Vaughn Bell

Not to be confused with Vonn Bell.

Vaughn Bell (born 1978, Syracuse, New York) is an environmental artist working with sculpture, installation, performance and video, who lives and works in Seattle, Washington. Vaughn received her MFA from the Studio for Inter-related Media at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, MA and her undergraduate degree from Brown University, where her work focused on "Nature and Culture: Human Perspectives on the Natural Environment".^[1]

Vaughn Bell
Vaughn Bell creating Village Green, 2013
Born	1978 Syracuse, New York
Nationality	American
Education	MFA, Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, MA BA, Brown University in Providence, RI
Known for	Sculpture, Installation, Performance, Video
Website	www.vaughnbell.net

Work

External videos
Vaughn Bell, “The experience of a piece is actually your viewpoint when you're inside it”, Science History Institute

Bell creates interactive projects and immersive environments which affect the ways in which we relate to our environment.^[2] She has exhibited her sculpture, installation, performance, video and public projects internationally. Her commissions include installations at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art,^[3] the Edith Russ Site for New Media Art in Oldenburg, Germany,^[4][5] the Owens Walter E. Terhune Art Gallery in Ohio,^[6] and the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education [Wikidata]^[7] and Chemical Heritage Foundation^[8][2] in Philadelphia, PA. Her work has been featured in Artnews, Afterimage, and Arcade Journal, among others.^[5]

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.^[2][3][4] Vaughn Bell has also explored the boundaries between plants and people by making plants a part of wearable clothing, and treating them like pets.^[9]

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.^[10]

Selected Public Art

Image	Title	Date(s)	Location
	Plantscapes	2021	Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, London, UK
	Ship Canal Water Quality Project	2018-2024	Seattle, WA; Seattle Public Utilities; Seattle Office of Arts and Culture
	Rain Gardens - Public Art	2019-ongoing	Seattle, WA and surrounding King County; King County Water and Land Resources Division; 4Culture
	All the Rivers in the World	2019	University of Washington, Tacoma, WA
	Path of Water / Percorso d'acqua	2017	Hermitage of San Bartolomeo, Legio, Abruzzo, Italy
	Public Art Master Plan for Drainage and Wastewater	2016-2017	Seattle, WA; Seattle Public Utilities; Seattle Office of Arts and Culture
	Mossuments	2013	Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA
	Metropolis	2012	Seattle Center, Seattle, WA; Seattle Center Foundation
	Again, Life Becomes a River	2007	Kamiyama, Japan

Selected Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

Image	Title	Date(s)	Location
	Local Homes	2018	Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago, IL
	This Land is Your Land	2017	Alcott Gallery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
	Transported Landscapes	2011	Walter E. Terhune Gallery, Owens College, Toledo, Ohio
	Thinking Caps	2010	Jack Straw New Media Gallery, Seattle, WA
	Village Green / Badlands	2008	Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA
	Becoming a River	2007	Kamiyama, Japan

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