From Dumpster to Dignity
St. Peter Artist crafts burial blankets from salvaged wool
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NEW ULM -- At the 18th Annual ArtScape Juried Art Show at The Grand Center for Arts and Culture, the intersection of art, life and mortality took center stage through the work of St. Peter artist Michelle Kaisersatt.
Kaisersatt, artist and author, works from The Soul Remains / The Keyhole Studio in St. Peter.
She describes her work as nature-driven, celebratory, organic and soulful.
“Everything I create reflects a deep respect for life and of how we live and how we love,” Kaisersatt says.
Kaisersatt works in fiber, clay and writing.
At this year’s ArtScape, 101 pieces were entered, 81 accepted from 45 artists, juried by Norah Kratz and Edson Rosas. Kaiseratt exhibited pottery.
She said she has worked across mediums.
“I’ve done fiber arts, blankets, and ceramics. I do both. Now I’m leaning more towards the fiber arts,” Kaisersatt said. “They’re on a big scale, so they get in as much.”
For Kaisersatt, the creative process begins long before fabric ever reaches a sewing machine.
She sources her materials locally from a St. Peter woolen mill, intercepting discarded textiles before they are thrown away.
“I actually use recycled fabric from the woolen mill that goes in the dumpster,” Kaisersatt said. “I pull it out before it goes to the dump and sew it back together. Then I make green burial blankets.”
Rather than allowing the textiles to go to waste, she gathers the remnants, pieces them together and constructs large-scale shrouds intended for natural burial.
“People are starting to be buried directly into the ground,” Kaisersatt said. “So they wrap them in a blanket and then they’re lowered into the ground.”
Unlike traditional interments, green burials dispense with heavy wooden caskets, concrete vaults and chemical embalming fluids.
“They’re just getting a plot that has no casket, no vault, no embalming. It’s just direct,” Kaisersatt said. “Just spiritual.”
Fellow regional artist Craig Groe, who attended the ArtScape opening, noted that Kaisersatt’s ceramic practice complements that end-of-life fiber work.
Groe pointed out that her expertise includes handcrafting vessels and memorial urns, including custom commemorative vases and pet memorial urns she creates collaboratively with clients, work that pairs directly with her green burial blankets.
If she is not at her studio, it would not be surprising to find Kaisersatt encouraging poets and writers at The Living Room Poetry Share, or inviting sacred conversations with hospice nurses, death doulas and compassionate community members during a monthly Sacred Circle gathering.
She also shares her passion for fiber, clay and nature with students at surrounding schools, volunteers within the community and tells her story through interviews and podcasts.
In addition to her visual work, Kaisersatt is also an author.
She wrote the book “Dear One: A Message of Love,” a project she describes as a soulful journey that enriched and broadened her passion and compassion for life experiences.
Every couple of weeks she publishes “A Mindful Life,” her biweekly newsletter is a deep-dive on life, love, grief, joy, creativity and all the important stuff.
To find out more, go online to michelle@thesoulremains.com,
The 18th Annual ArtScape Juried Art Show will remain on view at the 4 Pillars Gallery at The Grand through Friday, Oct. 16, Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.