W.H.H.A.
Maggie Sasso
Silk, paint, handwoven passementerie, upholstery fabric
$200.00
Artist Statement
What an honor to reflect upon the life of Jacqueline Kennedy, who made such a tremendous impact in her brief three years at the White House. When I began researching for this work, I started by looking at a catalog I just happened to have about the historical objects in the White House. I examined the book with new attention to detail, and to my astonishment I discovered that this was a book by Jackie O about her historical renovation of the White House and founding the White House Historical Association. I was drawn to a photograph of a chair that had been reupholstered in dark red. The catalog notes that pictured is “one of a pair” of these chairs. I noted the poetic similarity to Jackie being left alone after JFK’s assassination, and how utterly remarkable it was that she wanted to keep wearing her bloodied suit to convey, through her clothing, what had happened. A gesture so tragic and it became iconic. In my own work I have an absolute respect for the history of objects and the stories they tell, and I also explore and work through trauma. I made this silk banner with handmade trim featuring a painting of the chair from her catalog in the color palette from the attire she wore on the tragic day that saddened the entire country.
About the Artist
Maggie Sasso is a Milwaukee based artist producing conceptual bodies of work that express macro-cosmic ideas through microcosmic detail and examine the role of material culture in relationship to our collective past. Her installations are tactile, using fiber art and textiles techniques to present objects as theatrical props and material relics. Sasso considers the balance between difficult tragedy and humorous optimism and regards ordinary stories from Midwestern characters as reverent legends.
Sasso has exhibited nationally, with solo exhibitions in Madison, WI, Portland, OR, Lexington, KY and Milwaukee, WI, and group exhibitions across the US and Canada, most notably at the John Michael Kohler Art Center, where she was a Exhibiting Artist in Residence, and the Haggerty Museum of Art. In 2015 she was the recipient of a Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowship for Individual Artists. Sasso is a full time artist, her studio is located @ VarWest.