Bell creates interactive projects and immersive environments which affect the ways in which we relate to our environment.[2] She has exhibited her sculpture, installation, performance, video and public projects internationally. Her commissions include installations at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art,[3] the Edith Russ Site for New Media Art in Oldenburg, Germany,[4][5] the Owens Walter E. Terhune Art Gallery in Ohio,[6] and the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education [Wikidata][7] and Chemical Heritage Foundation[8][2] in Philadelphia, PA. Her work has been featured in Artnews, Afterimage, and Arcade Journal, among others.[5]
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.[2][3][4] Vaughn Bell has also explored the boundaries between plants and people by making plants a part of wearable clothing, and treating them like pets.[9]
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.[10]
