Every year the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation offers a $50,000.00 cash award plus a solo exhibition with our partner institution The Center for Maine Contemporary Art to an artist living and working in the United States. We are enormously pleased to announce that the 2025 Visual Arts Fellowship Award has been granted to Marie Watt. Marie Watt (she/her, b. 1967, Seattle, WA) is a member of the Turtle Clan of the Seneca Nation of Indians, and also has German-Scot ancestry. Her interdisciplinary work draws from history, biography, Haudenosaunee protofeminism, and Indigenous teachings; in it, she explores the intersection of history, community, and storytelling. Through collaborative actions, she instigates multigenerational and cross disciplinary conversations that might create a lens and conversation for understanding connectedness to place, one another, and the universe.

Watt holds an MFA in painting and printmaking from Yale University; she also has degrees from Willamette University and the Institute of
American Indian Arts; and in 2016 she was awarded an Doctor Honoris Causa from Willamette University. She has attended residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the Vermont Studio Center; and has received fellowships from Anonymous Was a Woman, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Harpo Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, and the Native Arts and Culture Foundation, among others. Watt served two terms on the board of VoCA (Voices in Contemporary Art) from 2017–2023. She serves on the Native Advisory Committee at the Portland Art Museum, where she also became a member of the Board of Trustees in 2020. She is a fan of Crow’s Shadow, an Indigenous-founded printmaking institute located on the homelands of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla; as well as Portland Community College.

Selected collections include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, the Crystal Bridges Museum, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and National Museum of American Art, the Tacoma Art Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and the Portland Art Museum. She is represented by PDX Contemporary Art in Portland, OR; Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, CA; and Marc Straus Gallery in New York, NY.

Upon notification of the award, Watt responded:

When I received the amazing news that I was to be the recipient of the 2024 Ellis-Beauregard Artist Fellowship it took me a few long seconds
to process what I had heard. I had applied over six months previous and put it out of my mind, thinking it was a long shot. This is an incredible, rare, generous award that artists need and deserve. I am honored by the opportunity to have my work seen by this amazing, globally-minded, and community-engaged jury. I am humbled and thrilled, shocked and elated, by this recognition. I also look forward to the opportunity to have a solo exhibition at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. I love that this institution began with a group of community-engaged, scrappy, spirited artists and art champions. The fact that two artists, Joan Marie Beauregard and John David Ellis, created this artist foundation understanding the ways it could benefit the lives of artists, arts organizations, and the community is also incredibly inspiring. Similar to the spirit of this award, I believe that art
and life are deeply connected and that this legacy calls back to our ancestors and forward to future generations. The dance of being an artist is sometimes difficult, but I’ve been doing it long enough that I find trust in the process. The money I will receive as part of this award
will help me with so many things— new work, paying bills, and sustaining my studio. Even more important than the money, however,
is feeling the support of my peers. I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

Ellen Golden, President of the Board of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation added, One of the ways that the Ellis Beauregard Foundation (EBF) realizes its mission is through its fellowship in the visual arts. The Board and staff of EBF appreciate the challenges that so many artists face regardless of where they are in their careers and are grateful to be able to provide meaningful support to such accomplished and talented artists like this year’s fellow Marie Watt.

What the jurors said:

Marie Watt’s work really stood out from the applicants for her ambitious work that investigates materials along with her ability to both pull from and create community while making work that creates a contemplative narrative with a rich history. I am thrilled that the jury agreed on this artist! Tara Donovan, artist.

I was so impressed with the entire pool of applicants but Marie Watt was a clear stand out. The work comes from the heart but is also rigorous in its meaning, making, and engagement with community, I kept returning to the works to peel back all the layers they hold. Denise Markonish, Chief Curator MassMoca.

Marie Watt is a vibrant voice in contemporary art, speaking to vital issues in an engaging and welcoming way. I am certain that her work will resonate with the Maine community, sparking dialogue and inspiration. The jury was unanimous in our enthusiasm for this important artist and honored to be able to celebrate her brilliance with this important award. Daniel Palmer, chief curator at the SCAD Museum of Art.

Through her powerful use of textiles and collaborative practices, Marie Watt weaves together histories and narratives that resonate across cultures and generations. Her art not only transforms materials but also builds bridges between people, making her a vital and deserving candidate for the Ellis Beauregard Award. Daisy Desrossiers.

When I received the amazing news that I was to be the recipient of the 2024 Ellis-Beauregard Artist Fellowship it took me a few long seconds to process what I had heard. I had applied over six months previous and put it out of my mind, thinking it was a long shot. This is an incredible, rare, generous award that artists need and deserve. I am honored by the opportunity to have my work seen by this amazing, globally-minded, and community-engaged jury. I am humbled and thrilled, shocked and elated, by this recognition. I also look forward to the opportunity to have a solo exhibition at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. I love that this institution began with a group of community-engaged, scrappy, spirited artists and art champions. The fact that two artists, Joan Marie Beauregard and John David Ellis, created this artist foundation understanding the ways it could benefit the lives of artists, arts organizations, and the community is also incredibly inspiring. Similar to the spirit of this award, I believe that art and life are deeply connected and that this legacy calls back to our ancestors and forward to future generations. The dance of being an artist is sometimes difficult, but I’ve been doing it long enough that I find trust in the process. The money I will receive as part of this award will help me with so many things— new work, paying bills, and sustaining my studio. Even more important than the money, however, is feeling the support of my peers. I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Marie Watt

The Ellis Beauregard Foundation, Rockland, Maine, is pleased to announce the 2024 Fellowship Awardee in the Visual Arts, Carlie Trosclair from New Orleans, Louisiana. This is the first year the Foundation has offered the award at the $50,000.00 level and received over 300 applications from across the country. The jurors were: Carol Eliel, Curator of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Jessica May, Managing Director, Art and Exhibitions and Artistic Director DeCordova Sculpture Park ad Museum, Boston, MA and Alison DeLima Greene, Isabel Brown Wilson Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Tx. After a rigorous review and a spirited discussion, all three jurors selected Trosclair’s work, noting its pertinence to the issues of the day as well as its sheer haunting beauty reflects Donna McNeil, Founding Executive Director, Ellis-Beauregard Foundation. The award is paired with a solo exhibit at the Center For Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, Maine and we hope bringing this impactful work to Maine will inspire all who see it.

Carlie Trosclair writes This level of financial support is an anchor that provides the security needed to dream beyond the scope of what’s right in front of me. At a minimum, my next few years just expanded with possibility. I am so grateful to the Ellis Beauregard Foundation for the gift to imagine new works without limitation (AND afford to store them afterward). I’m floating.

Carol Eliel, curator, LACMA adds, Carlie Trosclair’s work reflects her roots in New Orleans but speaks more broadly to human vulnerability. She has developed a distinctive vocabulary, translating robust architecture into thin latex skins and ghostlike forms. At the same time that they evoke the perils facing humanity, Trosclair’s sculptures are exquisitely beautiful and suggest the importance of taking care, both of others and ourselves. Juror Jessica May, Vice President, Art and Exhibitions, The Trustees Artistic Director, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum found this work to be vibrantly attuned to this moment, both specific in its cultural references and profoundly universal. As climate change literally comes home for people around the globe, artists like Carlie Trosclair, whose work evokes the spaces of our lives with emotional and poetic depth, are more important than ever.” Further, juror Alison DeLima Green, Museum of Fine Art, Houston, expounds, It is a profound pleasure and privilege to be a part of the Ellis-Beauregard’s ongoing engagement with contemporary art and to recognize Carlie Trosclair with this year’s Fellowship award. Her work immediately commanded our admiration for its fusion of historical memory and present urgencies as she addresses climate change and the precariousness of our built environments. A native of New Orleans, Trosclair has grounded her work in personal experience, as she came of age in the face of rising waters, and her sculptures and installations eloquently capture how that city’s urban fabric is under constant threat. However, we also took into account that as her practice has expanded, she has proved to bring an exceptional sensitivity to the conditions of other sites across America and we look forward to seeing where she takes her work in the year to come.

The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation is pleased to announce the $25,000 Visual Arts Fellowship awardee for 2023. This is the first year the award has become national and the first year it is accompanied by a $5000.00 shipping stipend to bring the work to a solo exhibit at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland.

Arnold J. Kemp lives and works in Chicago. Recent exhibitions of the artist’s work include FALSE HYDRAS (2021) at JOAN in Los Angeles and I COULD SURVIVE, I WOULD SURVIVE, I SHOULD SURVIVE (2021) at Manetti Shrem Art Museum at the University of California at Davis, and LESS LIKE AND OBJECT AND MORE LIKE THE WEATHER at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Research, University of Chicago. Over the past decade, Kemp received awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Kemp’s works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the Portland Art Museum, the Schneider Museum of Art, and the Tacoma Art Museum. Kemp received a BA/BFA degree in Studio Art and English Literature from Tufts University in 1991 and an MFA degree in 2005 from Stanford University.

The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, Rockland Maine awarded Nancy Andrews of Mount Desert Island it’s  $25,000.00 award for a Maine artist working in the visual arts.  

Three jurors: Ian, Alteveer, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ellen Tani, an art historian, curator, and critic based in Washington, DC, and Danielle Jackson, a critic, researcher, arts administrator and the co-founder and former co-director of the Bronx Documentary Center were unanimous in their decision. Ian Alteveer states:”It was thrilling to review the work of so many talented Maine-based artists with such expansive and diverse practices. The work of Nancy Andrews made a deep impression on the jury. Her personal yet kaleidoscopic practice, across many media, centers narratives of trauma and discovery while  inventing countless new possibilities for looking at the world.” Ellen Tani adds, “Nancy’s work offers a kaleidoscopic perspective that takes us from the fantastical world of the curio shop and science fiction to the lived, corporeal experiences of medical emergency, alterity, and delirium. She probes the factual and fictional  boundaries of the human and the animal realms with an elevated acumen for editing and animation style.”

Veronica is from Westbrook, Maine. Her work can be found at veronicaaperez.com.

reggieburowshodges.com

Artist, educator, and activist Erin Johnson is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Digital Media with a joint appointment in the Visual Arts Department and the Digital and Computational Studies Program at Bowdoin College. In 2013, she earned an MFA in Art Practice and a Certificate in New Media from U.C. Berkeley. She makes interdisciplinary, collaborative projects that blend documentary, experimental, and narrative practices to explore social, political, and geographical imaginaries.

www.erinjohnson.online