Bio
I am a multidisciplinary artist and art historian from New York City based in rural New Hampshire. My yoga practice, scholarship on African Diaspora artists, and feminist activism have informed my fiber artwork, prints, paintings, and performances. Recent figurative cyanotypes on cloth express relationships to growth and transformation in nature.
My work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in England, Germany, Scotland, Japan, and throughout the United States. I had a solo exhibition at the African American Museum in Dallas, TX in 2006. My work been collected by former Swedish ambassador, Pierre Schori; former World Heart Association, President Valentine Fuster; musician and daughter of Diana Ross, Rhonda Ross among others. In 2019, my Ophelia Rising exhibition took place at both campuses of New England College in New Hampshire. I was among the first artists-in-residence at Elsewhere Residency in Greensboro, NC who reopened the museum after the pandemic. My project engaged with Greensboro’s Civil Rights history and the museum’s material culture. In 2022, my cyanotype photography was featured at Burning Man festival in Nevada. In 2023, my Here and Now Mandala public art project was supported by a grant from the Friends of Public Art in New Hampshire.
Curriculum Vitae
Select Exhibitions, Projects, Commissions and Grants
2023 My “Mandala Now” project series will be supported by a grant from the Friends of Public Art (New Hampshire)
2022 Burning Man, the Museum of No Spectators, Black Rock City, Nevada
Out of the Whirlwind: Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Reflections and Forecasts on Global Warming and Climate Change, Fine Arts Center Gallery at Montgomery CountyCommunity College, PA
2021 Elsewhere Residency, Elsewhere Museum, Greensboro, NC: my artist residency project entitled Nesting and Spreading, consisted of 3 site-specific installations for the museum’s collection. I also engaged in community programs and a public “Happening,”and helped to reopen the museum that had been under pandemic lockdown.
Working with the Flow of Nature, Jill C. Wilson Gallery, Kimball Jenkins School of Art,Concord, NH
UnAmerican (July) and Printmaking on the Edge (March), The Art Center Dover, NH
2020 New Hampshire State Council for the Arts Artist Entrepreneurial Grant made possible by the State Governor, Executive Councilor, and members of the New Hampshire Legislature
XPOSED - Naked & Not Afraid Exhibition, Knox Contemporary Gallery of Art - Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Eye Mandala, The Vault Gallery, Institute of Art and Design at New England College, Manchester, New Hampshire
A Local Inspiration, Lyceum Gallery, The Derryfield School, Manchester, NH
MAP Vol. 9, Jupiter Hall, Manchester, NH
2019 Sophie Sanders: Ophelia Rising and Sight/Insight, New England College, NH, two solo exhibitions, October – December 2019 at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College in Manchester, NH and Henniker campus of NEC, NH
Ink It: Contemporary Print Practice, Blackrock Center for the Arts, Maryland
Recycled/Repurposed/Repair the World: Art as Tikkun Olam, Temple Judea Museum, Elkins Park, PA
2018 Fleisher Art Memorial Wind Challenge, Philadelphia, PA
The Woodmere Annual: 77th Juried Exhibition: Land, Transience of The Body, and Skill of the Maker, curated by Syd Carpenter, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2017 Politics Unusual, curated by Raphael Tiberino, Rush Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Message to Our Daughters, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
2016 The Woodmere Annual: 75th Juried Exhibition: The Condition of Place, curated by Odili Donald Odita, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA (June 4 – August 28, 2016)
Viral: 25 Years From Rodney King, traveling exhibition which included public programs and community events 2016-2018. SPARC’s Durón Gallery, Venice Beach, CA, Betti Ono Gallery, Oakland, CA
Singer-songwriter Rhonda Ross featured my portraits in her performance video “In Case You Didn’t Know,” which she debuted at her concert at Joe’s Pub, The Public Theater, New York City, 11/14/16,
2015 Fabric Workshop and Museum, Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit, Philadelphia (Dec. 17, 2015-Mar. 2016)
2014 Temple Judea Museum, “Step Into My Studio” Said the Artist to the Prophet, Elkins Park, PA (Sept. 2014-Jan. 2015)
Limner Gallery, A Show of Heads, Hudson, NY
2013 Kunstenlab, Laboratoriumplein 1, In Kritieke staat, The Netherlands, www.kunstenlab.nl
Select University Teaching Experience
2021 Visiting Assistant Professor, Institute of Art and Design, New England College, NH, “Art and Identity”, “Contemporary Art”, review panelist for MFA program, “Printmaking on Textiles,” “The Global History of Textiles", “Modern Art”
2018-2021 Adjunct Instructor, Arcadia University, “Vision and Selfhood: African American Art History”
2019 Visiting Assistant Professor, Swarthmore College, PA, “Facing Race and Identity in American Art”
Adjunct Instructor, St. Joseph’s University, “Contemporary Art”
2013-2019 Adjunct Instructor, Tyler School of Art, Temple University. “Race, Identity, and Experience in American Art,” “Black Atlantic Art History,” “History of Printmaking, “History of Photography,” “Early Renaissance Art History,” and “Art Heritage” (a survey of Western art).
Publications
2022 “Constellation of a New American Canon: Sonya Clark Here and Abroad,” Nka, Journal of Contemporary African Art, Duke University Press
2019 “John Biggers’ Quilting Party: Will the Circle Be Unbroken?,” International Review of African American Art, Hampton University Press
“The After-Glow of Alexis Nutini’s Relief Printmaking,” catalog essay for exhibition Dos Tres Press: Color-Coded, Brandywine Printmaking Workshop and Archives, Philadelphia, June 21– October 5, 2019
2017 My letterpress print Colorful Boy featured in Tinker Street art journal, first publication, Hudson, NY
“Richard Hricko’s Homage to Decay and Recovery,” catalog essay for artist’s exhibition Growth and Survival, Art at Wharepuke, Kerikeri, New Zealand and exhibition at C.R. Ettinger Studio Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
“Tara Sabharwal: Embracing the Lightness of Being,” catalog essay for an exhibition at Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi, India
2015 “Scherezade Garcia,” catalog essay for solo exhibition at the Gallery of the College of Staten Island, NYC
2013 Dissertation: Spirited Pattern and Decoration in Contemporary Black Atlantic Art, Proquest
Primordial Ink: Alexis Nutini’s Synthesized Worlds, Napoleon Gallery exhibition catalog, Philadelphia
Education
2013 PhD in Art History, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia; Dissertation: Spirited Pattern and Decoration in Contemporary Black Atlantic Art
1997 MFA, Printmaking, The Slade School of Art, University College London, England (1997)
1993 BFA, Washington University in St. Louis, MO