Info
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Studio: 2120 E. Westmoreland Street Email: nicoledonnellyart@gmail.com |
BIO
Nicole Donnelly is a Philadelphia-based painter, printmaker, hand papermaker, installation artist, and shadow puppet enthusiast. She received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Iowa in 2009 and her BA in Visual Arts from Bennington College in 2002. Donnelly divides her time between the studio and her job as a curator, often finding time for regular collaborations with poet Hailey Higdon and choreographer Eleanor Goudie-Averill / Stone Depot Dance Lab. Her solo exhibition Mercury Retrograde was on view at the Abington Art Center in 2011, and she recently completed residencies at the Vermont Studio Center (2011) and the Women’s Studio Workshop (2010). She has exhibited her work throughout the United States, and in Canada, Mexico, and South Korea.
STATEMENT
In this most recent body of work, I have kept a conversation between media – working through painting, drawing, and hand papermaking. As the imagery plays between the abstract and the concrete, the substantial and the impermanent, I seek to transcend the expectations of perception. My desire to deconstruct is equally met by a desire to mend, often resulting in a holistic or cyclic process, a kind of conservation of material and visual vocabulary, which builds outwards. Each medium constructs a larger object/image, the potential source or model for yet another work.
I am concerned with the malleable relationship of the object and the image, of depth and surfaces, the creation of two-dimensional sculpture and three-dimensional drawings, paintings and prints. Handmade paper and its innate properties are central to this pursuit as I strive for the dissipating monument, the authorless mark. The resulting imagery is as much a response to the materials as to my ongoing concerns about the natural world, its ephemerality and its conservation. Phenomena of the natural world, the way light shapes what the eye sees and the subsequent knowledge that is drawn from these fascinates me. My greatest desire is for my artwork to stir in the viewer some of these same critical or poetic thoughts and questions, to become aware of the act of perceiving and valuation.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
| 2009 | MFA in Painting and Drawing, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA |
| 2008 | MA in Painting and Drawing, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA |
| 2002 | BA in Visual Arts and Japanese Language, Bennington College, Bennington, VT |
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
| 2011 | Mercury Retrograde, Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA Meridian Axis, Gallery at Kol Ami, Cheltenham, PA |
| 2010 | place : memory : here, Warehouse 414, Topeka, KS |
| 2009 | Stories of Waterfalls, MFA exhibition, Arts Iowa City, Iowa City, IA |
| New Paper Works, Byron Burford Gallery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA | |
| 2008 | To Make the Connection, Byron Burford Gallery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA |
| New Drawings, Eve Drewelowe Gallery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA | |
| 2007 | Where the Light Falls, Byron Burford Gallery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA |
| Unobstructed Views, Byron Burford Gallery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA |
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
| 2011 | Leaf and Bound, Burgess Hall Art Gallery, Eureka College, Eureka, IL |
| Nicole Donnelly and Joseph McGrath, O.U.R. Gallery and Studios, Philadelphia, PA | |
| Process + Product: National Invitational Book & Paper Arts, Cheltenham Art Center, Cheltenham, PA | |
| 2010 | Paper Road, Chi’ang Art Center, Wonju, South Korea |
| Duo Tone, dual exhibit with Cameron Blyth, Earth Bread & Brewery, Mount Airy, PA | |
| Passing Notes, HomeSkooled Gallery, Arts on South Street, Philadelphia, PA | |
| PULP: Fact, Fiction & Fantasy, Springfield Art Association, Springfield, IL | |
| Oblique Patience, SCENE Metrospace, East Lansing, MI | |
| After Christmas Slasher Sale & Fundraiser, Public Space ONE, Iowa City, IA | |
| 2009 | Paper Works!, juried by Winifred A. Lutz, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA |
| Asian Persuasion, Salt Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA | |
| Puppets, Stages, Parades & More, Session II of the ICSA Residency, shadow puppet performance of “Anna Pesa: The Story of My Great Grandmother,” Burford Gallery, Iowa City, IA | |
| The Great Art Scavenger Hunt, Session I of the ICSA Residency, collaborative sculpture installation with Caleb Engstrom, Iowa City, IA | |
| University of Iowa MFA Show, Studio Arts Galleries, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA | |
| Asa Nisi Masa, an expanding group show, Frontier Logic, Iowa City, IA | |
| 2008 | Recent Works, Graduate Painting Group Show, Studio Arts Gallery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA |
| Your Silver Lining, dual exhibit with printmaker Nicole Pietrantoni, Studio Arts Gallery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA | |
| Instructions 12, a group show about following the rules, Arts Iowa City, IA | |
| Memorial for Gelsy Verna, Portico Gallery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA | |
| Jakobsen Conference, Blank Honors Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA | |
| 2007 | AIDS Benefit Auction, Chait Gallery, Iowa City, IA |
| Art & War, juried group show, Art Gallery West, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA | |
| Obscenity on the Wall, juried group show, Eve Drewlowe Gallery, Iowa City, IA | |
| 2006 | Works on Paper, juried group exhibit, Art Gallery West, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA |
| First Annual Trenton Avenue Arts Festival, Philadelphia, PA | |
| A Show of Hands: 15th Annual Art Auction, benefiting MANNA (Metropolitan AIDS Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance), Moore Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA | |
| Brad Carney and Nicole Donnelly, dual exhibit, North on South, Philadelphia, PA | |
| Double Takes, group exhibit, Double Shots Cafe, Philadelphia, PA | |
| 2005 | Mural Artists Juried Exhibition, Mural Arts Program, Thomas Eakins House, Philadelphia, PA |
| A Square Foot, juried group exhibition, Afif Gallery, Philadelphia, PA | |
| 2004 | Mural Arts Program Big Picture Winter Art Exhibit, a group show of instructor artworks, Thomas Eakins House, Philadelphia, PA |
| 2003 | SWARM Tour, dual exhibit with photographer Alexandra DiezBarroso, Bfly Atelier, Vancouver, BC, Canada |
| Woman: In the Eye of the Artist, a juried group show for International Women’s Day, Bfly Atelier, Vancouver, BC, Canada |
OTHER PROJECTS
| COLLABORATION | |
| 2011 | Bodies of Text III, set design for Stone Depot Dance Lab, Clark Park, Philadelphia Fringe Festival |
| 2010-11 | goddamned placefulness, collaborative series of paintings and poems with poet Hailey Hidgon |
| 2009-10 | Penumbra, collaborative dance and shadow puppet performance with Stone Depot Dance Lab for RAW Material at Dance New Amsterdam, New York, NY; Spiel Uhr at the CEC Meetinghouse Theater, Philadelphia, PA; and Norristown Dance Festival, Norristown, PA |
| 2008 | Removed Landscapes, I-IV, set Design for Stone Depot Dance Lab, John Ryan Theatre, DUMBO Dance Festival, Brooklyn, NY |
| CURATION | |
| 2009 | Iowa City Summer Arts Residency, Curator and Organizer, Iowa City, IA |
| 2007 | Echoes and the Existential, Curator, Portico Gallery, Iowa City, IA |
| SHADOW PUPPETS | |
| 2010 | everythingMUSTgo!, a Capitalist Christmas Spectacular, Connie’s Ric-Rac, Philadelphia, PA |
| 2009 | Upward Each First Flower, children’s shadow puppet performance, Treehouse Yoga Studio, Iowa City, IA |
| The Dust Bowl Ballads, shadow puppet set, design and performances of Woody Guthrie’s album, Arts Iowa City, Iowa City, IA |
RESIDENCIES
| 2011 | Vermont Studio Center, Painting |
| 2010 | Women’s Studio Workshop, Hand Papermaking |
| 2009 | Iowa City Summer Arts Residency, Sessions I & II |
AWARDS
| 2011 | Vermont Studio Center Grant |
| 2010 | Art in Education Fellowship, Women’s Studio Workshop |
| 2008-09 | Mildred Pelzer-Lynch Fellowship |
| 2007-08 | School of Art and Art History Scholarship, University of Iowa |
| 2006-08 | Graduate Teaching Assistantship Tuition Award, University of Iowa |
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
- Hand Papermakng Instructor, Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY (March 2010).
- Silkscreen and T-shirt Design Workshop, Paul Green School of Rock, Philadelphia, PA (Summer 2010).
- Basic Drawing Instructor, Painting & Drawing Department, School of Art and Art History,
University of Iowa (Aug. 2007 – present). Supervised by Sue Hettmansperger and Susan White. - Visual Art Instructor for Arts Share’s Summer Arts Camp, University of Iowa (June 2007). Supervised by Leslie Finer, children ages 5-12.
- Area Teaching Assistant, Painting & Drawing Department, School of Art and Art History, University of Iowa (Aug. 2006 – May 2007). Supervised by Susan White for the painting and drawing classes of Ronald Cohen, David Dunlap, Michael Perrone, Margaret Rochelle and Susan White.
- Assistant Instructor for the Big Picture Program, Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia, PA (Oct. 2004 – Dec. 2005). Supervised by Lisa Murch and taught with Brad Carney, children ages 10-15.
AFFILIATIONS
PRESS
- “Solo Trio,” Philadelphia Inquirer by Victoria Donohoe, 6 May 2011
http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20110506_Show_features_illustrator_s_wood_engravings.html - “Nicole Donnelly: Falling Water,” an interview with Steven Anderson for the Women’s Studio Workshop
http://blog.wsworkshop.org/?p=495 - “If I Gave Up Concerns about Permanence and Ego,” an interview with Wolf in a Field
http://wolfinafield.blogspot.com/2010/01/if-i-gave-up-concerns-about-permanence.html - “Works made of paper bring fragile technique to a show at City Hall,” Philadelphia Inquirer by Victoria Donohoe, 23 Oct 2009
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/weekend/20091023_Works_made_of_paper_bring_fragile_technique_to_a_show_at_City_Hall.html