Please consider viewing Picking Up The Pieces: The Making of the Witness Blanket before and after visiting the exhibition.

October 12 – December 4, 2022
Carey Newman, artist
The Frank Museum of Art
39 S. Vine Street, Westerville, OH 43081
Wednesdays – Sundays 11a – 3p and by appointment

Public Artist Talk and Panel Discussion
Click here for event information >
Wednesday, October 26 at 6:30p
Riley Auditorium, Otterbein University, 170 W. Park Street
Refreshments will be available at 6p and after the talk

The Witness Blanket is an art installation that honours the children who were forced into the Indian residential school system in Canada. The installation is a cedar “blanket,” woven with pieces of Indian residential school history. These contributions were donated by residential school surivors and their families, band offices, friendship centres, and governments. Other items were reclaimed from former residential school sites. The contributions include letters, photos, stories, books, clothing, art, and fragements of buildings. Those responsible for the school system—churches and the Canadian federal government—have also donated pieces for this installation as a gesture towards reconciliation.

Indigenous artist Carey Newman | Hayalthkin’geme created The Witness Blanket in response to Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Exhibited for the first time outside of Canada, The Witness Blanket comes to The Frank Museum of Art to honour children and with an aspiration to further conversations about Indian residential schools in the United States.

NOTE: The original Witness Blanket is undergoing conservation at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg, MB, after touring Canada for three years. Carey Newman and the CMHR have partnered to create reproductions of the blanket for travel, allowing its stories and messages to continue to be shared. After viewing the traveling version of the Witness Blanket, visitors may decide to take a pilgrimage to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba to see the original sculpture.