Vaughn Bell

{{Infobox artist

| name = Vaughn Bell

| image = Vaughn Bell 2013 Sensing Change.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Vaughn Bell creating Village Green, 2013

| birth_name =

| 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

| movement =

| notable_works =

| patrons =

| awards =

| website = {{URL|http://www.vaughnbell.net/}}

}}

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".{{cite web|last=Bell|first=Vaughn|title=Resume: Vaughn Elizabeth Bell|url=http://www.vaughnbell.net/vbresume.pdf|accessdate=9 January 2014}}

Work

{{external media | width = 225px | float = right | headerimage=210px | video1 = [https://www.sciencehistory.org/village-green 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.{{cite web|title=Village Green|date=August 2016 |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/village-green|publisher=Science History Institute|accessdate=26 March 2018}} She has exhibited her sculpture, installation, performance, video and public projects internationally. Her commissions include installations at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art,{{cite web|title=Badlands: New Horizons in Landscape|url=http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=369|publisher=MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art)|date=2008-05-24|accessdate=2014-01-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616140233/http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=369|archive-date=2008-06-16|url-status=dead}} the Edith Russ Site for New Media Art in Oldenburg, Germany,{{cite web|last=Bell|first=Vaughn|title=One Big House|url=http://www.vaughnbell.net/onebighouse/index.html|accessdate=8 January 2014}}{{cite web|title=About Vaughn Bell|url=http://blog.artsusa.org/?author=267%22|publisher=ARTSblog|accessdate=9 January 2014}} the Owens Walter E. Terhune Art Gallery in Ohio,{{cite web|title=Owens Walter E. Terhune Art Gallery Presents "Vaughn Bell: Transported Landscapes" Exhibit, Feb. 18 – March 29|url=https://www2.owens.edu/news-releases/?p=1854|publisher=Owens Community College|date=2011-02-10|accessdate=2014-01-08}} and the {{ill|Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education|qid=Q113174705}}{{cite web|title=Welcome Home|url=http://www.schuylkillcenter.org/art/?ha_exhibit=welcome-home|publisher=Schuylkill Center|accessdate=8 January 2014}} and Chemical Heritage Foundation{{cite web|last=Thomas-Anderson|first=Monet|title=Sensing Change at the Chemical Heritage Foundation|url=http://campusphilly.org/2013/07/01/sensing-change-at-the-chemical-heritage-foundation/|publisher=Campus Philly|date=2013-07-01|accessdate=8 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130804044427/http://campusphilly.org/2013/07/01/sensing-change-at-the-chemical-heritage-foundation/|archive-date=4 August 2013|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} 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.{{cite web|title=Vaughn Bell|url=http://www.greenmuseum.org/artist_index.php?artist_id=166|publisher=greenmuseum.org|date=2010|accessdate=9 January 2014}}

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.{{cite web|last=Bell|first=Vaughn|title=Embedded in Transportation|url=http://blog.artsusa.org/2011/04/12/embedded-in-transportation/|publisher=ARTSblog|date=2011-04-12|accessdate=2014-01-08}}

Selected Public Art

Image	Title	Date(s)	Location
class="wikitable"
thumb	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
thumb	All the Rivers in the World	2019	University of Washington, Tacoma, WA
thumb	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
thumb	Mossuments	2013	Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA
thumb	Metropolis	2012	Seattle Center, Seattle, WA; Seattle Center Foundation
thumb	Again, Life Becomes a River	2007	Kamiyama, Japan