This story originally appeared on Underscore Native News.

The Heinz Family Foundation named Portland-based artist, Marie Watt, a recipient of the 30th annual Heinz Award for the Arts, on Tuesday. The award comes with an unrestricted cash award of $250,000.

Watt is a multidisciplinary artist whose work blends sculpture, textiles, and printmaking to explore identity, community, and cultural memory. A citizen of the Seneca Nation, Turtle Clan, with German-Scot ancestry, Watt’s artwork draws influence from Haudenosaunee feminist teachings, her family’s lived history and Indigenous knowledge. Through her art, Watt fosters meaningful connections across generations and cultures.

Established by Teresa Heinz to carry forward the vision of her late husband, Senator John Heinz, the Heinz Awards aim to shine a light on individuals whose work transforms lives and communities.

“The cash award is energy,” Watt said. “It literally helps keep the lights on, and it gives me a little bit of a safety net– allowing me to make the work that I feel called to make.”

Six “changemakers” are recognized annually — each receiving $250,000, totaling $1.5 million, along with the Heinz Awards medallion. Fellow recipients this year by category are Jennifer M. Packer also in the arts, Byron Auguste, Ph.D. and Sara Bronin, J.D. in economics, and Dana Gunders and Sacoby Wilson, Ph.D., in environmental work.

After three decades, the total number of recipients is 186 and reflects more than $32 million in awards given out since the program was launched in 1993.

“It gives me a little bit of a buffer and space to take a breath,” Watt added.

‘Part of my DNA’

Born in 1967 in Seattle, Watt has been based in Portland for nearly three decades. Growing up, her mother always had her doing creative projects, Watt said—from finger painting with chocolate pudding to playing outside in the dirt making mud pies.

Unlike others who knew from a young age that they were destined to become an artist, it took Watt a little longer to fully embrace the career path that has changed her life.

“For me, I don’t even know that I started calling myself an artist until I turned 50,” Watt said. “But at this stage, it’s totally who I am. It’s totally part of my DNA.”

A graduate of Yale University, Watt received her MFA in painting and printmaking, she also holds degrees from the Institute of American Indian Arts and Willamette University, which honored her with a Doctor Honoris Causa in 2016. She currently serves on the Native Advisory Committee at the Portland Art Museum and joined its Board of Trustees in 2020.

Watt draws from Indigenous traditions and proto-feminist Haudenosaunee teachings to create her signature works. Projects range from large-scale steel sculptures, to floating clouds of jingle cones, to intricate textiles embellished with Native American beads, blankets and more.

Watt was familiar with the Heinz award, writing nominations for other artists she admires in past years. She says she never imagined she’d be the one on the receiving end.

“I don’t think I ever thought that my work or practice would garner this sort of acknowledgement,” Watt said. “It’s just hard for me to believe that I’m the recipient of the Heinz award. And simultaneously, I feel very, very honored.”

Rooted in collaboration

Community lies at the heart of Watt’s work, often inviting community involvement through practices such as sewing circles, jointly created sculptures, and interactive social media projects, all aimed at cultivating multigenerational engagement and a more intimate relationship with place.

“I approach this dance between community, conceptually storied materials and my studio with openness,” Watt said. “I am drawn to the relationship between part and whole, call and response, individual and group. Working with the community resonates with me as it connects art and life in a tangible way.”

For the past decade, Watt has been working with the ‘Blanket Stories’ sculpture series, which features dozens of donated blankets, folded and stacked on top of each other, towering on steel beams. These sculptural forms blend intimate narratives with the clean lines of minimalism and the structural language of modern architecture.

“I see blankets as living, storied objects,” Watt said. “Many blankets, particularly wool blankets and quilts, are passed down through generations. We are received into this world in blankets and in many ways depart in a blanket, and in between we are constantly imprinting on them — worn areas, stained bits and mended parts are like beauty marks and part of the object’s history.”

In her 2024 installation ‘Land Stitches Water Sky‘ steel I-beams are a focal point, paying tribute to the Haudenosaunee ironworkers, known as “Skywalkers” who contributed to building much of Manhattan’s skyline and key urban infrastructure.

“We are living in a moment where understanding our connectedness to one another, animals, water, air is urgent. And we need to come together” Watt said. “We need to work together to address some of the major social and environmental issues of our age so future generations inherit the planet in a better place.”

What’s next

Last week, Watt was one of 10 artists selected for the Obama Presidential Center’s historic campus-wide art program. Watt and Nick Cave will collaborate on a new work for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

“I feel almost like being part of their legacy. The Obama center is one that resonates with so many values that I hold near and dear to me,” Watt said. “It’s really exciting to be a part of that project—such an honor.”

Later this week, Watt’s work will be included in her first retrospective traveling to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University. Centered on printmaking’s vital place in Watt’s interdisciplinary practice, ‘Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt,’ is drawn exclusively from the personal collection of Jordan Schnitzer, a supporter of Watt, and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation.

Featuring over 70 works, the exhibition also introduces Forest Shifts Light (Sequoia, Crest, Canopy) (2025), a newly commissioned “jingle cloud” created especially for the show. It will be on display until December 6.

For now, Watts is thinking of ways to share the wealth with others in her community.

“Moving forward, how can I share it with other people? What does that look like?” Watt asked herself. “Off the top of my head, it looks like [writing] those letters for other people whose work I deeply admire.”

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/17/marie-watt-portland-artist-prestigious-heinz-award/