Sara Christensen Blair is the chair of the Art and Design department, but she is also an accomplished mixed-media artist. One of the many mediums she works with is fibers, a category that includes cross stitch, crochet and embroidery.
“I felt like, with those processes, I could say more about the feminine aspect, or the female orientedness of craft being not as important as art because it wasn’t seen as on the same level, a lot of times,” said Christensen Blair.
The lightweight nature of fiber also makes it easy to transport and handle, which allows her to work independently, which is something that she enjoys. Additionally, she likes the delicate presence that fiber art has.
When creating her other mixed media work, Christensen Blair prefers working with found objects, especially if they are unexpected.
“I do a lot of work with found objects, but I also like to play on a little bit of humor, but also presenting some feminist ideas,” said Christensen Blair.
Christensen Blair wanted to present the birth control pills in a meditative way, like a mandala.
“I like the idea that they’re used for design,” said Christensen Blair. “But what they’re really used for is choosing when, and if, you want to have children.”
Much of the birth control in her artwork is actually made of sugar because birth control that comes in capsule form generally includes a week of placebo sugar pills.
But she also acquired birth control pills for her artwork, like the blue and white ones, by filling out her prescriptions while she was pregnant. She also received extra birth control from her friends.
But this is not the first time that people have contributed supplies to her mixed-media work. People also sent her Beanie Babies, which she used in her sculpture “Bear Rug.”
“I think that people like being part of things, especially when it’s something that’s presented in a different way, which is the coolest part of art, because it’s a language that you don’t speak, but get to create,” said Christensen Blair. “You get to decide what to say and how to say it with things.”
“I like collaborative work, but I think that’s a difference between artists and performers; we like to be alone to do our work,” she said.
While her artwork can be repetitive to create, that is a part of the process that she enjoys.
“It’s sort of meditative and that’s when I come up with more ideas,” said Christensen Blair. “The idea is the hard part. The process is not the hard part, but the more you make, the more ideas you get.”
“The other thing I think is fun is taking on domestic themes, things that you would usually not think of as artwork,” said Christensen Blair, and she gives her work “50 Shades of Grey” as an example.
“I think there’s something funny about turning something that’s super domestic into something that could be seen as scandalous,” said Christensen Blair.
In “50 Shades of Grey,” Christensen Blair intentionally chose a tedious process for an art piece about domestic labor, which is generally unpaid and necessary year-round to maintain a household.
“I did 24 months because it was nice [and] clean,” said Christensen Blair. “I can kind of pinpoint where there was intentionality behind life choices.”
“I’m taking these two years, showing it in a very feminine decorative way, but saying that, ‘Listen, I chose these two years to not have children,’” said Christensen Blair.
“My kids are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but I got to decide when that was going to happen… and luckily it did happen,” said Christensen Blair.
“It’s never anti-motherhood at whatever decision people make or a decision they didn’t make,” said Christensen Blair. “I just think that everyone has the right to choose how to live, and I think that’s what a lot of that work is about. It’s not about identifying a certain way.”
“As a working, professional artist and like person, having kids is going to derail some of that, whether you like it or not, even if you have a very 50/50 relationship with support, which I do,” said Christensen Blair. “I think that change that happens, the sacrifice that’s made in other areas of your life. I mean it’s totally worth it, but it’s there.”
She adds, “You always figure it out, but you have to make sure that you have the support there, and that you know that, certain goals aren’t going to be met in the time, maybe in the way you want them to be met because you’ve had kids, or you’ve not had kids.”
“There are many people who have to choose between kids and a career, and I just was unwilling to do that,” said Christensen Blair. “And luckily, I had someone that was with me that supported it, but it doesn’t mean it was easy.”
She adds that her feminist work was very successful. She even created jewelry using pills instead of stones.
“I had a lot of gallery interest, so I kept making it. Plus, I had a lot of material,” said Christensen Blair.
“There’s something about medical materials that I find super interesting, I didn’t really just focus on birth control,” said Christensen Blair.
Although Christensen Blair admits that being interviewed about being a woman feels weird, she also thinks that it is an important conversation to have.
“As a young person, when I was told that you could do whatever you want, I really believed it, and I do believe that, but I don’t think that the paths are the same,” said Christensen Blair. “Sometimes I don’t understand why the things that we were told were going to be equal still aren’t.”
“I think a lot of the labor that the women do on this campus is totally unrecognized because most of the support staff is women,” said Christensen Blair. “We need to celebrate them more because they’re lower paid, and then maybe even overqualified most of the time, but they do a lot of heavy lifting that helps the people around us flourish.”
