Exhibition Opening Reception: Western Door, Salt Sacks and Three Sisters

Opening Reception: 
Thursday May 4, 2017*
5:30 to 7:00 p.m.  
Remarks with Marie Watt, 6:00 p.m.

Rockwell Members & Blanket Contributors: Free
Students with ID: $5
Not-yet-members: $10

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?  Be the first to see this incredible sculpture at the exhibition opening reception of Blanket Stories: Western Door, Salt Sacks and Three Sisters with artist Marie Watt. 

Marie Watt is an American artist, drawing her inspiration from history, biography and Seneca proto-feminism, addressing the interaction of the arc of history with the intimacy of memory.  Watt will talk through her process and speak on the themes that ran through the blanket stories that were collected from the community. 

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. Blanket contributors are invited to attend the opening reception for free. The blankets were then shipped to Watt’s studio in Portland, Oregon, where they were cataloged, cleaned, and prepared for the sculpture. 

*Advance reservations required by 5:00 p.m. on May 3, 2017.