Exonian Profiles
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Artist Kristin Breiseth ’85: Connecting
with Sept. 11
From the seemingly endless haunting images of September 11, there was one that artist Kristin Breiseth ’85 consistently replayed in her mind: sheets of papers slowly, languidly drifting down from the hole that had been the Twin Towers, their slow trajectory in stark contrast to the lives so violently and quickly taken. “The events were so horrific that I needed to find a way of processing them,” said Breiseth, “a way of attacking the problem so as to try to gain an understanding of it. I needed to do something that was cathartic for me, but also something that would serve the community as well.” Markmaking, gesture and repetition are the hallmarks of Breiseth’s work. All three forms came together in an installation entitled Mark: September 11, that was on view at Artspace, a gallery in New Haven, CT, during the month of September. Recalling the tragedy, Breiseth said that it did not take her long to realize that there was little to be “learned” from the events of September 11. The need to make sense of the events was forming in her mind, however. One constant, she found, was the attempt to grasp the number of lives lost. “We asked, and are still asking, just how many of us were ripped away that day,” she said. “I longed for some kind of visual count, some space in which I could contemplate—and be reminded of—all those who were torn from their lives so suddenly.” Breiseth has addressed each victim individually. For the past year, she has torn printmaking paper into two-inch by five-inch pieces and on all of them made a dark viscous watercolor mark, each one different from the other, to signify the uniqueness of each victim. In early September, she began sewing the pieces together, attaching them by string and hanging them in horizontal rows on the three walls of the project room at Artspace. The papers spiral out, according to Breiseth, and touch each other, as did the lives so tragically extinguished. The imagery, with its black-and-white color scheme, is stark and powerful. Sewed only at the top, the papers flutter, the beautiful movement in sharp contrast to the horror that Americans couldn’t, and probably still can’t, fully comprehend. Breiseth believes that in times of tragedy the role of art is to extend our understanding of a situation, both personally and culturally. On a basic level, she says, artists share their own experiences in the hope that someone else will take comfort in them. Mark: September 11 is successful, she believes, because it is a personal expression that connects to what the larger society is feeling. The Artspace installation is a departure for Breiseth, who was “forever drawing” but took only a few art classes at Exeter and Dartmouth College. After several years out in the world, she went back to school at the California College of Arts and Crafts for a B.F.A. in printmaking. She now teaches art at the Hamden Hall Country Day School in Connecticut and maintains a studio in the Erector Square Complex in New Haven. October is when New Haven’s artists hold open houses, and when not teaching, Breiseth expects to spend a lot of time in her studio. Her work reflects her interest in the concept of repetition. She creates mostly multilayered nonrepresentational pieces, large and small. No fan of the texture of canvas, she prefers the hard smooth surface that wood provides. But as seen in her September 11 installation, the consideration of materials and media come second to the idea of repetition, which she sees as a “form of faith.” —Janice Reiter |
