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Now is your opportunity to work with a renowned artist on artwork for the Oregon State Capitol.
Marie Watt, whose art is held by major museums across the country and who recently finished a piece for the Obama Presidential Center, is hosting a printmaking circle from 1 to 4 p.m. April 18, at the Capitol.
The event is free, no experience is necessary, and all ages are welcome.
Participants will create prints to be “quilted” with other prints to make a larger composition for the Capitol.
The project is a collaboration with Mullowney Printing and made possible by Oregon’s Percent for Art in Public Places Program, managed by the Oregon Arts Commission.
The program was established by the Oregon Legislature in 1975, setting aside 1% of state construction budgets for the commission and acquisition of art.
Watt submitted her proposal to the commission about a year and a half ago and said she expects to finish the community-generated artwork by the end of July.
Prominent artwork uses donated blankets and tin jingles
Watt is a multidisciplinary artist known for exploring community and history through textiles, sculptures and printmaking. Her work is included in collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., just to name a few.
She has a Master of Fine Arts in painting and printmaking from Yale University and degrees from Willamette University and the Institute of American Indian Arts.
A member of the Turtle Clan of the Seneca Nation of Indians, she has utilized materials such as blankets and tin jingles that relate to Indigenous traditions and oral histories.
Her series titled “Blanket Stories” showcases large-scale sculptures made of blankets, which for many Native communities are given away to mark important life events. She has collected and stacked them to form colorful, memory-filled columns. Attached to each is a tag with the donor’s blanket story and meaning.
Willamette’s Hallie Ford Museum of Art commissioned one of her blanket sculptures several years ago. It and a wall blanket titled “Stadium Blanket: Jim Thorpe and Friends” are in the museum’s permanent collection, along with a number of her prints.
Another series by Watt includes tin jingles sewn on mesh in suspended, cloud-like sculptures. The small metal cones, historically made from tobacco tin lids, reference the jingle dress dance, which originated as a Native healing ritual during the 1918 flu pandemic.
Her latest jingles sculpture was for “This Land, Shared Sky,” a collaborative project with Nick Cave for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Scheduled to open in June, the center describes it as a “monumental multimedia textile installation,” merging Watt’s tin jingles and Cave’s beaded nets to reflect Indigenous and Black cultural traditions.
Participants could see their print on the Capitol walls
Watt also is known for her printmaking pieces, which often highlight words and phrases and use text in collages to create layered meanings.
Printmaking circles have become an integral part of her process and were inspired by her sewing circles. She has hosted previous printmaking circle events in Grand Ronde.
Participants at the Capitol event will get guidance from Watt and her team, including a how-to video and posted examples. Supplies will be provided, and words can be drawn from a hat for inspiration.
“I set the table and then what’s created is created by everyone in that moment,” Watt said. “Part of what’s created is not just the print. … It’s an opportunity to connect with others.”
Participants will get to take home their prints in addition to a limited-edition print by Watt as a gift.
If you contribute to the larger project, Watt said your print will be incorporated in the artwork she submits for eventual display in the Capitol.
“It’s one thing to see one word, but what happens when words come together, and they start to talk to each other?” Watt said. “How can new meanings be made based on different word relationships?
“It’ll be fun for people to look for their contribution, but also to see what words are speaking to them.”
RSVP recommended for free event with limited seating
Watt isn’t sure what to expect for the turnout. She held a printmaking circle in February at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts that drew nearly 600 participants.
She said the event at the Oregon State Capitol will have seating for 125 people at a time.
Organizers ask that you RSVP through Eventbrite and enter the Capitol through the State Street center entrance. Everyone must pass through security screening to enter the building. No firearms, knives or multi-tools are allowed inside.
Parking around the Capitol is free on weekends.
Capi Lynn is a senior reporter for the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips to her at clynn@statesmanjournal.com.
