Ella Watson

Ella Watson (b. 1983 Bethesda, MD) is an American artist, currently living in Bozeman, Montana. At the age of nine, Ella was orphaned after the death of her parents. She was raised in Blacksburg, Virginia, the ward of her older brother, Bruce, and with the guidance of her older sisters, Jen and Susan. After a fairly normal upbringing despite all things, Ella received two BFA’s from Virginia Commonwealth University in Painting & Printmaking and Sculpture & Extended Media.

At the age of 26, Ella became sick due to a disease she was born with, Biliary Atresia. Ella moved to NYC to live with her family and received treatment at New York Presbyterian Hospital. In June 2009, Ella received a live-donor liver transplant in which her sister Jen gave her half of her liver. Ella is the author of Liverwurst: Work made at the onset of end-stage liver failure until live-donor organ transplant, an anthology of images and writings that she created while waiting for an organ. After the transplant, Ella worked as an artist, fabricator, and installer in NYC.

In 2011, Ella married her husband and after the birth of their child in 2012, moved to Montana. From 2015 – 2020, Ella served as the Gallery Director for the School of Art at Mon...

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA:
2001-2006
Painting and Printmaking and Sculpture Departments Bachelor of Fine Arts
• Major: Painting and Printmaking Summa Cum Laude
• Major: Sculpture and Extended Media Summa Cum Laude
• Awarded eleven scholarships and grants during undergraduate studies

Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA --- 2007-2008 Department of Art and Art History
Non-degree seeking Graduate Student and Teaching Assistant

Selected Exhibitions

2020 Rapscallion Gallery, Bozeman, MT. “Entropy.” Featured artist.

2020 Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT. “Yellowstone Art Auction 52.” Group show.

2020. Montana Racial Equity Project. Collaborative piece, Built Upon Their Backs, to be placed on permanent display at the office.

2019 Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT. “Yellowstone Art Auction 51.” Group show.

2019 Stettie Ruth, Bozeman, MT. Group Show.

2019 Helen E. Copeland Gallery, MSU Bozeman, MT. “Bad Apples.” Group Show.

2019 Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT. “Across the Divide.” Group show.

2017 Shanghai Striking Information & Technology Company (188Art Warehouse),Minhang District, Shanghai, China. “East Meets West.” group show.

2017 E3 Convergence Gallery, Missoula, MT. “Eons, Epics, and Epochs.” solo exhibition.

2017 Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, MT. “Peneplaining.” solo exhibition.

2017 SLAM Space, Bozeman MT. “Ella Watson” solo exhibition.

2016 Cheever Gallery, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. “What Remains.” solo exhibition.

2016 Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT, “Feeling Color: Ella Watson.” solo exhibition.
:workshops at local hospital, St. Peter...