Marie Watt facts for kids

Marie Watt, born in 1967, is a modern artist from Portland, Oregon. She is a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians. Marie creates art mostly using fabrics and by working with communities. Her art often explores different themes about Native American culture.

Marie Watt's Early Life and Education

Marie Watt was born in 1967 in Seattle, Washington. She studied Speech Communications and Art at Willamette University in Oregon. She also learned about museums at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.

Marie earned several degrees. She has an AFA degree from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She also holds a BS degree from Willamette University. Later, she earned an MFA degree in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University.

Watt is part of the Turtle Clan of the Seneca Nation. Her father's family were Wyoming ranchers. These parts of her background have greatly shaped her art. Marie often says she is "half Cowboy and half Indian."

Exploring Marie Watt's Artworks

Marie Watt mainly uses blankets in her art. She creates large art pieces and works with groups of people. She also makes lithography prints.

For her sculptures, she uses many different items. These include everyday objects, textiles, alabaster, slate, and cornhusks. She gets ideas from Pop art, Abstract Expressionism, and Native art styles.

Watt started her studio in Portland, Oregon. She began trying out materials like corn husks. Then, she started working with woven blankets. In 2002, her stone sculpture Pedestrian was placed along the Willamette River in Portland. Her art has been shown in many exhibits in the Pacific Northwest.

Community Art Projects

Marie Watt often involves the community in her art. For her project Blanket Stories: Transportation Object, Generous Ones, she worked with the Tacoma Art Museum. She made huge art pieces from blankets that people in the community donated.

The blankets are not just materials. Watt believes they connect people to history and different cultures. Marie also hosts "sewing circles." These are groups that gather to work on art together. For example, in Forget me not: Mothers and Sons, they made portraits of soldiers from Oregon.

Marie Watt's Artistic Career

In September 2004, Marie Watt's art was shown in New York City. It was part of the Continuum 12 artists series. Her work was displayed at the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian.

This exhibit included Blanket Stories. It was a sculpture made of two tall stacks of wool blankets. Each stack was sewn together with a single thread. Marie collected these blankets over many years. Many were Hudson's Bay point blankets. These were given to Native Americans as trade by the Hudson's Bay Company long ago.

In 2011, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation asked Watt to create a special artwork. It was for their campus in Seattle. This piece, called Blanket Stories: Matriarch, Guardian and Seven Generations, is a 14-foot column. It is made of wool blankets from all over the world. You can find it in the building's lobby.

Marie explained how the materials fit the location. She said it was her first column made to include blankets from around the world. This idea matched the Foundation's global goals. The column uses recycled blankets and cedar wood. This also fits the campus's aim for green building standards.

In 2014, 350 people helped with an outdoor sculpture. It was at the Tacoma Art Museum. The towers she made were cast in bronze. Marie also created a website with the stories behind each blanket. Watt listens to her materials and uses community stories to create art with history. Her artworks can be both realistic and abstract.

From 2017 to 2023, Watt was on the board of VoCA. This group helps save modern art. Marie Watt is currently a professor at Portland Community College. She also runs its Northview Gallery. Her art is shown by galleries in Portland, San Francisco, and New York City.

Notable Exhibitions of Marie Watt's Art

• Vantage Point: The Contemporary Native Art Collection. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. (2010)
• Unsuspected Possibilities: Leonardo Drew, Sarah Oppenheimer, and Marie Watt. SITE Santa Fe. (2015)
• Indelible Ink: Native Women, Printmaking, Collaboration. University of New Mexico Art Museum. (2020)
• Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019. Whitney Museum of Art. (2019–2022)
• Spirit in the Land. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. (2023)
• Spirit in the Land. Pérez Art Museum Miami. (2024)
• Marie Watt: Land Stitches Water Sky. Carnegie Museum of Art. (2024)

Awards and Fellowships for Marie Watt

• 2005 Eiteljorg Museum Artist Fellowship
• 2006 Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship
• 2007 Anonymous Was A Woman Award
• 2009 Bonnie Bronson Fellowship