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Elodie Blanchard Revitalizes Fabric Scraps into Vivid Patchworks of Trees, Bouquets, and Goddesses

“Goddesses 11, 8, 9, 10.” Image © Randy Duchaine. All images courtesy of Elodie Blanchard, shared with permission

Elodie Blanchard Revitalizes Fabric Scraps into Vivid Patchworks of Trees, Bouquets, and Goddesses

The garments we wear often hold stories about our lives. A hole in the knee of a well-loved pair of jeans recalls hours spent bent down to tend to a vegetable garden, while a greasy oil stain condemns a T-shirt once worn to a family barbeque.

For Elodie Blanchard, textiles hold boundless narrative potential. Working with fabrics gathered from friends, stoops around her Brooklyn neighborhood, and secondhand shops, the French-American artist and designer stitches patchwork sculptures that transform materials otherwise destined for the landfill into vibrant forms. When searching for something more specific—say, Lycra, leather, or fur—the artist taps her friends in the industry and organizations like Materials for the Arts and FabScrap.

“Forest.” Image © Randy Duchaine

The resulting pieces take many shapes. There are Blanchard’s spindly trees that layer stripes of fabrics upward, creating visible rings encircling the trunk. Stretch is essential in these arboreal constructions, and the artist shares that she tends to alternate the amount of give a material has, allowing for small bulges and curves that resemble organic life.

For her sprawling bouquet series, Blanchard finds inspiration from Green-Wood Cemetery near her home. She scours the trash cans for polyester scraps, tattered flags, and other materials that once honored the dead. “Remembrance Happy Birthday,” for example, came to fruition after the artist found a balloon bearing those words.

Whether creating a figurative goddess or a three-dimensional vessel, the material guides the form. “It may look spontaneous, but I carefully consider color and pattern when sewing the strips together,” Blanchard says. “If I want to make a ‘fancy’ tree, I’ll seek out haute couture fabrics; if I’m creating a trophy urn meant to show excess, I’ll look for bright gold poly materials.” Whatever the form, though, Blanchard has a central goal: “Each time, I try to create a unique universe or personality.”

If you’re in New York, you can see some of Blanchard’s works in Soft Structures, on view through August 8 at Jane Lombard Gallery. She’s currently working toward an open studio and exhibition as part of New York’s Textile Month, and you can find more from the artist on her website and Instagram.

“Portraits,” installation view at SEEDS
“Remembrance Happy Birthday.” Image © Randy Duchaine
Detail of “Goddess 11”
“Urn VI” (2024), fabric, leather, Mylar balloon, 18 x 16 x 22 1/2 inches
“Bouquet 5.” Image © Paul Plews
“Bouquet 23”
Detail of “Remembrance Happy Birthday.” Image © Randy Duchaine
“Urn I Love You” (2025), fabric, leather, mylar balloon, 28 x 19 x 17 inches
“Remembrance Ninja Turtles.” Image © Randy Duchaine
Detail of “Remembrance Ninja Turtles.” Image © Randy Duchaine
Elodie Blanchard with trees (2022). Image © Randy Duchaine

Related articles

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  • A New Book Branches Out Across 3,500 Years to Explore Our Enchantment with Trees
  • Explore Storytelling Through 300 Years of Quilts in ‘Fabric of a Nation’
  • Fabric Tree Stumps Formed From Pieces of Discarded Clothing by Tamara Kostianovsky
  • A Menagerie of Contemplative Animals by Mila Zemliakova Weave Textile Traditions and Nature
  • Vivid Compositions in Thread Enliven Hollow Spaces in Diana Yevtukh’s Striking Embroideries


Source: Art - thisiscolossal.com


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