Acknowledgment: Indigenous Land, Pachamama, Story Circle (work of art)
Artwork Info
Key Ideas
- Marie Watt’s work is influenced by her own experiences as a Seneca woman. She shares her knowledge of Indigenous histories and design techniques in her art.
- This is an example of mixed-media art. Mixed-media artworks are made up of a combination of different media or materials. The materials used can be important to the meaning behind the work. This sculpture is made from cast bronze, cedar planks, wool blankets, patches, and embroidery floss.
- This sculpture includes blanket pieces that are placed between cedar planks. The blankets are embroidered with words that relate to Indigenous history and symbolism.
- Bronze is a material that has been used to make monuments of historic heroes. In this work the artist used bronze to create a stack of folded blankets. Her choice of materials was intentional. She wanted to create a monument honoring blankets, their histories, and their ties to the land.
- “Pachamama” means “Mother Earth” or “World Mother.”
Learn More
Marie Watt is a contemporary Indigenous artist. Her work includes textiles, sculptures, prints, and site-specific installations. Her work is influenced by her own experiences as a Seneca woman. Watt is known for representing Indigenous histories and design techniques in her art. Her current work explores the meaning and role of wool blankets.
We are received in blankets, we leave in blankets . . . The work is inspired by the stories of those beginnings and endings, and the life in between.
Marie Watt
Watt uses wool blankets to create art. Blankets are everyday objects, but they can hold stories or memories. The artist’s Blanket Stories series presents blankets as living art forms that bear witness to our lives and families.
In Native American communities, blankets are given away to honor people for being witnesses to important life events. For this reason it is considered as great a privilege to give a blanket away as it is to receive one.
Marie Watt
Acknowledgment: Indigenous Land, Pachamama, Story Circle includes blanket pieces set between cedar planks. Watt hand-embroidered these words on the blanket remnants: root medicine, ancestor, guardian tree, steward, and companion species. The words relate to Indigenous stories about animals and the environment.
The texts reflect on and recognize past generations as well as stories connected to animals, the environment, and land.
Marie Watt
This mixed-media sculpture is made up of cast bronze, cedar, wool blankets, patches, and embroidery floss. In mixed-media art the materials used can be significant to the meaning behind the work. Watt used bronze to cast the stack of folded blankets. Bronze is a material historically used to make monuments and statues. Watt chose bronze for this sculpture because she wanted it to serve as a monument honoring blankets.
Bronze is a material historically reserved for the busts of heroic men and equestrian statues. What does it mean to create a monument out of the humble material objects from our daily lives? Blanket Stories (Acknowledgment) is a monument honoring blankets, their histories, and their ties to the land.
Marie Watt
Watt uses a community-based process to create her sculptures. She invites family, friends, and strangers to contribute blankets. She has them attach a card with a story or memory about the blanket. Then she uses the blankets to construct large-scale sculptures. Some of her projects are completed in a sewing circle-like group, and others are a solo process. She chooses a title that best represents the stories and memories contained within each collection of blankets. The word “Pachamama” in this artwork’s title translates to “Mother Earth” or “World Mother.”
Additional Resources
Resources for Teachers
- Watch a video of Watt discussing what influences her work.
- Read the artist’s biography.
- Read a short article about her sculpture series Blanket Stories.
Resources for Students
- Watch a video of Watt discussing her artwork.
- View another work by this artist that uses similar materials.
- View a work by this artist that uses very different materials.
Images
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Acknowledgment: Indigenous Land, Pachamama, Story Circle