Marie Watt

Marie Watt (b. 1967, Seattle, WA) lives and works between Portland, OR and other locations related to her practice. A member of the Turtle Clan of the Seneca Nation of Indians with German-Scottish ancestry, Watt's interdisciplinary work draws from history, biography, indigenous teachings, and Haudenosaunee protofeminism. Through collaborative actions, she explores the intersection of community, storytelling, and place, creating intergenerational and interdisciplinary conversations. Her work embodies a deep sense of connectedness - to each other, to the land, and to the cosmos.

 

In her most recent projects, Watt continues to focus on acts of gathering and collective making. Her work often emerges from sewing circles, where shared stories and gestures are stitched into the fabric of the work itself. Woolen blankets, a recurring material, carry both personal and communal histories. Through these tactile, layered installations and prints, Watt creates spaces for reflection on resilience, interdependence, and ancestral knowledge.

 

Watt received her MFA in painting and printmaking from Yale University and holds degrees from Willamette University and the Institute of American Indian Arts. In 2016, she received an honorary doctorate from Willamette University. She has held residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the Vermont Studio Center, and her work has been supported by fellowships from Anonymous Was a Woman, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Harpo Foundation, the Ford Family Foundation, and the Native Arts and Culture Foundation, among others.

 

From 2017 to 2023, Watt served two terms on the board of VoCA (Voices in Contemporary Art). She currently serves on the Native Advisory Committee and the Board of Trustees of the Portland Art Museum. She is a supporter of Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts, a Native-founded printmaking center on the homelands of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, as well as the Portland community.