Editor's note: Due to Gov. Tim Walz's mandate, The Duluth Art Institute is closed until Dec. 18.

Blair Treuer’s art seems to hover off the wall, and looking at it is a different experience depending on your perspective.

From afar, it’s easy to spot her son, Isaac, looking stoic in regalia twice his size; her daughter, Luella, laughing, hair blowing in the wind and off the fabric; her husband, an antlered Treuer, naked and alone save for a few goldfinches. 

Up close, though, you see hundreds and hundreds of tiny fabric pieces and ribbon layered over each other and sewn together in swirling and sometimes floral designs. 

Someone who is a bit more established can fall into patterns of following the rules, which can make for static work, and that makes it more exciting to meet someone following their vision more than the rules, said Amy Varsek, Duluth Art Institute exhibitions director.

Of Treuer, Varsek said: “She has this wind blowing through her, and it’s capturing these really meaningful stories that she might not even know that she has to tell.”

“Identity” is Treuer’s dive into the ways traditional Ojibwe practices and beliefs shape how her family sees itself, her place in it and the identities of those she loves.

Treuer started sewing blankets as offerings for her children’s spiritual ceremonies. 

“My husband and all of my children are Native, but I am not, so this was the only contribution that I could make to their spiritual lives,” she said.

It’s challenging as their mom not to be able to do more, but pouring so much of herself into the process felt very spiritual in itself, she said. 

Treuer soon realized she “had a deep love affair with fabric.” She gave herself permission to explore, and she launched into her self-portrait.

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