Interdisciplinary artist Marie Watt MFA ’96 was recently named one of two winners of the 2025 Heinz for the Arts award, given by the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation and which comes with an unrestricted cash prize of $250,000 for the winners. 2025 marks the 30th year that the Hertz Family Foundation has offered the award in honor of US Senator John Heinz (1938-91), to people working in the arts, economy and environment.
From ArtForum’s feature on Watt and the award: “Watt, who was born in Seattle and lives and works in Portland, Oregon, is an enrolled citizen of the Seneca Nation of Indians (part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy). Through printmaking, sculptures, and textiles—especially blankets, traditionally gifted by members of various Indigenous groups to mark milestone events—she explores contemporary life and community-building through the lenses of Haudenosaunee feminist teachings, Indigenous knowledge, and her own family history.”
Read the full feature on Watt and Jennifer Packer, the other 2025 recipient, here.
Photo Credit: Marie Watt in her Southeast Portland studio in 2016. (Robbie McClaran)