Marie Watt, Blanket Stories: Great Grandmother, Pandemic, Daybreak, 2021, 105 reclaimed blankets from 21 states and cedar, 108 x 38 1/4 x 40 inches. Collection of Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Portland, OR. Photo: Kevin McConnell. Courtesy of the artist.
MARIE WATT RECEIVES ARTISTS’ LEGACY FOUNDATION’S 2024 ARTIST AWARD
September 13, 2024
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA—The Artists’ Legacy Foundation is pleased to announce Marie Watt (b. 1967) as the recipient of the 2024 Artist Award. Watt’s multidisciplinary practice explores identity, history, and connections to the greater world. She often collaborates with craftspeople and local communities to create regional dialogues and encourage links between generations.
The Artist Award is an unrestricted merit award of $25,000 given annually to a painter or sculptor who has made significant contributions to their field and whose work shows evidence of the hand. Each year, ten artists are proposed for the Award by five anonymous peers from around the country, and one is selected by a panel of three jurors. Over $400,000 in grants have been distributed to artists since 2007.
Board president Squeak Carnwath states, “The first time I saw Marie Watt’s work was at the Seattle Art Museum. I loved that she was able to marry the traditional ceremonial with contemporary visual culture. I have since made it a point to see as much of her work as I can. Her work is generous in its beauty and deep in its conceptual form.”
The 2024 jury consisted of William Moreno, arts administrator and consultant; Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe, Executive Director of the Katonah Art Museum in Katonah, NY; and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, artist, activist, and recipient of the 2023 Artist Award.
Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe states, “Marie Watt’s compelling meditations deftly and seamlessly engage history, memory, place, and social practice. The impressive formal mastery exemplified across her practice, along with her many accomplishments in the field, merit Watt the ideal recipient of the 2024 Artist Award.”
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith says, “Marie Watt stands out in a crowd of artists with her storytelling that relates history to contemporary culture. Further, her materials are all recycled, blankets, cedar and steel, but made into objects that are outstandingly elegant.”
“Employing a variety of elements such as blankets, cedar, neon, steel and beads, she takes the ordinary and transforms them into formidable cultural avatars,” says William Moreno. “The results are meditative and emotionally arresting– a metamorphosing of traditional domestic textiles into transfixing, urgent totems. Watt’s work is confident, resonant and determined, both in materiality and message.”
Watt states, “I am so honored to receive this ‘artist’s artist’ award and recognition from my respected peers. I have long admired the Artists’ Legacy Foundation for leading generative conversations around archiving and legacy planning, and I am grateful for their support not only through this award but also through the work they do every day.”
Watt is renowned for her methods of storytelling through objects and materials. Her totemic sculptures comprised of blankets reflect on shared experiences, generosity, and humanity, and honor the blanket donors by including their individual stories. Her recent work with jingle cones reflects on the origin and meaning of the jingle dance, and the way traditions spread over time. Jingle cones have been used as adornments since the late 1800s, and were traditionally made from the lids of tobacco cans. While there are various stories of the jingle dance’s origin, Watt has referred to one about an Ojibwa nation woman whose dream directed her to create dresses with jingles and dance around her sick granddaughter as a method of healing. This practice spread to other tribal communities, likely due to positive outcomes.
The Artists’ Legacy Foundation will host an online program on Thursday, October 17 at 4:00 pm PT (7 pm ET) featuring Watt in conversation with Dr. Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander, the Robert M. and Ruth L. Halperin Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Waltz, 2002, mixed media on canvas, 72 x 48 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.
NEW VIDEO: JAUNE QUICK-TO-SEE SMITH IN CONVERSATION WITH SQUEAK CARNWATH
January 20, 2024
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, recipient of the 2023 Artist Award, spoke with Squeak Carnwath about her work earlier this month.
Viola Frey, Artist’s Mind/Studio/World wallpaper
INTRODUCING VIOLA FREY x FLAVOR PAPER WALLPAPER
November 21, 2023
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – Artists’ Legacy Foundation, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, and Flavor Paper are pleased to announce the reproduction of wallpaper designed by Viola Frey. Frey’s wallpaper designs were originally created during a residency at The Fabric Workshop and Museum’s printing studio in 1992. Frey created a bold pattern using imagery from her visual lexicon, including nude models, figurines, globes, and her face in silhouette. Titled Artist’s Mind/Studio/World, the wallpaper is part of a larger body of work that explores the ways artists take in their surroundings and reflect them in artwork.
The original wallpaper included up to nine colors screenprinted on wide paper- backed cotton sateen, a truly artisanal – and commercially challenging – endeavor. Only a limited amount was produced at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, and it was included in two exhibitions in 1992. 40 years later, a visit to the FWM archives sparked a conversation, which led to this exciting reproduction project.
The new Flavor Paper reproduction utilizes the design industry’s latest processes and materials, making Frey’s signature large-scale and vibrant designs available for the first time to the public.
This re-issue highlights the project’s collaborative nature, wherein the artist and studio staff worked together to explore the medium’s possibilities.
Visit the Flavor Paper website to learn more about the printing materials and to place your order.
About Flavor Paper
Founded in 2003, Flavor Paper produces wallcoverings by handscreened and digital methods using water-based inks and quality substrates to create wallcoverings that are eco-friendly and made-to-order or to the trade. Flavor Paper collaborates with selected artists to create wallcoverings that carry out their vision.
About Artists’ Legacy Foundation
Founded in 2000 by painter Squeak Carnwath, sculptor Viola Frey, community advocate Gary Knecht and anticipating bequests from other artists, the Foundation stewards the work of Legacy Artists and facilitates their posthumous philanthropy; recognizes outstanding painters and sculptors through awards and grants; and serves as an educational resource for artists, scholars and the general public.
About The Fabric Workshop and Museum
The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is an internationally acclaimed contemporary art museum devoted both to the creation and presentation of innovative works of art. Its Artist-in-Residence Program provides artists at all stages of their careers with the opportunity to collaborate with FWM as they experiment with new materials and new media, taking their work in fresh and often unexpected directions. Founded in 1977 by Marion “Kippy” Boulton Stroud (1939-2015), FWM presents ambitious exhibitions which convey a story of contemporary art that unites process with finished works.
NEW VIDEO: ART BEYOND AGES PANEL DISCUSSION
October 17, 2023
On September 16, 2023, The Artist Book Foundation presented Art Beyond Ages: Preserving Artists’ Legacies for Future Generations, a panel discussion. Leslie Pell van Breen, Executive Director of The Artist Book Foundation hosted a conversation with Julia Schwartz, Director of Administration and Development at the Artists’ Legacy Foundation, Daniel Nevers, arts administrator and Artists’ Legacy Foundation board member, and Sarah Kirk Hanley, independent curator, critic, and consultant to artists.
The discussion included the measures that can be taken to steward artists’ contributions to culture. The panelists, specialists in working with artists, offered their perspectives on legacy preservation and the steps necessary to document and support an artist’s creative practice. Click below to watch the program.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Montana Memories: Tierra Roja, 1989, mixed media on canvas, 69 x 84 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.
JAUNE QUICK-TO-SEE SMITH RECEIVES ARTISTS’ LEGACY FOUNDATION’S 2023 ARTIST AWARD
October 10, 2023
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – The Artists’ Legacy Foundation is pleased to announce Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (b. 1940, citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation) as the recipient of the 2023 Artist Award. Smith’s paintings, works on paper, and sculptures offer poignant and meaningful perspectives on contemporary social issues, politics, and the environment, and critically examine representations of Native Americans in pop culture and art. Smith is also a social activist and organizer, whose projects have encouraged a more holistic perspective on American art by advocating for the inclusion of Native American artists in the Western canon, and rallying for preservation of Native American artwork sites.
The Artist Award is an unrestricted merit award of $25,000 given annually to a painter or sculptor who has made significant contributions to their field and whose work shows evidence of the hand. Each year, ten artists are proposed for the Award by five anonymous nominators. Like the nominators, the jury of three comprises art-world peers who make the final decision.
Board president Squeak Carnwath states, “I have long been a fan of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s art. Her work is bold and brave, as she is as a person and artist. She is quick to call out injustice to women and the oppressed. She is a model citizen who cares for her community.”
The 2023 Artist Award jury consisted of three artists: Brenda Goodman, Lewis deSoto, and Juan Sánchez.
“Her heart. Her spirit. Her emotions and of course her tremendous talent makes her a great artist,” says Brenda Goodman. “She takes risks – always searching for her truth. I love that. I’m thrilled that she has received this beautiful award.”
Lewis deSoto states, “Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is a formidable artist, capable of turning paint into a political tool, a semiotic text, a historical document, a vastly rich emotional landscape that embodies the desires, dreams of Native people in America.”
“Her art cuts through complexity and lies of colonialism, the governmental oppression of native peoples and the destruction of our natural environment,” adds Juan Sánchez. “With that visual intensity her art also embraces, celebrates, inspires, and elevates life. She is a generous spirit who has influenced generations of artists, me included. She is worthy of the Artist Award, and I am cheerfully celebrating.”
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith says, “I am so honored to be selected by such a prestigious group of peers–I have followed each of them, I have their work memorized in my head. I know how brilliant they are, which makes this so way over the top for me.”
Smith’s artwork layers familiar imagery – such as maps, animals, garments, and figures – with text and painterly abstractions that elicit multiple interpretations. Combining personal memories with stories of past generations, Smith connects her life story with the larger history of Native American ancestors. Her work explores and reveals injustices, triumphs, and the ongoing challenges that Native Americans face. Her artwork also highlights the interdependence of all living things, linking humans with the land, animals, and each other.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith has played an important role as an educator, organizer, and activist, providing inspiration and mentorship to communities around the country. Her curatorial practice brings together artists from many Native American tribes, creating meaningful collaborations beyond the life of the exhibitions. She has curated and co-curated over 30 group exhibitions featuring Native American artists, often in a collaborative format, including The Grey Canyon Artists (1980); Women of Sweetgrass, Cedar and Sage; Contemporary Art by Native American Women (1985-87); The Submuloc Show / Columbus Wohs: A Visual Commentary on the Columbus Quincentennial from the Perspective of America’s First People (1992-94); and The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans, which is on view through January 15, 2024 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Gallery of Art.
The Artists’ Legacy Foundation will host an online program in January 2024 featuring a conversation between Smith and Squeak Carnwath, Artists’ Legacy Foundation co-founder and board president.
About Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Born January 15, 1940 at the St. Ignatius Indian Mission on her reservation, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is an enrolled Salish member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, Montana. Smith received an Associate of Arts Degree at Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington in 1960, a BA in Art Education from Framingham State College, Massachusetts in 1976, and an MA in Visual Arts from the University of New Mexico in 1980.
Smith has received numerous awards such as the Academy of Arts and Letters Purchase Award, New York, l987; the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters Grant, 1996; the Women’s Caucus for the Arts Lifetime Achievement, 1997; the College Art Association Women’s Award, 2002; Governor’s Outstanding New Mexico Woman’s Award, 2005; New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, 2005; Art Table Artist Honoree, New York, 2011; Visionary Woman Award, Moore College, Pennsylvania, 2011; Living Artist of Distinction Award, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2012; NAEA Ziegfeld Lecture Award, 2014; The Woodson Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, 2015; and the Archives of American Art Medal, 2023.
She was elected to the National Academy of Art in 2011, and has received four honorary doctorates: Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 1992; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1998; Massachusetts College of Art, 2003; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 2009.
Smith’s work is in the collections of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida; Museum of Modern Art, Quito, Ecuador; Museum of Mankind, Vienna, Austria; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and others.
Smith will be honored with the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art Medal at the 2023 gala on October 24, 2023. Memory Map, a traveling retrospective exhibition of Smith’s work, originated at the Whitney Museum of American Art and will open at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth on October 15, 2023, and then the Seattle Art Museum on February 29, 2024. Visit the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to see The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans, which Smith curated. It is on view through January 15, 2024.
Daniel Nevers
DANIEL NEVERS JOINS ARTISTS’ LEGACY FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
February 1, 2023
Artists’ Legacy Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Daniel Nevers, a nonprofit arts administrator and former Executive Director of the Berkeley Art Center, to its Board of Directors.
Mr. Nevers joins board president Squeak Carnwath, artist; Gary Knecht, community advocate; Leah Levy, director of The Jay DeFeo Foundation; Sandra Shannonhouse, artist and trustee of The Robert Arneson Trust; and Caroline Black, Executive Director of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Squeak Carnwath says, “Daniel understands how artists work and how visual thinking can enrich our lives. He is creative, innovative, and a pleasure to work with, and I share the board’s excitement and look forward to working with him.”
“I am honored to join the board of Artists’ Legacy Foundation as it continues to develop systems and structures to preserve artistic legacies,” says Nevers. “Through various roles and projects, I have tried to be an advocate for artists at all stages of their career, and I consider this yet another opportunity to serve artists by thinking about how their work can live far into the future.”
Daniel Nevers
Daniel Nevers (he/him) is an artist and educator with more than 20 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector, primarily in the areas of communications, fundraising, and strategic planning. He has held senior administrative positions at educational institutions, social justice nonprofits, and community-based arts organizations, as well as consulting on independent projects for museums and other visual arts groups. Nevers has taught studio art and professional practices for artists at the University of California, Berkeley; California College of the Arts; and Mills College. His work has been exhibited at Headlands Center for the Arts, Southern Exposure, Root Division, and the San Francisco Arts Commission. Nevers holds an MFA from Mills College and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. He lives in Catskill, NY with his husband Josh.
Artists’ Legacy Foundation
Established in 2000, Artists’ Legacy Foundation stewards the legacies of deceased artists, supports outstanding painters and sculptors through awards and grants, and advances visual arts through education, exhibitions, and community outreach. Co-founders Squeak Carnwath, Gary Knecht, and Viola Frey envisioned a multi-artist endowed foundation that would celebrate and educate living artists, and protect the valuable contributions of artists to American culture. Since Frey’s death in 2004, the Foundation has stewarded her artwork and archives with a special focus on documentation, research, and public exhibitions. Frey’s bequest helped establish the Artist Award, a $25,000 unrestricted prize given annually to a painter or sculptor.