask each contributor to record the blanket’s story (or the contributor’s story as it relates to the blanket) on a tag. These stories remain with the blankets in their installations, and are also transcribed and collected, so that others can share them.”
-Marie Watt
The project began with a call-for-blankets in September 2016 – individuals from Steuben County and the greater New York community were invited to contribute a blanket, and its story, to be part of the sculptural totem, and ultimately, part of The Rockwell’s permanent collection. The blankets were then shipped to Watt’s studio in Portland, Oregon, where they were cataloged, cleaned, and prepared for the sculpture.
The Rockwell MuseumTuesday, May 16, 2017
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Free for Rockwell Members (and up to 2 Guests per Member) | RSVP Encouraged
May is Membership Month at The Rockwell, and we’re pleased to introduce this all-new membership benefit to our loyal supporters.
Enjoy light refreshments and warm conversation at this members-only coffee hour with The Rockwell’s Curator of Collections, Kirsty Buchanan.
Explore The Rockwell’s featured summer exhibition, Blanket Stories: Western Door, Salt Sacks and Three Sisters, by Seneca Native artist and proto-feminist, Marie Watt. Kirsty will be available to talk through the blanket-gathering process, the artists’ background, and behind-the-scenes tales of the installation and undertaking of this impressive sculpture.
Reminder for Members: Recruit a NEW member in the month of May and earn two additional free months to your own membership. Consider bringing a friend for coffee to show them what The Rockwell is all about!
About the Exhibit
Photo by Robbie McClaran
This summer at The Rockwell, explore the histories and memories tied to humble household objects – blankets. How can a simple blanket ignite conversations? What memories are held in the folds? How can fabric tie an individual to the community at large, or to a place and time?
Marie Watt is an American artist, drawing her inspiration from history, biography, Seneca proto-feminism, addressing the interaction of the arc of history with the intimacy of memory.
“Blankets are everyday objects. We take them for granted, yet as we use them, they quietly record our histories: a lumpy shape, a worn binding, mended patches. Every blanket holds a story. In the secondhand and thrift-store blankets I use in much of my work, I can only guess at the story. But when I can work with contributed blankets, I ask each contributor to record the blanket’s story (or the contributor’s story as it relates to the blanket) on a tag. These stories remain with the blankets in their installations, and are also transcribed and collected, so that others can share them.”
-Marie Watt
The project began with a call-for-blankets in September 2016 – individuals from Steuben County and the greater New York community were invited to contribute a blanket, and its story, to be part of the sculptural totem, and ultimately, part of The Rockwell’s permanent collection. The blankets were then shipped to Watt’s studio in Portland, Oregon, where they were cataloged, cleaned, and prepared for the sculpture.