New artists in-residence: Lynne Allen

Embroidery, airbrush on used packing blanket. Text by the artist's great grandmother, Josephine Waggoner. Encroachment of white settlers and soldiers on Indian land.

Stencil, embroidery, beadwork on used packing blanket. Text by the artists great grandmother, Josephine Waggoner, speaking about the advancement of white settlements on Indian land.

Lynne Allen is a visual artist drawn to subjects that history has marginalized or erased: extinct animals, Native traditions, the homeless, prisoners, and the contested myths of the American West. Her work challenges dominant narratives and the power structures behind them.

Discarded objects are central to her practice. Bullet casings, flattened bottle caps, fish hooks, and worn blankets enter into dialogue with beadwork and embroidery, transforming found materials into sculptural wall hangings.
Through printmaking—etching, woodcut, and lithography—she develops a form of visual storytelling that gives voice to animals, the unloved, and victims of injustice.
Her engagement with Native American history is both political and personal. Descended from women of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota, this lineage informs her exploration of Indigenous histories, approached through a dual perspective that acknowledges both the conquered and the conquerors, and the power dynamics embedded within that history.

During her month-long residency at Lottozero —made possible through the support of the 2025 Guggenheim Fellows — she will experiment with textile materials and techniques, ranging from felting and knitting to digital embroidery.

Allen holds an MFA from the University of New Mexico and an MA for Teachers from the University of Washington. Currently, she is a Professor of Art at Boston University, where she has also served as Director of the School of Visual Arts and Dean of the College of Fine Arts. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the North Dakota Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, as well as in major international print biennials in China, Portugal, Russia, and Estonia.