The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 9, 2026

A horizontally oriented soft-ground etching and aquatint features stacked bands of red, orange, maroon, and purple centered on a cream sheet. These saturated horizontal layers exhibit a woven, fabric-like texture with ragged edges. A short vertical red stroke punctuates the maroon band on our right. Below the main composition's pinkish plate mark, the title Daybook and pencil signatures are inscribed along the lower margin.

Daybook

2022

Marie Watt

(American, enrolled Seneca Nation, b. 1967)
America
Color soft-ground etching and aquatint
Sheet: 40 x 78 cm (15 3/4 x 30 11/16 in.)
Gift of Linda and Jack Lissauer, M.D. 2025.203
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Marie Watt has described the theme of this print saying that “In my family and in my tribe . . . blankets are markers for memory and story.”

Description

Marie Watt explores the significance of blankets, viewing them as symbolic of social, historical, and cultural connections among Native Americans. To evoke woven cloth, she pressed two different fabrics into a wax-covered copper printing plate, a process that captured their texture and even loose strings. The forms were etched into the plate’s surface using acid before it was inked, wiped, and run through a press with paper. Watt chose warm tones to suggest the light and color of a sunrise—an experience that, like weaving blankets, she sees as a communal one.
  • 2022
    (Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH, sold to Dr. Jack and Linda Lissauer)
    2022–25
    Dr. Jack and Linda Lissauer, Shaker Heights, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2026–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 1-June 7, 2026).
  • {{cite web|title=Daybook|url=false|author=Marie Watt|year=2022|access-date=09 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.203