Montclair

THE HEALING ARTS

DONNA BASSIN was 11 years old when her 8-year-old sister died . “ You lose asibling , but you also lose your parents to their own grief ,” says Bassin . To cheer them up , she decorated their Brooklyn home with bright construction paper . She decided she wanted to be an artist , but failed an elementary school test to identify kids with natural abilities . “ We had to copy a vase , and I couldn ’ t do it !” she says .

The desire to heal others through art remained with her , though . At the University of Michigan , she took premed classes , then went to Pratt Institute to make ceramics , and finally received a doctorate in psychoanalytic research at Union Graduate College . Bassin , who moved to Montclair in the mid- ’ 80s , has used her unique skill set to become an award-winning fine art photographer , installation artist , author , professor and filmmaker . Her recent installation , “ BY OUR OWN HANDS ,” opened at the Montclair Art Museum on Sept . 12 , and can be seen inthe Laurie Art Stairway until Aug . 14 , 2022 . Bassin produced the exhibit in collaboration with Frontline Arts , a nonprofit group for veterans whose stated mission is “ to connect communities through socially engaging arts practices rooted in papermaking and printmaking .”

“ The thing that moved me the most is that they had a practice of transforming military uniforms into handmade paper ,” she says . “ It ’ s a creative form of mourning . The paper sometimes literally includes the blood , sweat and tears of combat .” Her MAM installation features approximately 800 sheets of handmade paper created from veterans ’ uniforms and provided by Frontline Paper , an initiative of Frontline Arts . “ By Our Own Hands ” refers to veteran suicides , which occur at twice the rate of the population as a whole , but uplift can be found in seeing the paper strung together like Tibetan prayer flags , which Bassin observed on a trip to Bhutan .

“ At the art museum , they want the community to not just see a pretty picture , but for it to be agathering place where people can contribute to the community ,” she says . “ We don ’ t want to just say ‘ Thank you for your service !’ We want to listen to them , and give them resources .” She says the scope of the exhibit may expand over the year to include papermaking sessions for the public .

This art presentation isn ’ t the first work of Bassin ’ s to appear at MAM . After 9 / 11 , she accompanied then-NYC Mayor Giuliani and families who had lost loved ones to Ground

Zero , in the hopes that the visit would help them grieve . “ The collective grief cracked open my psyche ,” she says . Using dolls and an old dollhouse she kept in her office , she staged scenes and photographed them using pinhole and plastic toy cameras . MAM showed “ The Afterlife of Dolls ” in November 2003 , and one of the photos that appeared in it is part of its current “ Transformed Objects ” exhibition that began Sept . 12 and will run until Dec . 3 , 2023 .

“ You can ’ t grieve alone ,” says Bassin . “ You need the community to shelter you .”

— CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER

“ BY OUR OWN HANDS ”: COURTESY OFSTEVE HELLERSTEIN ; DONNA BASSIN HEADSHOT & DOLLHOUSE : COURTESY OF DONNA BASSIN

4 FALL 2021 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE