From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
Marie Watt (Seneca, b. 1967) is one of the country’s most celebrated contemporary
artists, whose work draws on personal experience, indigenous traditions, proto-feminism,
mythology, and art history. Drawing on the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer
and his family foundation,
Storywork
is a comprehensive look at Watt’s 30-year career, including more than 60
original prints and sculptural works. The exhibition also showcases Watt’s deep
veneration for indigenous narratives, especially those informed by her own Seneca
heritage.
Over the course of her career, residencies at the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts, the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and the Tamarind Institute provided Watt the opportunity to collaborate with master printers in producing ambitious print series. Whether working in lithography, woodcut, or etching, the medium of print has served for Watt as a laboratory for large-scale pieces and concepts. In each of her prints Watt demonstrates a tactile appreciation for the particular qualities of wood, copper, or stone, aiming to achieve in her words a “familiarity and intimacy” with the material that adds a layer of thematic resonance to her work.
Curated by John Murphy, Ph.D., Philip and Lynn Straus Curator of Prints and Drawings,
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College and former Hoehn Curatorial
Fellow for Prints at University of San Diego.
IMAGE: Upper Gallery, Art Museum of WVU