Marie Watt (she/her, b. 1967, Seattle, WA) is a member of the Turtle Clan of the Seneca Nation of Indians whose work draws on images and ideas from Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) protofeminism and Indigenous teachings. Her practice is interdisciplinary, incorporating printmaking, painting, textiles, and sculpture. Watt conducts both solo and collaborative projects, but in all of them she explores how history, community, and storytelling intersect. 

A significant part of Watt’s practice involves setting a multi-generational and cross-disciplinary table for conversation and collaboration. This can take the form of sewing circles, community-built sculptures, or crowd-sourced participation via social media. Exchanging ideas like this, one story at a time, can help us understand and strengthen our companion relationships– our connection to place, to one another, to animals, and to the universe.

Many of the materials used in the studio—blankets, beads, tin jingles, steel I-beams—are associated with Seneca heritage. Conceptually, Watt is drawn to their DNA and deploys them as a vehicle for understanding history, place, and community. Language, both literal and metaphorical, also weaves through her practice even as she struggles with the historical baggage it carries, particularly its impact on Indigenous communities. Twinned words such as “Mother Mother,” “Deer Deer,” and “Sky Sky” open up space and create urgency, hurling a call longer and louder in space, back to our ancestors, and forward to future generations.

Marie Watt Studio

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