For centuries, women across cultures and generations have passed down textile-making skills to their daughters, granddaughters, nieces, cousins, and other chosen kin. Now rich with symbolism and meaning, the materials and formal qualities of fiber art are employed by many women artists today to honor their female ancestors and the noble role of motherhood.
Featuring historic and contemporary works from the IMA at Newfields' global collections, Daughter/Mother/Ancestor: Threads of Connection explores the ways that women artists preserve intergenerational skill-sharing, manifest acts of care, and materialize familial love through longstanding traditions in textiles.
Skywalker/Skyscraper (Matriarch) Blanket Stories
Artist Marie Watt, along with the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, invited individuals from the Indianapolis community and beyond to donate a blanket and a blanket story for a Watt's new monumental artwork, Skywalker/Skyscraper (Matriarch).
See this work in the exhibition and learn more about each blanket's unique story below.
Gio Swaby (Bahamian, b. 1992), Together We Bloom (detail), 2021, fabric appliquéd on canvas and stretched, 20 × 16 in. Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Mrs. Pierre F. Goodrich Endowment Art Fund, 2022.4C © Gio Swaby.
Marie Watt (American, Seneca, Turtle Clan, b. 1967), Skywalker/Skyscraper (Matriarch), 2023, steel, cotton, 96 × 24 × 24 in. Commissioned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, General Endowed Discretionary Art Fund, Museum Accession by Exchange. © Marie Watt. Photo by Kevin McConnell.
