Heather Watkins

Heather Watkins works in a reflective and process-oriented gesture. Using materials of fiber, cords, and papers, Watkins’ works vary from site-specific, large-scale installations to incredibly intimate and private moments that require a closeness. Watkins describes that she explores “physical and psychic phenomena such as flow, stasis, circulation, time, and the limits of sensory perception.” Born in Sacramento, California, Watkins’ family soon moved to the Sierra Foothills in Sonora where art and creativity were encouraged in the household. 

Stephanie Snyder, the Director and Curator of the Cooley Gallery at Reed College, who has worked and collaborated with Watkins on exhibitions and book projects over a twenty-year span, reflects on Watkins’ work, "Heather Watkins is an artist willing to traverse inward for as long as necessary to discover the next marker or signpost along the way. I think for Watkins, making doesn’t mean any ‘thing.’ It is an act, an event, a slippage of time and material. It may be resisting to conclude, or wilding something quiet, or running a fold. The process of creation is ever-present and continuous in her work, and as in the body, we may not ‘see’ a metamorphosis, but we can feel it." 

Included in a recent group exhibition at the Sun Valley Museum of Art, Bodies of Work: Art and Healing, the exhibition explored the connection between art and medical illness including the embroidered works by Watkins that were created during the many times she spent in waiting rooms. In working closely with Watkins and seeing these embroidered works that began the seeds of this exhibition theme, Courtney Gilbert, Assistant Director and Curator at the Sun Valley Museum of Art shared: “Heather Watkins is incredibly deserving of the Bonnie Bronson Fund Fellows award. Heather approaches her practice with such openness – openness to materials, processes, and outcomes. Whether working with ink on paper, dyed cotton cord, metal wire, or embroidery thread, she creates objects and environments that invite viewers to join her in a meditative moment, to think about the infinite expressive possibilities of the drawn line, to slow down and look closely. Her work creates opportunities for exploring notions of time, healing, and the ways that art can offer moments of respite at a time when they are much needed.” 

After receiving a double BA in English and World Literature, and Classical Studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA, Watkins moved to Portland. Watkins worked at the Oregon College of Art and Craft as publications coordinator and took advantage of the learning benefits extended to staff members, in particular, Photography and Book Arts. Watkins then went on to pursue an MFA in Graphic Design at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. In this pursuit and focus, Watkins describes, “For me, graphic design became an interdisciplinary field where I could both deepen my grounding in craft—book arts, typography, photography, printmaking—and expand my work in more conceptual ways that blurred or dismissed categorical distinctions as to whether something was ‘design,’ or ‘art,’ or ‘craft.’” Shown in numerous exhibitions including the 

Cooley Gallery at Reed College, Portland, OR, Portland Art Museum, The Art Gym at Marylhurst University, Portland, OR, Watkins’ work is in numerous collections and has been included in public art commissions throughout Oregon. Watkins’ awards include grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, the Ford Family Foundation, and the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Watkins is represented by PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR and Planthouse Gallery, New York, NY.