Vaughn Bell (born 1978, Syracuse,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

) is an

environmental art Environmental art is a range of artistic practices encompassing both historical approaches to nature in art and more recent ecological and politically motivated types of works. Environmental art has evolved away from formal concerns, for example ...

ist working with

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

installation Installation may refer to: * Installation (computer programs) * Installation, work of installation art * Installation, military base * Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian l ...

, performance and video, who lives and works in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. Vaughn received her MFA from the Studio for Inter-related Media at

Massachusetts College of Art Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...

in Boston, MA and her undergraduate degree from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, where her work focused on "Nature and Culture: Human Perspectives on the Natural Environment".

Work

Bell creates interactive projects and immersive environments which affect the ways in which we relate to our environment. She has exhibited her sculpture, installation, performance, video and public projects internationally. Her commissions include installations at the

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is a museum in a converted Arnold Print Works factory building complex located in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest centers for contemporary visual art and performing ar ...

, the Edith Russ Site for New Media Art in Oldenburg, Germany, the Owens Walter E. Terhune Art Gallery in Ohio, and the and

Chemical Heritage Foundation The Science History Institute is an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it includes a library, museum, archive, research center and conference center. It was fo ...

in Philadelphia, PA. Her work has been featured in Artnews, Afterimage, and Arcade Journal, among others. Many of her pieces are "personal biospheres", living spaces into which people can insert themselves at eye-to-ground level to intimately experience the sight, smell, and touch of a growing world. Some are single-person environments while others, like the "biosphere for three" at the Edith Russ House, accommodate multiple people. Vaughn Bell has also explored the boundaries between plants and people by making plants a part of wearable clothing, and treating them like pets. Bell has been employed as a “staff artist” by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), working on arts planning and integrating design enhancements into public projects such as trails, sidewalks, and bridges.

Selected Public Art

Selected Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

Grants, commissions and awards

;2012:Fellow, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Amherst, VA ;2010:4Culture Grant for ALIVE (A Low Impact Vehicle Exhibition) ;2009-2010:Jack Straw Productions New Media Gallery Residency ;2009:4Culture Special Projects Grant recipient for "This Land" book ;2007:4Culture Special Projects Grant recipient for "From Sea to Shining Sea" :4Culture Site Specific Performance Network Grant for "CUV” :Kamiyama Japan International Artist in Residence ;2006:Full Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center :Nancy Graves Foundation Fellow, Millay Colony ;2005:Home Biosphere Commission for the offices of Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis, MN ;2004:Artist in Research Grant, Berwick Research Institute, Boston, MA :Work installed in the offices of the New England Foundation For the Arts, Boston, MA

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Vaughn 1978 births Living people American installation artists Artists from Syracuse, New York American women installation artists American women performance artists American performance artists American women video artists American video artists Environmental artists Sculptors from New York (state) 21st-century American women sculptors 21st-century American sculptors