PO Box 5211, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502
310.704.2395 / tricia@ecoartspace.org
Patricia Watts is founder and west coast curator of ecoartspace. She has curated over thirty art and ecology exhibitions including Performative Ecologies (2020), Contemplating OTHER (2018), Enchantment (2016), FiberSHED (2015), Shifting Baselines (2013), MAKE:CRAFT (2010), and Hybrid Fields (2006). In 2016 she initiated and project managed a site-specific permanent public artwork entitled Cloud House. Watts is a pioneering curator who has worked with artists who engage the natural world for over twenty years. She has a visionary entrepreneurial approach to curating that supports transdisciplinary and transformative collaborative environments.
CURATORIAL l MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE
Founder/Curator 1997 – present
ecoartspace, New Mexico/California/Missouri/New York
Founder of national art organization specializing in artists who engage the human-nature interface. ecoartspace has produced more than 50 exhibitions, 200 programs, working with 1,000+ artists in 15 states nationally and 8 countries internationally. Approximately one million people have attended our programs produced in collaboration with over 300 organizations. Current projects include a media archive of video interviews with pioneering artists and an Action Guide series of replicable social practice artworks for educators. Co-publisher of ecovention.
Consulting Curator 2012 - 2017
Chief Curator 2005 - 2008
Sonoma County Museum. Santa Rosa, CA
Developed exhibitions and related programs for regional museum in Northern California with the largest collection of environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude's preparatory works in the USA. Responsible for thirty exhibitions presented in four galleries (& outdoors) over three years. Managed $150K annual exhibitions budget. Supervised Historical Collections Curator/Exhibitions Manager, Education/Visitor Services Coordinator, interns and volunteers.
Watershed/Education Coordinator 2001 – 2004
Topanga Creek Watershed Committee, Topanga, CA
Position funded by the California Department of Conservation. Community liaison for watershed stakeholders with biologists, federal/state/county agencies, and environmental consultants. Researched and wrote curriculum. Implemented grassroots restoration projects working with 50+ volunteers.
Administrative Director 1997 – 98
Fellows of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Director for nonprofit organization that initiates and sponsors contemporary art exhibitions in California. Worked with board of 25 directors on membership, programs, and budget. Coordinated media venues for “Access All Areas,” an exhibition including billboards and live online artworks.
Associate Curator 1994 – 97
Museum of Creativity, Santa Monica, CA
Worked on museum concept for the Milken Family Foundation with team of 24 museum professionals exploring the creative process. Developed art-in-nature program for garden concept. Conducted videotaped interviews with professional creatives. Created database of eminent and everyday creators, and participated in the development of exhibitions in collaboration with anthropologists, artists, and creativity theorists.
Graduate Program 1990 – 93
California State University, Fullerton, CA
Earned M.A. in unique entrepreneurial exhibit design/museum studies studio program with an emphasis on curating and arts administration. Independently curated and designed exhibition space for two major contemporary art exhibitions. Produced and conducted interviews for an educational video. Obtained loans from museums and private collectors. Arranged for local and international shipping and insurance. Wrote grants and a catalog essay. Published 24-page exhibition catalog.
EXHIBITIONS (*organized)
Performative Ecologies, CURRENTS 826, Santa Fe, NM
2019
Ulrike Arnold: Cosmovisions. Yucca Valley Art Center. CA
Richard Bowman: Radiant Abstractions. The Landing Gallery, Culver City, CA
2018
Contemplating OTHER: I know you are, You know I am
Including Alicia Escott, Linda Gueneste and Brigitta Varadi
Gallery Route One, Point Reyes, CA
2017
Sourcing Color. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Rising Stars. Pirkel Jones Artist Awards. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Jean-Marc Brugeilles: Hypercosmos des Songes (Supercosmos of Dreams). Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
2016
Om Prakash: Intuitive Nature. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA (62-page catalogue)
20th Century Prints from the Annex Galleries. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Tony King: 50 Years of Painting. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Enchantment. Peter Strauss Ranch, Agoura Hills, CA
Site-specific works in nature included: Karen Reitzel, Faith Purvey, Ben Allanoff, and Minoosh Zomorodinia. In collaboration with the National Park Service.
Ozark Outsiders. Pool Art Center Gallery, Drury University. Springfield, MO
Including: James Edward Deeds, Joseph Yoakum, Robert E. Smith, Robert Lanning, Lucille Stoll, Sammy Landers, Ed Stilley and Tim West.
2015
FiberSHED. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Black Artists on Art. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Transitions. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
2014
Inner Worlds. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA (70-page catalogue)
PrimeTime. Marin Community Foundation. Novato, CA
California Dreamin'. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
2013
Transmissions. Marin Community Foundation. Novato, CA
Breaking Barriers. Marin Community Foundation. Novato, CA
Millennial Abstractions. Marin Community Foundation. Novato, CA
Shifting Baselines. Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico
Residency, gallery talk,
and exhibition with artists Hugh Pocock and Cynthia Hooper.
2012
Works on Water. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Beyond Landscape. Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Delta Waters. LH JR Horton Gallery. San Joaquin Delta College. Stockton, CA
Eight site-specific artworks addressing human impacts on the Delta region, its beauty and the preservation of this highly impinged natural resource, the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast in California.
Getting Off The Planet. Includes a series of residency based site works created by international artists at unique venues throughout the state of New Mexico exploring perceptions of a larger universe, space travel, the science of space and the cosmos.
Co-curated with Jenée Misraje. Ongoing.
2010
MAKE:CRAFT
Ben Maltz Gallery. Otis College of Art and Design. Los Angeles, CA
Survey
of contemporary artists who combine hand making and building techniques
to create or engineer unique, mostly functional devices, objects, and
machines. Included Kim Abeles, Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Frau Fiber, Garnet Hertz, Justseeds Artists' Cooperative, Seth Kinmont, Liza Lou, David Prince, Mark Newport, Alyce Santoro, Shada/Jahn, and Eddo Stern.
EcoArchive: Meditations on Time and Nature
Intersection 5M. San Francisco, CA
Co-curated group exhibition with photographs, video, sculpture by Sam Easterson, Karl Cronin, Cynthia Hooper, Chris Sicat, Matthew Moore, Chris McCaw, Jessica Skloven, Tamara Albaitis and Mark Baugh-Sasaki.
2009
Terroir: A Sense of Place. Art at the Cheese Factory. Petaluma, CA
Inaugural exhibition for rural arts venue. Juried/curated 28 Bay Area artists for indoor/outdoor site works including Philip Krohn, Mark Brest van Kempen, Josh Keyes, Adrianne Colburn, Lewis de Soto, Sonja Hinrichsen and Benicia Gantner. Funded in part by the Marin Arts Council.
ecoLOGIC. Cypress College Art Gallery. Cypress, CA
Survey of Southern California artists, architects, and designers who express a unique logic including Calvin Abe, Kim Abeles, Samantha Fields, Sant Khalsa, Manfred Menz, Kathryn Miller, Lothar Schmitz, Glen Small, and Joel Tauber.
2008
EPA: Environmental Performance Actions. Exit Art. New York, NY
Over thirty artists, including video and ephemera documentation by Eve Mosher, Future Farmers, Fritz Haeg, Rapid Response, Center for Tactical Magic, Temescal Amity Works and Chris Sollars. Co-curated with Amy Lipton.
2006
WaterWorks. Contemporary Quarterly Project Space.
Online exhibition including: Brandon Ballengee, Jackie Brookner, Basia Irland, Sant Khalsa, Christy Rupp, and Tao Urban. Co-curated with Amy Lipton.
Bugology. Armory Center for the Arts. Pasadena, CA. Sixteen southern California artists including artists in Bug-Eyed. Included John Knuth, Ryan Taber and Cheyenne Weaver, Sean Dockray, David Prochaska, Jacqueline McBain, and Sylvia Tidwell.
2004-5
Bug-Eyed: Art, Culture, Insects. Turtle Bay Exploration Park. Redding, CA
Twenty six artists making aesthetic inquiries in cultural entomology including artists: Doug and Mike Starn, Alexis Rockman, Jan Fabre, Catherine Chalmers, Nina Katchadourian, CI Kim, Samantha Fields, Ken Rinaldo, Amy Youngs, Tom Friedman, Sam Easterson, Sean Patrick Dockray. (60-page catalogue)
2001
Shai Zakai: Concrete Creek. 18th Street Arts Complex. Santa Monica, CA
1999
Escondido Phoenix. Art and Nature Artists-in-Residency. Malibu, CA
Ten Los Angeles artists created site-specific installations in nature including Angie Bray, Michael C. McMillen, David McDonald, Lothar Schmitz, Barbara Smith and Daniel Wheeler.
1998
Art and Nature. Rico Gallery. Santa Monica, CA
A survey of "ecoart" including Bill Viola, Lothar Schmitz, Michael C. McMillen, Marilyn Bridges, Nine Mile Run Greenway Project and site-specific work by Nils-Udo.
SONOMA COUNTY MUSEUM Santa Rosa, CA 2005 - 2008
Main Gallery l Select Exhibitions
2008
Following Nature: Ruth Asawa in Sonoma County
Twenty-seven works from the Asawa Lainer Family Collection (SF) including tied wire, looped wire, cast bronze sculpture, and watercolor paintings. Asawa attended Black Mountain College from 1947-1948 where her mentors were Josef Albers and Buckminster Fuller.
2007
Obsession: Art and Artifacts from Sonoma County Private Collections
An intimate view of more than thirty significant works from fifteen diverse private collections with original installation by artist Lewis deSoto.
Marguerite Wildenhain: Bauhaus to Pond Farm
Selections from the Forest Merrill Collection by Bauhaus trained master potter. Wildenhain conducted summer workshops on the Russian River at Pond Farm for over twenty five years. (48-page catalogue)
2006
Hybrid Fields
Group exhibition of artists addressing how food is grown, distributed and consumed. Included eighteen artists and nine site-specific installations including works by Alexis Rockman, Laura Parker, Christy Rupp, Amy Franceschini, Marisa Jahn/Stephen Shada, Ted Purves/Susanne Cockrell. (16-panel color brochure)
2005
NextNature: Stephen Galloway
Survey of work by Bay Area photographer of displaced nature portraits. (4-page brochure with essay)
Contemporary Project Space l Select Exhibitions
2008
Ecocentric: Video Lounge
Compilation of twenty video shorts including performance documentations and video art addressing pressing environmental issues. Artists included: Andrea Polli, David Haley (UK), Insa Winkler (DE), EcoArtTech, Michael Alstad (CA), Rebar Group, Gail Wight, Robin Lasser, Jane D. Marsching, Fallen Fruit and Shane Brennan.
Eucalypts: Judith Belzer
New paintings with up close renderings of controversial non-native tree species.
2007
Renee Carriere: Momentary Perch
Delicate papier mache birds sculpted with shreddings of newspaper, casting evocative shadows of fleeting nature.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude Gallery: The Tom Golden Collection
The Sonoma County Museum is home to the largest collection in the USA of works by environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude (128 pieces). Donated in 2001 by local art collector Tom Golden, Rotations from the Tom Golden Collection included: Objects Wrapped/ Unwrapped 2008, Architectural 2007, and The Land 2006.
NorthXNorthCoast Art & Architecture Series 2006-2008
Beyond Regionalism/Beyond Green: Co-curated lecture series in collaboration with The American Institute of Architects, Redwood Empire. Featured speakers addressed architectural innovations that change the way we live and our relationship with the natural environment.
Fall 2006
Art and Natural Building: Scott Constable (wowhaus), Matthew Moore (urbanplough), Joe Kennedy (ecodwelling)
Convergence: Art and Architecture: Julie Eizenberg, Hank Konig
(Konig + Eizenberg) + Ned Kahn
Sustainability and Design, James L. Cutler
Spring 2007
Changing the Way We Live, Sean Godsell
Integrating Art into Architecture, Buster Simpson
Placemaking, Patricia Patkau
Spring 2008
Out of Your House In To Your Backyard: Bay Area Architects
Mark Jensen
Anne Fougeron
IwamotolScott
ART IN PUBLIC PLACES
Ecological Art in Public and Private Parks. The Power of Parks, Great Parks Summit, Miami, Florida. July 2022. (virtual presenter)
Art and Sustainability. Exploring the Sustainability Challenge. December 2021. (virtual presenter)
Cloud House by artist Matthew Mazzotta. Permanent public art project at Farmers Park, Springfield, MO. Completion April 2016. (curator/project manager) $255k
Outdoor Living Room Conversation with Matthew Mazzotta. Farmers Park. Springfield, Missouri. October 2014. (participant)
San Francisco Arts Commission, City of San Francisco. Alameda Watershed panelist. 2014
Land Art Generator Initiative Design Competition, Freshkills Park, New York. 2012. (juror)
Public Art Ecology in North America: A New Relevance for Public Art. Public Art of the Sustainable City. ISEA 2011. Istanbul, Turkey. (conference panelist)
Green Infrastructure: Re/Generation- Environmental Art; Design: Now and How. Americans for the Arts Public Art Preconference 2011. San Diego, California. (selection panel)
Going Green: How to align public art with Green Building and Infrastructure. Americans for the Arts Webinar. 2011. (panel speaker)
Public Art & Ecology. Art Boom Festival 2010, Krakow, Poland. (symposium speaker and essayist for book)
Department of Arts and History, City of Boise, Idaho. Environmental Public Art presentation for RFQ. 2010
Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles. Environmental Public Art RFQ panelist. 2010
San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant. The City of San Jose's Environmental Services Department (ESD) and the Public Art Program. Interpretive artwork panelist. 2009
Artists Selection/Green Public Art; The Green Room. Renewable Resources: The Arts in Sustainable Communities. 2009 Americans for the Arts, Public Art Network annual conference. Seattle, WA. Poster Session and Roundtable. (facilitator)
Sacramento Airport. Sacramento Public Art Program. New Media panelist. 2009
Vasquez Rocks, Interpretive Center. Agua Dulce, CA. 2009
Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Consultant/facilitator for artist selection of “green” public art work for LEED Platinum design building.
48*C, Public Art Ecology Symposium. New Delhi, India. 2008 (speaker) BLOG POST
Tengo La Voz: Voices and Visions of Latino Youth in Sonoma County. Sonoma County Museum, CA. 2006-2008. A collaboration with KRCB Radio and Television, and the Sonoma County Library. Lead Artist: Julio Cesar Morales. Media classes exploring art in the public sphere. Two year community building program funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). $243,450 grant.
Bellevue Sculpture Exhibition: Sculpted Green Public Art exhibition. City of Bellevue, WA. 2008 (juror)
40°, 73°: Works at the Intersection of Art & Ecology. The Canary Project, Brooklyn, NY. Public Art Series. 2007 (Juror)
Hybrid Fields. Sonoma County Museum, Santa Rosa, CA. September– December 2006
Four site-specific interventions in the public sphere including Susan Leibovitz Steinman, Matthew Moore, Wowhaus, and Fruta Gratis.
Ecological Public Art Charette. Austin, TX. June 2005 (producer)
Invited artists, arts administrator, architect, art professor, and National Park Service director to discuss what is environmental public art and how is it unique (video documentation/transcript).
Windsock Currents. UN World Environment Day. Crissy Field, San Francisco, CA. 2005 Alternative energy installation by RT Livingston and interpretive performance by Red Dive. A month long permitted event through Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.
The River Connection. East Moline, IL. 2000. Curated ecoart installations and exhibits for Master Plan of interpretive center on the Mississippi River.
Museum Campus. Green Public Art proposal. Chicago, IL. 1999. Site- specific artworks linking The Field NHM, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium.
Escondido Phoenix. Art and Nature Artists-in-Residency. 1999. Ten Los Angeles artists created site-specific installations in nature including Angie Bray, Michael C. McMillen, David McDonald, Lothar Schmitz, Barbara Smith and Daniel Wheeler. Malibu, CA
Red Rock Nest. Nils-Udo. Topanga, CA. 1998. Site-specific outdoor installation by German artist made with Arundo donax in conjunction with Art & Nature exhibition at Rico Gallery (above). 14-day permit from Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Authority.
VIDEOS
Produced and conducted
interviews with artists for ecoartspace video archive. Eve Andrée Laramée and Stacy Levy in 2023. Ruth Wallen and Pam Longobardi in 2022. Meridel Rubenstein in 2020. Fern Shaffer in 2019. Ruri, Tim Collins and Reiko Goto, Mags Harries and Lajos Heder in 2018. Roy Staab, Billy X. Curmano, Frances Whitehead, Basia Irland, Sant Khalsa, Kim Abeles and Diane Burko in 2017. Mel Chin in 2015. Buster
Simpson, Bonnie Sherk, Beverly Naidus, and Susan Liebovitz Steinman in 2012. Ulrike Arnold, Dominique Mazeaud, Chrissie Orr and Minoosh Zomorodinia in 2011. Jackie Brookner and Christy Rupp in 2010; Mark Brest van Kempen, Judith Selby Lang, and Philip Krohn in 2009. Mary Miss in 2008.
PANELS l LECTURES l WORKSHOPS l TEACHING
2019
Art & Ecology: The Evolution of Women Artists Addressing Environmental Issues. Midwest Women Artists Symposium, Bradley University. Peoria, Illinois. (lecture)
Foundation Management Webinar Series: Navigation, Environment, and Advancement. Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC). (participant)
Art/Act: Local - Sea Change, annual juried exhibition, David Brower Center, Berkeley, California. (juror)
Indigenous Planetary Ways of Knowing. Workshop intensive with artists, designers and interdisciplinary researchers. Center for Arts, Design and Social Research. Merida, Mexico. (participant)
2018
Cha North, ChaShaMa Space for Artists, Summer Residency Program. Pine Plains, New York. (studio critiques)
Some Kind of Nature. Glasgow Sculpture Studios. Scotland. (talk)
2017
ART 333 - Debris Fields: Aesthetic Solutions to Industrial By-products, St. Mary's College of Maryland, May 2017. (taught summer session)
Hybrid Fields. Baltimore Urban Farming, Sustainability and Social Practice concentration, Maryland Institute of Contemporary Art. (class talk)
Some Kind of Nature: Art & Ecology. St. Mary's College of Maryland. (keynote)
Art & Agriculture: The Art of Food. St. Mary's College of Maryland. (workshop)
2016
Some Kind of Nature. Art of Sustainability Symposium. Eastern Florida State College, Palm Bay Campus. (keynote)
2015
Artists addressing Environmental Issues. Missouri State University. Springfield, Missouri. (speaker)
2014
Curating From the Outside. The Association of Art Museum Curators. Webinar including Christopher Bedford, Valerie Ann Leeds, Judith W. Mann. (moderator)
Art & Ecology. Drury University, Summer Institute for Visual Arts. Springfield, Missouri. (speaker)
2013
Getting
Off the Planet. Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. La Jolla, CA. (keynote speaker)
2012
Getting
Off the Planet. International Society of Electronic Arts l ISEA 2012.
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
(moderator and keynote speaker)
South Rim Artists-in-Residence 2012-2013. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. (juror)
4th State of Water Symposium. UCLA California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA. Los Angeles, CA (keynote)
Ecological Public Art: Making a Difference. With Buster Simpson. The University of Puget Sound. Tacoma, Washington. (speaker)
Delta Waters. San Joaquin Delta College, California. Panel discussion with artist Cynthia Hooper, biologist Paul Ustach, CA Save Our Streams Council Lloyd Carter, and Restore the Delta Director Barbara Barrigan-Parila. (moderator)
2011
Oil Spill: Information Gulf. Half Life series panel discussion with Riki Ott, Aviva Rahmani and Debbie Fleming Caffery at the Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico with respondents Ama Rogen and Douglas Meffert telecast from New Orleans. (moderator)
2010
MAKE:CRAFT. Annual Faculty Convocation. Otis College of Art and Design. Los Angeles, CA. (speaker)
Public Art Ecology. Art Boom Festival. Krakow, Poland. (symposium speaker)
Fragmented Landscapes. LandEscape Symposium. Nicolaysen Art Museum & Discovery Center. Casper, Wyoming. (panelist)
Sacred Elements: Creating Sustainable Earth Communities. Epiphany West 2010 conference. Co-sponsored by Church Divinity School of the Pacific and Center for the Arts, Religion and Education. Berkeley, CA. (speaker)
2009
Hybrid Fields: Food and Art. Community Design Program. Southern California Institute of Architecture. (lecture)
Art & Ecology in the Santa Monica Mountains. Culture in the Canyon: Chautauqua Series. Temescal Gateway Park. Mountains Conservancy of the Santa Monica Mountains. (keynote)
Art & Ecology. Civic Engagement Project (CEP). Modesto Junior College, CA. (keynote)
Art & Ecology: An International Perspective. Land Art: Art Nature Community. University of New Mexico. (keynote and critiques)
Public Art & Ecology. School of Art and Design, San Jose State University, CA. Tuesday Night Lecture Series. (keynote)
South Rim Artist-in-Residence 2009-2010. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.
All media addressing ecological interpretive themes. (juror)
Land Ethics: Post Land Art. College Art Association, annual conference. Los Angeles, CA. (panelist) Land-based Art Practice. Cypress College. Cypress, CA. (lecture)
2008
Debris Fields Artistic Solutions to Industrial By-Products. Tropic of Cancer Art as Environment Project Symposium. Chiayi County, Taiwan. (speaker)
Ecoart: A National Perspective. Idaho Green Expo. Boise. City of Boise, ID. (speaker)
Ecotech: Art in Context. New York Institute of Technology. NYC. (lecture)
Art and Climate Change. Human/Nature: Art and the Environment Series. Exit Art, NYC. Included artist Eve Mosher and climate scientist David van Luven with The Nature Conservancy. (moderator)
2007
University Lectures. United Kingdom.
Comprehending Nature. University College Falmouth. (RANE)
Ecoart practice. Oxford Brookes University. (Social Sculpture Unit)
Ecoart practice. Manchester Metropolitan University. (M.A. Art and Ecology)
FEAST: Interdisciplinary conference on food in art/text. University of Wales, Bangor.
Taste Matters (Outside the Café): Cultural Food Programming in Museums.
Western Museums Association. Oakland, CA. (speaker)
Green Frontier of Public Art. Americans for the Arts. Public Art Network.
Las Vegas, NV. (speaker/moderator)
Visiting Curator, California College of Art. A Social Practice MFA studio course, Spring session
2006
Detourned Menu: Food in the form of Activism. TheLAB. San Francisco, CA. (speaker)
Eco-art Activists: Making the Invisible Visible & Moving Beyond the Frame.
Bioneers. San Rafael, CA. October 2006. (moderator)
Ecoart. Nanhua University. Chiayi,Taiwan. (lecture)
2005
Art and Nature. Visiting Artist Lecture Series. Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA.Art and Nature. (speaker)
Visiting Artist Lecture Series. Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA. (speaker)
Art and the Environment. Laguna Art Museum, CA. (panel speaker)
ecoart: art in nature. Foundation guest lecture. Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA.
2003
Envisioning the Future: Art, Science, and Technology. Cal Poly Pomona, CA. (panel speaker)
2002
Earth Alchemy. Juried exhibition, Arroyo Arts Collective. Highland Park, CA. (juror)
2001
Cross-Pollination: Art, Culture, and Community. Los Angeles Arboretum, CA. (speaker)
Post Landscape: Art and Ecology. Pomona College Museum of Art, CA. (moderator)
Art, Culture, Nature. Grassroots: Art in the Environment. Flagstaff, AZ. (speaker)
Artist as Visionary: Artist as Environmentalist. Taking Nature Seriously Conference. University of Oregon. (speaker)
California Water and Waterways. Positive Activism: A New Approach to Saving
Our Water. University of California, Irvine, CA. (moderator)
PUBLICATIONS/ESSAYS
Lessons to be Unlearned, The 60th Venice Biennale is less art world and more real world. Artillery magazine online. July 2024.
Chapter 14: Ecological art in cities: exploring the potential for art to promote and advance nature-based solutions. Co-authored with Christopher Kennedy and Ellie Irons. Nature-Based Solutions for Cities. Timon McPhearson, Nadja Kabisch, Niki Frantzeskaki, eds. (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023): 316–339.
Shirley Crow: Life's Mysteries. Essay for monograph (Santa Fe: Watts Art Publications, 2021): 8-18.
Embodied Forest. Embodied Forest (Santa Fe: ecoartspace, 2021): 10-11.
Richard Faralla: Moment to Moment. Essay for monograph (Santa Fe: Watts Art Publications. 2021): 4-39.
Ciel Bergman: Healing Self and Nature through Beauty. Essay for monograph (Santa Fe: Watts Art Publications. 2021): 4-37.
Hózhó: Living in Balance with Nature, ecoconsciousness (Santa Fe: ecoartspace, 2020): 6-7.
Cathy Akers. Artillery magazine online. March 2019.
Joan Jonas: Moving Off the Land. Artillery magazine online. January 2019.
Talking Trees with Sant Khalsa. Sant Khalsa - Prana: Life with Trees, Andi Campognone, ed. (Santa Monica: Griffith Moon Press, 2019): 58-69.
Richard Bowman: Radiant Abstractions. Essay for monograph. (Watts Art Publications, 2018): 4-22.
Don't worry, it's only mud: Patricia Watts and Amy Lipton in conversation with Mel Chin. Field
to Palette: The Soil Art Dialogues. Alexandra Toland, Jay Stratton
Noller, Gerd Wessolek, eds. (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2019): 329-338.
Bermudez Projects: Cody Norris. Gallery Rounds, Artillery magazine online. October 2017.
Cloud House, Springfield, Missouri. Americans for the Arts, Public Art Network 2017 Year in Review blog salon. August 2017.
Waterbottle As Contemporary Artifact: Jami Porter Lara at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Artillery magazine. May/June 2017.
The Water Bar is Open: Pouring H20 in the Service of Enlightenment. Artillery magazine. March/April 2017.
Arthur Holman: Luminous Energy. Essay for monograph (Watts Art Publications, 2017): 4-10.
Mel Chin: Xeriscape LA, The Future of Water. Artillery magazine. January/February 2017.
Rising from the Ocean: ECOlogic LA. Santa Monica: Powering Places in Southern California, Land Art Generator Initiative. Robert Ferry, Elizabeth Monoian, eds. (New York/London: Prestel Publishing Ltd., 2016): 38-43.
Marge Rector: Fifty Years of Non-Objective Abstraction. Essay for monograph (Watts Art Publications, 2016): 3-8.
Harry Cohen: Painting from the Outside In. Essay for monograph (Watts Art Publications, 2016): 3-12.
Ego/Eco LOGICAL. ego/eco: environmental art for collective consciousness, Nicholas and Lee Begovitch Gallery, California State University Fullerton. Emily Tyler, Allison Town, eds. (Berkeley: Ginko Press, 2015): 8-11.
Corita Kent (1918-1986). Appreciation for artist in art ltd magazine. September/October 2015. Pages 50-51.
SOS ACTION Guide. Developed in collaboration with artist Tattfoo Tan to encourage communities to develop mobile and urban gardens to address food security. ecoartspace 2014.
HighWaterLine ACTION Guide. Developed in collaboration with artist Eve Mosher to encourage communities to visualize the ten feet above sea level line. ecoartspace 2014.
Deep Arts. Catalogue essay for Inner Worlds exhibition at Marin Community Foundation, Novato, California. Watts Art Publications, 2014.
Ruth Asawa (1926-2013). Appreciation for artist in art ltd magazine. March 2014. Pages 34-35.
Report: Cross-Country. Review of Doug Aitken's Station to Station project for art ltd magazine. November 2013. Pages 50-51.
Getting Off the Planet. Machine Wilderness, International Symposium on Electronic Art, ISEA. (Santa Fe: Radius Books, 2012): 110-111.
Public Art Ecology: From Restoration to Intervention. Critical essay on pioneering art and nature practitioners for book entitled The New Earthwork: Art, Action, Agency edited by Twylene Moyer and Glenn Harper. Published by International Sculpture Center Press (distributed by University of Washington Press), 2012.
Performative Public Art Ecology. Essay for Women Environmental Artist Directory online magazine. Issue #4, No Time for Complacency. Fall 2012.
Istanbul Biennial: The Biennial as Curatorium. Review for Artnet online. October 2011.
Grzegorz Drozd: Animating the Marginalized in Public Space. Essay for online magazine OBIEG. Warsaw, Poland. November 2010.
Public Art Ecology: Forty years of artists performing with nature in North America. Catalogue essay for Art Boom Festival 2010. Krakow, Poland.
Ecological Restoration: The Art of our Time. Exhibition catalogue essay for Remediate/Re-Vision, Wave Hill, Bronx, New York. October 2010. pp. 31-33.
An International Perspective on Art and Nature. Exhibition catalogue essay for Going Green: New Environmental Art from Taiwan. Curated by Jane Ingram Allen. July 2010.
Mark Brest van Kempen: A Sustainable Public Art. Center for Sustainable Practices in the Arts Quarterly Newsletter. September 2009.
Art As Environment: A Cultural Action on Tropic of Cancer. Response paper from symposium in Taiwan, 2008.
Nothingness: Anne-Katrin Spiess. Artist catalogue. 2007-2010.
“Ecoartists Open Eyes and Hearts to Nature.” Permaculture Activist: The Art of Permaculture. Winter 2006-2007. No. 62. pp. 16-20.
WaterWorks, exhibition brochure essay. Contemporary Quarterly Journal. 2006.
Hybrid Fields, exhibition brochure essay. Sonoma County Museum. 2006.
NextNature, exhibition brochure essay. Sonoma County Museum. 2005.
"Ecoartists: Engaging Communities in a New Metaphor." APInews. January 2005.
"Art and Environmental Education in Schools." Watershed special issue on
"Visions of Education with Art, Culture, Nature Interface.” Autumn 2004. pp. 8–9
Watershed News, Topanga Creek Watershed semiannual newsletter. Editor and writer. 2002–2004.
Bug-Eyed: Art, Culture, Insects. Exhibition catalogue with essay by Patricia Watts. Turtle Bay Exploration Park. 2004 (60 pages).
“Watershed Exploration,” K–6 Topanga Creek Curriculum Guide. Powerpoint/flashcards of Topanga Chaparral ecology. 2004-5.
Ecoart: Ecological Art. Ecological Aesthetics: Art in Environmental Design: Theory and Practice. Heike Srelow, ed. (Basel: Birkhäuser, 2004): 90–95.
“Imagining the River: A Report from the Hudson,” exhibition review for greenmuseum.org. October 2003.
“Art and the Environment.” Arroyo Arts Collective: Creativity, Innovation, and Culture in the Northeast Highlands. Vol. 13, no. 2, March/April 2002. pp. 1–2.“By Nature's Design.”
William D. Cannon Art Gallery, Carlsbad, California. 3rd-/4th-grade art and science "systems-thinking" curriculum. April 2001.
Eco-Art Magazine. Editor-in-Chief. June 1999–2000 (online).
BIBILOGRAPHY/REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS
Stephanie Hanes, Pavithra Rajesh, "Tackling Climate Change is art, not just science," The Christian Science Monitor, January 13, 2022.
Constance Mallison, "Reconnoiter: Interview with Patricia Watts," Artillery magazine, Climate issue, Vol. 16, Issue 1 (September/October 2021): 78.
“Projects We Love: Cloud House by Matthew Mazzotta,” Public Art Review, Vol. 20, Issue 57 (January 2018): 18-19.
Natashah Hitti, “Denzeen’s top 10 installations of 2017: Cloud House,” Dezeen, December 2017.
Dan Howarth, “Matthew Mazzotta’s Cloud House Receives A Rain Shower When Occupied,” Dezeen, March 2017.
Matt Hickman, “Missourians Are Making It Rain (Literally) at Cloud House,” Mother Nature Network, March 2017.
Leora Lutz, “Millennial Abstractions at the Offices of the Marin Community Foundation,” SFAQ, May 3, 2013.
G. Roger Denson, “Nomads Occupy the Global Village: Left Political Art Timeline, 2001-2012,” HUFFPOST, May 2, 2012.
Mattias Merkel Hess, ”The Ebb and Flow of Ecology and Art,” Mammut magazine, Winter Issue #5, 2012.
Aimee LeDuc, ”EcoArchive: Mediations on Time and Nature,” Art Practical, 2.7 Review, December 8, 2010.
"Life in Balance: Ruth Asawa and Art's Natural Force," Gretchen Giles. North Bay Bohemian. Santa Rosa, CA, January 23, 2008.
ecoartspace blog. September 2008 - 2019.
Anthony Torres, “Obsession: Art and Artifacts from Sonoma County Private Collections,” White Hot Magazine, November 2007.
Johanna Kolodny, “Hybrid Fields,” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, (Spring 2007): 4–5.
Barbara Morris, “Hybrid Fields at the Sonoma County Museum,” Artweek (February 2007): pp. 12–13.
Miriam Owen, “Artworks in 'Hybrid Fields' Offer Food For Thought,” San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA, October 21, 2006. F6.
Gretchen Giles, “Dystopia Now: Hybrid Fields Anything But Bucolic,” North Bay Bohemian, Santa Rosa, CA, September 13-19, 2006.
Justin Clark, “Art Farms,” Plenty magazine (Oct/Nov 2006): 70-79.
Chloe Veltman, "Bug-Eyed," Discover magazine (March 2005).
Collette Chattopadhyay, “Escondido Phoenix,” Sculpture magazine (October 1999): 68–69.
MEMBERSHIPS
Appraisers Association of America (AAA)
Americans for the Arts (AFTA)
Association of Museum Curators (AAMC)
College Art Association (CAA)
Public Art Dialogue (PAD)
CONFERENCES
AFTA Public Art Network. Nashville 2014. San Diego 2011. Seattle 2009.
Philadelphia 2008. Las Vegas 2007. Austin, Texas 2005.
AMC SIGGRAPH. Los Angeles 2010.1995.
American Association of Museums. Los Angeles 1998. Minneapolis 1996.
Philadelphia 1995. Seattle 1994. Fort Worth 1993. Baltimore 1992.
Appraisers Association of America. New York City 2017.
Arts Advocacy Day, National Arts Action Summit. D.C. 2013.
Art, Culture, Nature. Flagstaff, Arizona 2001.
Association of Art Museum Curators. Montreal 2018. Detroit 2014. Los Angeles 2008.
Association of Science and Technology Centers. Pittsburgh 1996.
Bioneers. San Rafael, California 2008. 2007. 2006. 2005. 2000.
California Association of Museums. Long Beach 2007.
College Art Association. Los Angeles 2018.2009.1999. Atlanta 2005. New York 2015.2000.
Interactive Media Festival. Los Angeles 1995.1994.
International Society for Electronic Arts. Albuquerque, NM 2012. Istanbul, Turkey 2011.
Neo Native: Toward New Mythologies. UC Riverside, California 2017.
Portland Creative Conference. Portland, Oregon 1996.
SER l Society of Ecological Restoration. San Francisco, California 1999.
Western Museums Association. Oakland, California 2007.
ART FAIRS (2012-18)
New York: The Armory Show, Park Armory, Volta, Spring Break, Frieze, Independent, Art on Paper
San Francisco: Art Market SF, UNTITLED, FOG Design+Art
Los Angeles: Art Los Angeles Contemporary
RESIDENCIES
Guapamacátaro Art & Ecology, Michoacán, Mexico January 2021
Marble House Project, Dorset, Vermont, June 2018
Cill Rialaig Project, Ballinskelligs, Ireland, April 2018
Richard Bowman Estate, Emerald Hills, March/May 2018
Holliday Way, Joshua Tree, CA, Oct/Nov 2017
St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, Maryland, Feb/March 2017
Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM, December 2012
Montalvo, Saratoga, CA, September 2012
EDUCATION
NYU School of Professional Studies. Certificate in Art Appraisal. 2015-2016
M.A., Exhibition Design/Museum Studies, California State University, Fullerton.
B.A., Business Administration, Stephens College Columbia, Missouri.
California Real Estate License. Current/nonactive.
TECH SKILLS
PC/Mac proficient (Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Suite, iWork Suite, PastPerfect, Filemaker Pro, QuarkXpress)
Social Media proficient (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blogspot, Wordpress)
REFERENCES UPON REQUEST
