Seattle, WA
Molly Jae Vaughan (she/her) holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts (NY) and an MFA from the University of South Florida (FL). Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions, including Site of Struggle at The Block Museum of Fine Art, MOTHA and Chris E. Vargas Present: Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, and We the People at the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Her recent solo exhibition, Molly Vaughan: Project 42 at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, was the first showing of 21 of the 42 garments Vaughan is creating in memorialization of murdered trans women and gender non-conforming individuals.
Vaughan received the Betty Bowen Award in 2017, and has received grants from Art Matters Foundation, Visual Artists Network, the Pollination Project, and the Hillsborough Arts Council. Her work has been featured in The Advocate, Surface Design Journal, City Arts Magazine, Tampa Bay Times, and New American Paintings. In 2018, Vaughan presented a talk at TEDxSeattle about how she uses her work to memorialize transgender murder victims.
Upcoming exhibitions and projects include Queer Threads at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, Safety in Numbers at MadArt, Boren Banner Project for Frye Art Museum, and State of Fashion 2022 | Ways of Caring, an international Biennial in Arnheim, Netherlands. Vaughan’s work is included in the collections of Seattle Art Museum, Henry Art Gallery, and Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. Vaughan is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Bellevue College in Bellevue, Washington.
