Marie Watt: Jo Hockenhull Distinguished Lecturer for 2018

Thursday, April 12, 4:30 p.m., Fine Arts Auditorium 5062, Fine Arts Center, WSU

The Jo Hockenhull Lecture series, organized by the Women’s Studies Program, the Fine Arts Department, and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, has named Marie Watt as the Visiting Lecturer for 2018. Watt will discuss the connections between art, activism, and feminist politics. This event is free and open to the public with a reception to follow.

Using various media, including reclaimed wool blankets, felt, pine, cedar, and iron, Marie Watt’s work grapples with indigenous politics, feminism, and the relationship between history and memory. Watt received her MFA degree in painting and printmaking from Yale University. Her work has been exhibited at the Tacoma Art Museum, the Rockwell Museum, Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum. In 2015, Watt worked on piece in which she conducted sewing circles with students from Tierra Ecnantada High School to draw attention to the collaborative nature of aesthetic creations. Watt is a member of the Turtle Clan of the Seneca Nation and mobilizes several Native American traditions of storytelling and community formation in her work. Her most recent exhibition, Companion Species (Underbelly) will be on view at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU from April 6, 2018 to through September 1, 2018.

Watt received her MFA degree in painting and printmaking from Yale University. Her work has been exhibited at the Tacoma Art Museum, the Rockwell Museum, Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum. Her most recent exhibition, Companion Species (Underbelly) will be on view at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU from April 6, 2018 to through September 1, 2018.

The Hockenhull lecture series was launched in 1996 by the Women’s Studies Department in collaboration with the Department of Fine Arts to honor Jo Hockenhull, a WSU emeritus professor of Fine Arts who served as director of women’s studies for more than a decade. At WSU, Hockenhull focused on building programs and initiatives supporting diversity, the liberal arts, free speech, and critical thinking. Past lecturers have been visual artists, poets, and performance artists who have emphasized the important connections between art, social justice, and political practice. Former lecturers have included Octavia Butler, Coco Fusco, the Guerrilla Girls, Anna Chavez, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Ayana Jackson, and Jin-me Yoon.

For more information, contact Nishant Shahani at 509-335-5286.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Plateau Center