An "Open Mesh of Possibilities": Thinking Queerness with Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s Archive

ARTISTIC TECHNIQUES

Throughout her life, Sedgwick practiced and experimented with many different artistic techniques. Her archive includes artwork and jewelry from a range of mediums, including works on paper, altered polaroids, cyanotypes, glasswork, ceramics, and polymer clay. Not a lot of information is yet known about Sedgwick’s artistic processes, which were often experimental or combined several methods.

An altered Polaroid image of Eve Sedgwick wearing glasses placed in the middle of the page.
A folder cover featuring a panda covering its mouth.
An altered Polaroid image of a house and trees placed in the middle of the page.

Book of altered polaroids with panda cover. Circa 1970s. (*)

Telluride House page. (*)

Reproduction of altered polaroid. (*)

Sedgwick created this book of altered polaroids as an anniversary gift for her husband, H.A. Sedgwick. The pair met in the Telluride House at Cornell University, at which they received merit-based room-and-board scholarships. The photographs are of significant places related to the couple’s time at Cornell and in Ithaca, including the Telluride House.  

A watercolor drawing of people in and around a house.

Mixed media page from sketchbook. No Date. (*)

This page depicts the farmhouse near Brooktondale, New York, in whose attic Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick lived with H.A. Sedgwick during her sophomore through senior years at Cornell University. The farmhouse belonged to Frank Rosenblatt, a Cornell professor who shared his home, at nominal rents, with a shifting, semi-communal group of students and friends. This Brooktondale community was a formative model for Sedgwick’s conception of the non-nuclear, non-biological family. When this sketchbook was received, the pages had already separated from their binding.

A deckled-edge paper with a nude etching in red at the center of the page.

Nude. Etching. No Date.

A deckled-edge paper with a back view of a nude etching in red.

Nude II. Etching. No Date.

A medical cyanotype with other figures.<br /><br />
A light yellow-colored ceramic tile with skeletons dancing around a phonograph.

Untitled ceramic tile with skeletons dancing around a phonograph. No Date.

Untitled cyanotype. No Date.

Sedgwick often incorporated her medical documents into her artwork such as the medical scan she used for this cyanotype.

A sheet of paper with multi-colored marbling.

Untitled marbling. No Date. (*)

A alphanumeric cylinder with white glaze.

Untitled alphanumeric ceramic cylinder with white glaze. No Date.

A cylinder with a green glaze featuring a wave design.

Untitled ceramic cylinder with green glaze. No Date.

A polymer clay necklace in blue, yellow and gray colors.

Polymer clay necklace. No Date. (*)

A multi-colored glass head.
A glass bead in orange, yellow, and white-toned colors.
A glass bead in blue-toned colors and white.

Untitled rectangular glass piece, with clear glass and orange stripes. No Date.

Untitled rectangular glass piece, with clear glass and blue stripes. No Date.

Untitled glass head. No Date.

A December calendar page featuring a stamped and hand-colored image of three women standing under tri-arches and columns.
A September calendar page featuring the letters Q and R, along with an image of a book starting with the letter Q and a rug.
A paper fan with stamped figures and symbols.

“December” in Intense Excitement calendar. 2005.

“Q & R” in untitled alphabet calendar. 2005.

Untitled fan with stamped figures. No Date.

A purplish-colored ceramic piece with fish design impressions.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />

Untitled ceramic cylinder with fish design. No Date.

A ceramic piece with a blue denim texture and wavy patterns.

Untitled ceramic cylinder with blue glaze. No Date.

A grayish-colored ceramic piece with three legs.<br /><br />

Untitled ceramic, footed cylindrical container. No Date.

A blue and white-colored ceramic tile with stamps featuring Parcel Proust images and letters.<br /><br />

Untitled ceramic tile with Marcel Proust designs. No Date.

A yellowish-colored tile with fish stamps.

Untitled ceramic tile with fish and geometrical designs. No Date.

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