Blanket Stories: Three Sisters, Four Pelts, Sky Woman, Cousin Rose, and All My Relations
2007
"As I fold and stack blankets, they begin to form columns that, to me, hold many references: linen closets, architectural braces, memorials (e.g. the Trajan Column), sculpture (e.g. Brancusi), the great totem poles of the Northwest, and the giant conifers among which I grew up. In Native communities, blankets are given away to honor people for witnessing important life events—births and comings-of-age, graduations and marriages, namings and honorings. Among Native people it is as much of a privilege to give a blanket away as to receive one." (Marie Watt)
This piece was acquired by the museum shortly after the gift of the adjacent blanket woven by Susan Pavel, who spent years under the tutletege of an elder weaver to bring back this ancient type. Artist Marie Watt invites us to contemplate the ubiquitous wool blanket—while warmth and comfort are often associated with blankets, the memories and meanings they hold are sometimes less evident. Watt credits her Seneca mother for teaching her the Native lore of Three Sisters—corn, beans and squash—as a source of inspiration. Cousin Rose’s Blanket is a patchwork of material cut from striped wool suits created by Rose Niguma, who took this blanket to Camp Minidoka, Idaho, during her internment. Sky Woman refers to the mythic Seneca woman who helped unite sky and ground, as this stack does. Four pelts are seen in a 4-point blanket referencing the insignia of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which traded furs extensively with Native peoples. Blanket Stories shows gratitude for the many shared blankets and their stories that have come from Watt’s family and the larger community of people who have donated them.
Wool blankets, satin binding, with salvaged industrial yellow cedar timber base
150 x 40 x 40 in. (381 x 101.6 x 101.6 cm)
General Acquisition Fund, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
2007.41
Provenance: The artist; [PDX Gallery, Portland, Oregon]; purchased by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2007
Photo: Susan Cole