Vaughn Bell should not be confused with Vonn Bell.
| Vaughn Bell | |
| Birth Date: | 1978 |
| Birth Place: | Syracuse, New York |
| Nationality: | American |
| Known For: | Sculpture, Installation, Performance, Video |
| Training: | MFA, Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, MA BA, Brown University in Providence, RI |
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]
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 [7] and Chemical Heritage Foundation[8] 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.[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]
| 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 |
| 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 |