Jonas Emmanuel Fricke's Obituary
Jonas Fricke died of a heart attack on March 5, 2023, in Tallahassee, Florida after performing his own brand of "Radical Courage Music" as If Not I Than Who Then, his "one human choir, drum-brigade and performance art theater troupe."
Jonas was born at home on January 13, 1981, on the 20-acre Calvert estate in Langley, Virginia once owned by his great-great-great aunt Margaret Scattergood. In the 1950s the US government seized the property, allowing Scattergood to occupy it for the remainder of her life; by the time of Jonas's birth, the family farm was surrounded by CIA headquarters and his parents, with their Quaker meeting, were running a sanctuary for Central American refugees on the property. In this unlikely milieu, Sylvia Blanchet and Thomas Fricke deliberated for three weeks before gifting their second child with the prophetically appropriate name of "Jonas Emmanuel," meaning "peaceful being, a gift from God."
When Jonas was four years old, the family moved to the Brattleboro area. During his life, Jonas briefly settled in a number of other American cities including Santa Cruz, CA; Gainesville, FL; and Asheville, NC; but always found his way home to Brattleboro. He also took pilgrimages to his father's birthplace in Berlin, Germany as well as his family's adopted home in Bali, Indonesia. It is not possible to catalog all the places Jonas traveled, but the list includes Singapore, Thailand, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, the Philippines, and the UK.
Jonas graduated from The Putney School in 1999. He attended Warren Wilson College and was offered a scholarship to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston but elected to continue his education at Vermont College studying art history, theory, and practice. One semester away from graduating, Jonas decided he had learned everything he needed to in that particular venue. Always an autodidact, he continued reading and exploring new skills and philosophies both alone and in community with mentors, peers, and students of his own.
At age 19, Jonas started working at the Putney Daycare Center. This was the first of his many jobs working with children. He was a babysitter, nanny, summer camp counselor, substitute teacher, preschool educator, art teacher, homeschool supporter, and most importantly, a gentle, playful, empathetic friend to little people. He shared his love of creativity with children, teaching and collaborating with them in equal measure.
When he himself was a small child, Jonas said he intended "to continue being an artist" when he grew up. In this lifelong pursuit, he was wildly successful, producing an immense body of work in many often-overlapping mediums, including painting, drawing, sculpture, screen printing, tattoos, puppetry, performance art, textiles, and music. In his own words, Jonas believed "wholeheartedly in the ability of artwork and creative pursuits to start fires of meaning, illuminate paths of quandary and curiosity, inspire change, make life more colorful and vibrant, as well as inspire others to live more creative lives." Jonas also labored tirelessly at creating space and opportunities for other artists as a curator, promoter, organizer, and founding or contributing member of several art collectives including the Tinderbox, The Future Collective, the Buoyant Heart, and Harmony Art Collectives in Brattleboro.
Jonas gave of his body, mind, and soul to promote social change, continuing activist traditions from both the American Quaker and German Jewish parts of his ancestry. He was passionately committed to anti-racist, pro-indigenous, feminist, and queer liberationist causes. Inspired by the political theater of Bread and Puppet, where he interned in his youth, Jonas brought joy and imagination to public demonstrations around the country. In his daily life, Jonas practiced mutual aid, living by his belief in communal care outside of unjust systems of power.
Jonas is survived by his parents Sylvia Blanchet and Thomas Fricke, sister Lucia Blanchet-Fricke, partner Jocelyn McElroy, six aunts and uncles, a growing number of cousins, as well as innumerable friends, bandmates, and creative collaborators-hundreds of whom paraded down the streets of Brattleboro to the beat of a brass band soon after Jonas's death, flooding the town with ecstatic fanfare in celebration of his life. Jonas also leaves behind countless young people he nurtured, taught, and played with over more than two decades as an early-childhood educator.
Jonas lives on in the people he loved the communities he fostered, and the works of art he created.
In lieu of flowers, those who wish to may make a donation to the River Gallery School (https://rivergalleryschool.org/), where Jonas took art classes as a child.
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