Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT
It takes a lifetime of work to reach a pivotal point. Seneca artist Marie Watt is having a remarkable culmination of events as an interdisciplinary artist whose work weaves together printmaking, textiles and sculpture to explore cultural intersections and the rich tapestry of shared human stories.
Watt became best known for her blanket towers, using familiar textiles with embedded memories of warmth, comfort, handcraft and stories. She has expanded that repertoire to include stitched wall hangings, neon signage and sculptural jingle cones en masse.
“I see blankets as living, storied objects,” Watt told ICT. “Many blankets, particularly wool blankets and quilts, are passed down through generations. We are received into this world in blankets and in many ways depart in a blanket, and in between we are constantly imprinting on them — worn areas, stained bits and mended parts are like beauty marks and part of the object’s history.”
On the occasion of a retrospective of her printmaking, “Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt, From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” opens at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University now through December 6. Watt also was recently awarded the prestigious Heinz Award for the Arts. As part of the accolade, she will receive a $250,000 unrestricted cash award.
“This particular installation is very beautiful, and I feel really honored that it’s presented in my hometown,” Watt says. “Jordan Schnitzer has collected in depth a majority of my work, this showcases both my sculpture and the prints side by side, which gives everything more context and they can talk to one another.”
“Printmaking process generates ideas for me in relationship to sculpture, and then sculpture and stitched pieces generate ideas for print. It’s a flow between how the processes feed each other in all directions.”
Regarded as North America’s foremost print collector, Schnitzer’s collection includes sculptures, paintings, glass and mixed-media works. One of ARTnews Top 200 Collectors, Schnitzer makes his private collection available to museums and institutions globally and supports many philanthropic initiatives.
“When I first saw her work at PDX Gallery in Portland, I was swept away and I’ve believed in her ever since,” Schnitzer told ICT. “I did a book on her and the traveling exhibition all over the country. I’m proud of her and pleased that we were able to play a part in helping others see the amazing insights she has to her history, her tribe’s legacy and help so many understand Native art and culture better.”
“We honor Marie for her thought-provoking work that graciously allows us entry to Indigenous traditions, culture and histories and to the application of that collective wisdom to contemporary life,” said Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation. “Marie’s art brings us joy, and her welcoming practice of engaging the community is a model and inspiration for creating lasting intergenerational connections.”
The Heinz Award is a big honor. What does it mean to her to get that?
“I’m still coming to terms with it, I’m still in shock,” Watt says. “That’s a lot of money. With that type of award, the money is so helpful to keep infrastructure overhead and to keep the life on in the studio. It allows me to make work that is risk taking and hasn’t been done before.
“But money goes away, the truth of the matter is to have that type of acknowledgement from a community of peers. I’m being seen for the work I’m making in this moment and over the arc of my multi-decade long practice. It couldn’t come at a better moment because there’s a lot of insecurity right now in the art world and the world in general. This gives me a place to move forward.”
Obama calling
On the heels of that, it was announced that Watt is one of 10 artists commissioned to create new, site-specific works for the Obama Presidential Center public art program. She is collaborating with sound suit artist Nick Cave on a monumental multimedia textile installation titled “This Land, Shared Sky,” which will be a featured work in the center’s museum. The installation merges Indigenous and Black traditions in a celebration of movement, sound and shared resilience.
“It’s been under wraps for 12 months,” Watt reveals. “It’s nice that I can let friends and the family all know. I’m very much still in the thick of making the work and collaborating with Nick. We honor the placement of that work in a community centered space and that commission as President Obama and Michelle Obama have been significant cultural leaders.
“Thinking of what it means to be part of the legacy of that space is overwhelming, incredible and exciting.”
How did Watt and Cave start the collaboration process?
“We were brought together by project curator Virginia Shore. We have a very specific location that we’re making the work for. That site guided the possibilities of what we could do and how we could work together. We met and now things are being shared back and forth. We started with sketches and how I’m using jingles in my work, more sculptural, ones that are suspended, but these couldn’t be suspended. It’s a work in process. We’re still very much in the act of making and Nick is working on his part. We are aiming for spring of 2026 for installation.”
Watt currently has several other group shows at different museums. How is she balancing all of this?
“I have people in my studio helping me,” Watt says. “I affectionately refer to them as the brain trust, a couple of studio managers and people who help me with fabrication and then the galleries in San Francisco, Portland, and New York really help manage those loan agreements. It’s a true group effort.”
