Textile Fantasies
images are the artists own
Recently, I stumbled across a unique piece of furniture at the new and improved Columns Hotel. It was a beautiful, curious looking couch in one of the grand salon rooms. It looked pieced together in a purposeful, artistic way. Created with old things in an entirely modern way. I had to know more! So, I reached out to the maker, Sadie Sheldon. Here’s what I learned:
1) Can you tell me a bit about your background? Where you grew up and how you became an artist?
I grew up in the Midwest where there frankly wasn't much going on for young people under the age of 21. So from an early age I really relied on my imagination as a form of entertainment, which naturally evolved from children's games to more material-based projects. I sewed and tailored a lot of my own clothes, constantly moved the furniture and pictures in my room, cut up magazines and collaged our basement bathroom and eventually stumbled into an obsession with photography. I built misshapen pinhole cameras, used toy cameras for experimentation and became totally enamored with film photography and darkroom processing. I was pretty determined to be a world traveler and photojournalist, but during my studies in Nairobi, Kenya I found community with a group of artists who encouraged me to work with them and try my hand at sculpture. We worked in a communal studio and I immediately loved all of the possibilities- in materials, techniques, conversation, use of space- and felt so empowered to create and explore. That's where I started sewing metal with wire and, over the years, it's evolved into the sewing of all kinds of materials I find!
2) What is your favorite kind of project to work on? What’s your dream job?
I've tried to cultivate a practice that lets me move between many different kinds of projects, so in some ways they're all my favorite. If I get stuck on something, I really like being able to shift gears into something else and find different ways to use my body and mind. It's always exciting when I get the opportunity to create immersive installations that can transform a room into a narrative landscape that allows people to be inside the art, rather than spectators on the outside. In one of my favorite projects, I collected abandoned couches from the streets of South Bend, IN and set up a butcher shop and tannery, separating the couch bones from the meat and the stretched skin (upholstery) and created a space for people to engage with me as butcher. It was about the way we value the material things in our world, highlighting the environmental impact of our consumer practices and, surprisingly, led me to start reupholstering couches during the 2020 lockdown measures.
3) Is sustainability an important part of your work? If so, why?
Oh yeah, sustainability is a huge part of my art and life. If I'm being completely honest, I think I initially adopted the practice over 12 years ago because I didn't have the resources to do anything else. I needed to make work from the cheapest (ideally free) materials I could find and live as similarly as possible, so I was constantly taking stock of the things I already had. And once I started paying attention, I realized how much waste I produced in my own home... from tin cans, to fabric scraps, to plastic bags and containers and more. I got totally obsessed with reducing the amounts of single-use items I cycled through in my house and prioritized repurposing the things I couldn't avoid, like cans and project leftovers. The process taught me how to be self-sufficient and conscientious of my consumer habits and to always evaluate my "stuff" and the decisions I was making. Now almost everything I use finds its way into my work and I source other materials from the streets of New Orleans (mostly) by bike.
4) Where can we see your work? Can we hire you to do something custom?
I have some older work on permanent display at Pizza Delicious and 1000 Figs, but the best place to see my newest work is on instagram @sadieshel or my website www.sadiesheldon.com. That's where I post images of my new works, accompanying text and announcements for upcoming shows and projects. And since I work only from the materials I find, my work is constantly changing! I'm always dreaming up new ways of making, so if someone has an interesting idea, or a particular space that needs a vision, I love the mind/body puzzle of figuring it out.
5) what’s your favorite thing about Mardi Gras?
From the marching bands to the camaraderie, I love it all! But the thing I always look forward to the most are the costumes at the St. Anne parade! I love walking around and seeing so many handmade, mobile works of art.