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During the mid-1970s, Watkins’ work developed into a series of grid paintings that employed a rosette motif from the tomb of the Egyptian goddess Nut. Both the presence of an ornamental pattern and the use of sanding techniques would become recurring features of the artist’s work. A series of shaped canvases in the mid-1970s was followed by the large paintings reflecting her immersion Italian culture that Watkins produced through the 1980s. In the late 1990s, she began her ongoing involvement in work employing color comics and stenciled floral forms. Watkins, who for twenty years taught art at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., has exhibited her work extensively, including solo exhibitions at Duke University, the Susquehanna Art Museum and the Franz Bader Gallery in Washington, D.C. Watkins’ group shows include “Linked to Landscape,” which traveled from the Corcoran Museum of Art to the Trenton City Museum of Art and the DeLand Museum. Her work is in many private and corporate collections, including those of Sallie Mae (Student Loan Mortgage Association), the Hyatt and Hilton corporations, the National Institutes of Health and the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. In 1996, her work was acquired by the prestigious Watkins Collection at American University. |