Blair Treuer: “Healing Through Portraiture”

Using what has historically been described as women’s domestic work, sewing, Blair embraced that intimate relationship with sewing to re-design harmful cultural narratives, with special attention to narratives about female bodies. This lecture explores fabric as a unique medium for representing the figure.  Blair describes her skill regarding this representation, her flirtation with impressionism (not typically seen in fabric portraiture), and her use of color. 

Blair is a storyteller whose textile portraiture is created from a rich palette of fabric and thread, is highly textured, painterly but uses no paint, created with a technique that is recognizably her own, and mounted onto wire becoming sculptural on the wall. You will see how her exhibitions are stories presented as an immersive experience showing the authenticity of her voice, the meaning she makes of her work, and the emotional exchange this work evokes. 

Artist Bio:

Blair is a storyteller from rural Minnesota, who…