Marie Watt (b. 1967) is an American artist. She is a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians (Turtle Clan) and also has German-Scot ancestry. Her interdisciplinary work draws from history, biography, Haudenosaunee protofeminism, and Indigenous teachings; in it, she explores the intersection of history, community, and storytelling. Through collaborative actions, she instigates multigenerational and cross-disciplinary conversations that might create a lens and conversation for understanding connectedness to place, one another, and the universe.

Marie Watt received an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University and was the recipient of the Betty Bowen Memorial Award in 2005. Her work has been collected by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum, Eugene, OR; Jordan Schnitzer Museum, Washington State University, Pullman, WA; National Gallery of Canada, Ontario; Smithsonian National Museum of American Indians, Washington D.C.; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM; Portland Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum; Wright Museum of Art, Beloit, WI; and Tacoma Art Museum. She lives and works in Portland, OR.

Born in 1967 in Seattle, WA; lives and works in Portland

EDUCATION
1994-96 MFA in Painting and Printmaking, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut
1990-92 AFA in Museum Studies, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1986-90 BS in Speech Communications and Art, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022
Untitled, Printmaking Retrospective, University of San Diego, Curated by John Murphy, Derrick Cartwright, and William Morrow, San Diego, California

2021
Each/Other, Two-person exhibition with Cannupa Hanska Luger, Denver Art Museum, Curated by John Lukavic, Denver, Colorado

2020
Turtle Island, Marc Straus Gallery, New York, New York

2019
Artifact, Helzer Gallery, Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus, Curated by Petra Sairanen, Portland, Oregon
Pullman, Washington

2018
Companion Species Calling Companion Species, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2018
Companion Species (Underbelly), The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, The Washington State University Museum of Art, Curated by Ryan Hardesty, Pullman, Washington

2017
Companion Species, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon
Western Door, The Rockwell Museum, Corning, New York

2016
Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM

2014
Receiver, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle
Receiver, C.N. Gorman Museum at University of California Davis, Davis, CA

2013
Cross Currents, Center for Visual Art, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Denver CO

2012
Skywalker/Skyscraper, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR
Lodge, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem, OR
Cradle, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA

2010
Marker, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR
Forget-Me-Not, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT
Forget-Me-Not, Tamastslikt Cultural Institute, Pendleton, OR

2009
Forget-Me-Not: Northwest Museum, Spokane, Washington
Heirloom, Curated by Stephen Glueckert, Missoula Museum of Art, Missoula, MT
Pendleton Stories, Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pendleton, OR

2008
Portraits, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Blanket Stories: Homestead, Center for the Arts, Jackson Hole Art Association, Jackson, Wyoming

2007
Blanket Stories: Compass, Wright Museum of Art, Beloit college, Beloit, Wisconsin
Custodian, Installation, Think Tank Education Space, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
Tread Lightly, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon

2006
Blanket Stories: Almanac, Nicolaysen Museum of Art, Curated by Ben Mitchel, Casper, Wyoming; traveling to the Boise Art Museum, Curated by Sandy Harthorn, Boise, Idaho
Blanket Stories: Album, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Curated by Jennifer Gately, Ketchum, Idaho

2005
Blanket Stories: Ladder, Curated by Margaret Archuleta, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Blanket Stories: Receiving, Curated by Linda Tesner, Hoffman Gallery, Lewis and Clark College, Portland,
Oregon

2004
Continuum: Blanket Stories, Curated by Truman Lowe, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian,
NY, New York

Blanket Stories: Sewing Bee, Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, Portland, Oregon

Letter Ghosts and Recent Work, Clatsop Community College Gallery, Astoria, Oregon

Blanket Stories, PDX Gallery, Portland, Oregon

2003
Stack, Evergreen Galleries, Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington

2002
PDX Window Project, PDX Gallery, Portland, Oregon
Governors Gallery, Coordinated by the Oregon Arts Commission, Salem, Oregon
Sleep and Sleeplessness, PDX Gallery, Portland, Oregon

2001
Courier, Skagit Valley College, Mount Vernon, Washington

2000
Pedestrian, An In Situ Portland Project: Solo installation: River Overlook Park, Portland, Oregon

1999
Courier, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon
Navigation, Friendly House, Portland, Oregon
Introductory Show, two-artist exhibition: PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020
Never Done: 100 Years of Women in Politics & Beyond, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
Companion Species, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Curated by Mindy Besaw, Bentonville, Arkansas
Feminisms, 516 Exhibition at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Curated by Andrea Hanley, Santa Fe, New Mexico
On the Basis of Art: 150 Years of Women at Yale, Yale University Art Gallery, Curated by Elisabeth Hodermarsky, New Haven, Connecticut
Settlement, Pounds House, Organized by Cannupa Hanska Luger, Plymouth, UK
More than a Trace: Native American and First Nations Contemporary Art, K Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Larger than Memory: Contemporary Art from Indigenous North America, Heard Museum, Curated by Erin Joyce, Phoenix, Arizona
If You Have Ghosts, Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Curated by Ashley Stull Meyers, Mobile, Alabama
Heroines of Abstract Expressionism and FEM, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York

2019
Making Knowing: 1950-2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, Curated by Jennie Goldstein & Elisabeth Sherman, with Ambika Trasi, New York, New York
Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, Minneapolis institute of Art, Curated by Jill
Ahlberg Yohe and Teri Greeves, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Place, Nations, Generations, Beings: 200 Years of indigenous North American Art, Yale University Art gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
Extended Self: Transformations and Connections, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Illinois
To Make Wrong / Right / Now, Honolulu Biennial, Honolulu, Hawaii, Curated by Nina Tonga & Scott Lawrimore, Honolulu, Hawaii
Unraveling: Reimagining Colonization in the Americas, Sun Valley Museum of Art, Ketchum, Idaho
Re: Define, Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Revisions: Contemporary Native Art, Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana
Don't Touch My Circles, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, California

2018
Native North America, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
Continuum, Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Montana
Wildlife, Pattern and Identity: Selections from the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer
Ucross Foundation Gallery, Clearmont, Wyoming

2017
Process and Practice: 40 Years of Experimentation, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
If You Remember, I'll Remember, The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Outcasts: Women in the Wilderness, Wave Hill, Bronx, New York
Connective Tissue: New Approaches to Fiber, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Conversations in The Round House, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, Oregon
Hawks on the Highway: Prints from Crow's Shadow, Newport Visual Arts Center, Newport, Oregon
PDX -> PDT: Select Artists from PDX Contemporary Art, Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pendleton, Oregon

2016
Unraveled: Textiles Reconsidered, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
Art for a Nation: Inspiration from the Great Depression, High Desert Museum, Bend, Oregon
From the Belly of our Being: Art by and About Native Creation, Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, Stillwater, Oklahoma
Culture Shift: Contemporary Native Art Biennial, Art Mur, Montreal, Quebec
I want to do to you what spring does with the cherry trees, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon
A Stand of Pine in the Tilled Field: 21 Years at PDX, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon
Transferring Thought: Prints by Indigenous Artists, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Finding a Contemporary Voice: The Legacy of Lloyd Kiva New and IAIA, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2015
Unsuspected Possibilities, SITE Santa Fe, with Sarah Oppenheimer and Leonardo Drew, curated by Janet Dees, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Let's Get Lost, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon
Material Girls, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Canada
Weaving Past into Present: Experiments in Contemporary Native Printmaking, International Print Center, New York, New York

2014
Somewheres & Nowheres: New Prints 2014/Autumn, International Print Center, New York, New York

2013
Sakahan, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada

2012
Changing Hands 3, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY, curated by David McFadden and Ellen Taubman (traveling)
Shapeshifting: Transformations in Native American Art, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, curated by Karen Kramer Russell

2011
oomph: enthusiasm, vigor, or energy. sex appeal: Anna Gray + Ryan Wilson Paulsen, Arcy Douglass, James Lavadour, Tad Savinar, Storm Tharp, Marie Watt, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR
Bonnie Bronson Fellows: 20 Years, Hoffman Gallery, Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR
Hiding Places: Memory in the Arts, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
Counting Coup, Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, NM, curated by Ryan Rice
Seattle as Collector: Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs Turns 40, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA

2010-2011
Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years, Plug in Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

2010
Vantage Point: The Contemporary Native Art Collection, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.
When Dog Turns to Wolf, David Krut Projects, New York, NY
Show of Hands: Northwest Women Artists 1880-2010, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
Migrations: New Directions in Native Art, Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, Nebraska

2009
Twisted Path, Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, Maine

2008
Modern Art, Modern Lives: Then and Now, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, Texas, Curated by Andrea Mellard
Contemporary NW Art Award, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, Curated by Jennifer Gately
Distaff Tool Kit: Traveling Exhibition, Curated by Rickie Solinger
Women’s Work: Contemporary Women Printmakers from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation, The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Organized by Terri M. Hopkins (Director, The Art Gym) & John Olbrantz (Maribeth Collins Director of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University)
Tradition and Change: A survey of Contemporary American Indian Art, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane, Washington

2007
Oh So Iroquois, Curated by Ryan Rice, Ottawa Gallery, Ottawa, Canada
Northwest Biennial, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington

2006
No Reservations, Curated by Richard Klein, Aldrich Museum of Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut
Migrations: Traveling group exhibition, University Gallery, Organized by Marge Devon (Director, Tamarind Institute),
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Neo-Sincerity: The difference between the comic and the cosmic is a single letter, ApexArt, Curated by
Amei Wallach, New York, New York
Crow’s Shadow Institute Print Biennial, Hailey Ford Museum, Salem, Oregon

2005
Everything is Drawing, Curated by Rebecca Dobkins, Hailey Ford Museum, Salem, Oregon

2004
Artists Select: Invitational Group Show, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee

2003
Artists in Residence, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, Oregon
Craft Biennial, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, Oregon
Building Tradition, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington
Form to Function, Kohler Gallery, Sheboygan, Michigan
18 Women Artists, Clatsop Community College, Astoria, Oregon

2002
Sitka Center Invitational, The World Forestry Center, Portland, Oregon
Sitka Collaboration Exhibition, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon
Slowness, The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon
New American Paintings: Juried Exhibition-in-Print: curated by Lisa Dennison, deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, Open Studios Press, Boston, MA
Faculty Exhibition, North View Gallery, Portland Community College, Sylvania Campus, Portland, Oregon
Inaugural Exhibition, Open Studios Gallery, Boston, and Massachusetts

2001
The Bellevue Annual, Bellevue Museum of Art, Bellevue, Washington
Horse Tales, curated by Ezra Shales, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York
Contemporary Skeins, curated by Heather Rogers, Contemporary Craft Gallery,
Portland, Oregon
PDX at CCC, Clatsop Community College, Astoria, Oregon

2000
Open Walls, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon
Traditional & Contemporary Native Women Artists, Museum of Anthropology, Washington State University,
Pullman, Washington
Circle of Friends, curated by Lillian Pitt: Bush Barn Gallery, Salem, Oregon.

1999
Introductory Show: two-artist exhibition: PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon

1998
Time and Materials, The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon

1997
The Uncommon Book, Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities, Sun Valley, ID
The Oregon Biennial: Traveling group exhibition, curated by Katherine Kanjo: Portland Art Museum, Portland,
Oregon; Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, Oregon; University of Oregon Museum, Eugene, Oregon; Hallie Brown
Ford Museum of Art, Salem, Oregon
State of the Nations, Plan B Evolving Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico

1996
Traditions and Transitions, Brattleboro Museum of Art, Brattleboro, Vermont
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Yale University Art and Architecture Gallery, New Haven, CT

AWARDS and RESIDENCIES

2017
Oregon Arts Commission Career Opportunity Grant, Salem, Oregon
The Ford Family Foundation Hallie Ford Fellowship, Roseburg, Oregon
Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts Printmaking Residency with Master Printer Frank Janzen, Pendleton, Oregon

2016
Doctor of Fine Arts (Honoris Causa), Willamette University, Salem, Oregon
Printmaking Residency with Master Printer Julia D'Amario, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts

2015
Art Matters Grant, New York, New York

2014
Sitka Center for Art and Ecology Printmaking Residency, Otis, Oregon

2013
LandMarks: Indigenous Australian and Native American Artists Explore Connections to the Land, International Artist Residency, Tamarind Institute, University

2011-2012
Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, Aspen, CO

2011
Crow's Shadow Institute Printmaking Residency, Pendleton, OR

2010
Artistic Innovation Grant, Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, Vancouver, WA

2009
Fabric Workshop + Museum, Residency, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Bonnie Bronson Fellowship Award, Portland, Oregon
Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Individual Artist Opportunity Grant
Regional Arts and Culture Council, Individual Artist Project Grant
Willamette University, Ford Building Art Commission, Salem, Oregon

2008
Patron Print, Gilkey Center, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
Lower East Side Printshop Residency, New York, New York
Fabric Workshop + Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2007
Anonymous Was A Woman, New York, New York
Artist in Residence, Wright Museum of Art, Beloit College, Beloit Wisconsin
National Museum of the American Indian and the Art in Embassies, Tamarind Institute Print Project, Albuquerque,
NM; Washington, D.C.; and embassy locations throughout the globe.
Tamarind Institute, Printmaking Residency, Albuquerque, New Mexico

2006
Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship, New York, New York

2005
Seattle Art Museum Betty Bowen Memorial Award, Seattle, Washington
Eiteljorg Museum Artist Fellowship Recipient (Jurors: Patterson Sims, Amei Wallach,Margaret Archuleta, Rick Bartow), Curator: Jennifer Campo McNutt, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana

2004
Visual Artist Fellowship, Oregon Arts Commission, Salem, Oregon
Regional Arts and Culture Council: Project & Professional Development Grants Recipient, Portland, OR

2004-2003
Full-year Professional Sabbatical: Portland Community College, Portland, Oregon

2003
Crow's Shadow Institute: Printmaking Residency, Pendlelton, Oregon
Senior Residency & Fellowship: Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, Oregon

2002
Crow's Shadow Institute: Printmaking Residency with Frank Janzen, Tamarind Master Printer, Pendleton
Sitka Center for Art and Ecology: Printmaking residency with Julia D'Amario, Pace Editions Master Printer,
Otis, Oregon

2001
Vermont Studio Center: Full Fellowship
Regional Arts & Culture Council: Individual Artist Project Grant

2000
Regional Arts & Culture Council: In Situ Portland Project Grant

1996
Yale University: Elizabeth Cranfield Hicks Award for Drawing

1995–1996
College Art Association: Professional Development Fellowship

1994-1996
Seneca Nation of Indians, Academic Scholarship, Irving, New York
Philip Morris Foundation, Graduate Fellowship
American Indian Graduate Center, Graduate Fellowship, Albuquerque, New Mexico

1994
Americans for Indian Opportunity, Ambassador and Kellogg Fellow, Albuquerque, New Mexico

1991-1992
National Gallery of Art, Internship: Design and Installation, and Education Department, Washington, D.C.