Installation view of “Marie Watt: Sky Dances Light”
“The artist invites you to activate the sculptures by gently brushing against or lightly touching the jingles to produce sound,” reads a sign at the entryway of the gallery that holds Marie Watt: Sky Dances Light at the Blanton Museum of Art.
Despite the clear instructions, I watched visitors walk hesitantly around the huge, suspended sculptures. Everyone eyed each other, silently asking “Really? Can we?” It wasn’t until one brave soul reached out to touch the artwork, spurring a melodic chime that rang throughout the space, that others joined in, transforming the room into an ethereal, multisensory experience.
Portland, Oregon-based artist Marie Watt is an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation with German-Scot ancestry whose practice examines Indigenous history and culture. For her exhibition at the Blanton, organized by Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Hannah Klemm, Watt expands on her Sky Dances Light series within a singular gallery space on the museum’s second floor.
The primary material in Watt’s sculptural forms is the “jingle” which is historically made from tobacco tin lids rolled into a conical shape. The jingle is primarily used to adorn the jingle dress, Native American regalia worn during an Indigenous dance gathering known as a powwow. The Jingle Dress Dance originated around the time of the 1918 flu pandemic as a healing ritual. According to Watt, “One version of the story is that a member of the Ojibwe nation had a sick granddaughter. They had this dream in which they were instructed to attach tin jingles to a dress and have women dance around this sick child while wearing the dress. The idea was that the sound would be healing. It’s assumed the medicine worked because the dance was shared with other communities.”
A handful of contemporary Indigenous artists have used the jingle as an element in their artwork, such as American artist of Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee descent, Jeffrey Gibson. Earlier this summer I came across one of Gibson’s punching bags embellished with beads, tassels, and jingles at the Museum of Modern Art, Fort Worth.
Installation view of Marie Watt, “Sky Dances Light”
Filling up the room is a “forest of jingle clouds.” The giant abstract forms take on a life of their own. Some are long and winding — a magical, shimmering dragon. Others are bulbous and far out-of-reach — an untouchable planetary orb trapped within the gallery space. Or perhaps a forbidden fruit. The jingles are tied to a ribbon sewn into a red mesh fabric that acts as the skeleton of the hollow form.
Aside from the cloud creatures (as I refer to them), the only other element in the gallery is a single screen depicting a video of Acosia Red Elk, a 10-time world champion jingle dress dancer of the Umatilla tribe, activating Watt’s sculptures while wearing a jingle dress of her own.
Before they are activated, the quiet beasts appear frozen in the air. They are mystical creatures on their own, but there is something missing in the serene landscape–visitors seem to sense this too as they wander around the sculptures, looking for the hidden element. But upon activation, the sound of the jingles breathes spiritual energy into the artwork. The sculpture becomes a collective experience of community engagement and interaction.
Installation view of Marie Watt, “Sky Dances Light”
Marie Watt: Sky Dances Light is on view at the Blanton Museum of Art through October 20, 2024.
Emma S. Ahmad is an art historian and writer based in Dallas, TX.
