About

Bio
I’m an interdisciplinary writer, and video artist originally from Massachusetts and living with my husband and young daughter in Portland, Oregon. I’ve shown interdisciplinary work widely over the past twenty-six years. I’ve recently earned an MFA from the Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art and have founded a time-based arts alliance called Outer Voice. I’ve had recent solo exhibitions at Rubus Discolor Project, The Tiny Thumb Gallery at the Solheim Library at PNCA, and at Grapefruits, all in Portland, OR. My video work “I also knew this.” was included in the Cadence Video Poetry Festival at Northwest Film Forum and is included in Good Symptom, a video anthology published by Third Thing Press, both in Seattle, WA. My poems and text-art have appeared in the literary journals Houseguest, Tuesday: An Art Project, and Mother, Mother. I've completed residencies at Union Docs, Takt Kunstprojektraum, Berlin, and ArtFarm, Nebraska, and I was recently a Co-Director at Ortega y Gasset Projects in Brooklyn.

Artist Statement

I work in video and writing intuitively to record and edit into a big risky rendering that troubles a narrative telling of conventional life, rehears idiom in language and image, and exposes latent discourse within systems of belief around knowing the self among others, gender, family, and illness. My work concerns discovery regarding text and image and uses tools, prompts, and experiments to queer action and interaction, and as a way to get over or get around stale notions of the self.

My recent video work includes a multi-year project titled What is the word for the day after tomorrow. It’s is a documentary video installation for which I’ve recorded 30 women listening to a text while saying it. The text is my lyric essay, composed over ten years, about caretaking, perception, and private and shared selfhood. Using patterns of audio only, then video with audio, the work lulls the viewer into and out of valence with the thread of the essay and seeks to incorporate the viewer's and participant's associative thoughts as imagined elements in the work. Objects subtly placed in the installation create correlations with the text and video.

While all of my work can be read as a means toward flexible empathy in the context of varied lived experiences, the work also keeps a documentary distance; it invites a holistic examination of the roles of writer, reader, and speaker. While it strives to be art that is related to but separate from activism, it invokes scrutiny of the moral politics of representation, empathy, and care at play in the work.

My writing takes the form of poems and paragraphs that use bold, simple, subtly peculiar language and constructions concerned more with tone than story. While there are abstract and magical realist elements, the writing is realistic. The current work vibrates between love and frustration from parenting a small child and being a caretaker through the long illness and recent death of my sister. My subject matter across media returns to care and illness, danger and fear, enormity, the uncanny, intuition, exhaustion, motherhood, childhood, solitude and sharing, and dreams.

Education
2023 MFA in Visual Studies, Pacific Northwest College of Art at Willamette University
2002 Master of Arts, Media Studies, The New School, New York, NY
1998 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Hartford Art School, West Hartford, CT
1997 Semester Abroad, Richmond College, London, UK

Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions

2023 What is the word for the day after tomorrow. Rubus Discolor Project, Portland OR, curated by Leslie Hickey
2023 I won’t tell Irene, who is very good to me. Tiny Thumb Gallery, Solheim Library, PNCA, Portland OR, curated by Lauren Voigt
2018 Provender, Grapefruits, Portland OR, curated by Martha Daghlian
2014  Jayne Telephones, Presenting at 17, New York, NY, curated by Elise Gardella
2013  What you should know and be able to do, The Hallway Gallery, Boston, MA, curated by Brent Refsland
2002  Alight, LaMaMa La Galleria, New York, NY, curated by Ellen Stewart

Selected Group Exhibitions and Screenings

2023 I also knew this. Good Symptom Video Anthology, The Third Thing Press, Seattle WA, Microscope Gallery Screening, New York
curated by M Freeman, Anne de Marcken, Rana San, and Chelsea Jean Werner-Jatzke

2023 I also knew this. Good Symptom Video Anthology, The Third Thing Press, Seattle WA, curated by M Freeman
Anne de Marcken, Rana San, and Chelsea Jean Werner-Jatzke

2023 MFA Thesis Exhibition Pacific Northwest College of Art, What is the word for the day after tomorrow. Expensify, Portland OR

2023 I also knew this. Cadence Video Poetry Festival, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle WA, curated by M Freeman,
Anne de Marcken, Rana San, and Chelsea Jean Werner-Jatzke

2022 UnDo Collab, Feral Domesticity Exhibition, March 27, 2022, Union Docs, Brooklyn, NY
Time In-Between: Temporal Matters, Essay, an audio work, Center for Contemporary Art and Culture, PNCA, Portland, OR

2021 Along These Lines, Alberta Abbey, Portland OR, curated by Ilsa Payne and Justin Duyao

2019 On the Tip of My Tongue, Carnation Contemporary, Portland, OR, curated by Katherine Spinella and Kristin Hough
Then, What If?, Five Points Gallery, Torrington CT, curated by Gene Gort and Ken Steen

2016 All Visual Boston, Flash Forward Festival, Midway Gallery at Midway Artist Studios, Boston MA, curated by Trevor Powers

2015 39×17, LaMama La Galleria, New York NY, curated by Elise Gardella
All Visual Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, curated by Trevor Powers
The Boston Drawing Project, Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston, MA, curated by Joseph Carroll
Collision: Stealing from the Real, Boston Cyberarts Gallery, Boston, MA, curated by Georgina Lewis
Always Already Here, Volume 1, Ortega y Gasset Projects at Artscape Art Fair, Baltimore MD, curated by Joshua Bienko
Satellite Squared, Migrational Methods, and a Romantic Gonzo Gesture, Satellite Contemporary, Las Vegas, NE, curated by Zahar Vaks and Nicole Langille
Prompt, 13 Forest Gallery, Arlington, MA, curated by Maggie Jensen
No Ruse, Boston, MA, curated by Liz Nofziger and Heather Kaplow

2014 Broadside, 13 Forest Gallery, Arlington, MA, curated by Maggie Jensen
Photographic Practices, Flash Forward Festival at Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston, MA

2013 Art on the Marquee, New England Convention Center, Boston, MA, curated by George Fifield
Verbi–Voco–Visual, Mobius, Boston, MA, curated by Jed Speare

2012 Extremely Shorts Festival, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX, curated by Brent Hoff

2011 You Are My Sunshine, Axiom Gallery, Boston, MA, curated by Jed Speare
100/10∆8, Institute of Cultural Inquiry, Los Angeles, CA
New Directions in Drawing, Emily Carr Insititute, Vancouver, BC
Cell–f, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Arnheim Gallery,
collaboration with Heidi Kayser, Boston, MA

2005 The Poetics of Place, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA

2002 TV is a Window, Harvestworks, New York, NY, curated by Laurie Halsey Brown
Resonant Wave Festival, Berlin, Germany
New York Exposition of Short Film and Video, New York, NY

Residencies

2021 Union Docs, Brooklyn NY
2012 Art Farm, Marquette, NE
2011 Bumpkin Island Art Encampment, 2011, Boston, MA
2011 Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICI) Rise Industries Residency, 2011, Los Angeles, CA
2010 TAKT Kunstprojektraum, Berlin, Germany

Curatorial Projects

2018 Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY, (online), Second Daytime
2016 Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY, The Shifting Space Around Us, Megan and Murray McMillan
2011 Art at 12, You hold it in your mind all the time, Boston, MA
2009 Godine Family Gallery, Mass Art, Spark, New Media Art Exhibition, Boston, MA
2009 Axiom, New Media Curious Experimental Moving Images Festival, Boston, MA

Lectures, Panels, Artist Talks

2021 Willamette University, Salem OR
2014 Roger Williams University, School of Art, Architecture, and Historic Preservation, Bristol, RI
2014 Boston Cyberarts Gallery, Art Technology New England, Collision20:bilocate, artist panel, Boston MA
2011 Smith College, Visual Arts Department, Northampton, MA
2011 Art at 12, You hold it in your mind all the time, artist talk, Boston, MA
2010 Roger Williams University, School of Art, Architecture, and Historic Preservation, Bristol, RI

Selected Critical Writing, Reviews, and Publications

Big Red and Shiny, July 21, 2016, See It Before It’s Gone: Dan Boardman / Audrey Hope at Kijidome
Mother Mother, May 2016, zine curated by Sheilah Wilson as part of the exhibition Repeat Pressure Until, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY
Artscope Magazine, March 2016, Time Machine to the Present, Emma Hogarth
Tuesday; an Art Project, Issue 6:2, January 2016
Houseguest, Literary Magazine, Issue #4, July 2015
Accordion Zine, March 2015
Moving Poems, The best poetry videos on the web, Nov 28, 2014, What are the next three letters–featured and reviewed
Collison: More Human, Exhibition Catalog, Sept 2014, Boston Cyberarts Gallery, 2014, Boston MA
Collision:bilocate, Exhibition Catalog, January 2014, Boston Cyberarts Gallery, 2014, Boston MA
100/10∆8: Rise Industries Exhibition Catalog, Institute of Cultural Inquiry, ICI Press, 2012, Los Angeles CA
Boston Globe, September 7, 2011, You Are My Sunshine, by Cate McQuaid
LA.Artweek, June 6, 2011, Featured Preview 100/10∆8: Rise Industries, Los Angeles, CA
Yes Oui See Blog, August 2011 Interview with Sarah Rushford on You hold it in your mind all the time by Alexis Avedisian

Scholarships
PNCA Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies Merit Scholarship

Teaching and Related Experience

2023-Current Founder and Organizer, Outer Voice Time Based Artists Alliance, Portland OR
2022-Current Gallery Chat, Contemporary Art Discussion Classes, Portland Community College, Community Education, Portland, OR
2022 Skillshares, Writing As Art, Comedy and Art, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland OR
2020 Senior Citizen Writing Workshop Scribe, Write Around Portland, Portland, OR
2015-2019 Co-Director, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2010–present Freelance Web and Print Designer, Boston, MA, and Portland OR
2008–2011 Director of Education, Axiom Center For New and Experimental Media, Boston, MA
2009–2011 Administrative Staff, Boston Cyberarts, Art Technology New England (ATNE), Boston, MA
2007–2011 Institutional Research Assistant, Massachusetts College of Art And Design, Boston, MA
2008-09 Media Arts and Photography Instructor, Cloud Place, Boston, MA
2003-07 Visual Arts Teacher, Media Literacy Coordinator, Kingswood–Oxford School, West Hartford, CT
2002-05 Adjunct Professor, Media Arts Department Assistant, Hartford Art School, West Hartford, CT
2000, 11 Art-All-State, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA
2003-04 Digital Audio Skills Instructor, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
1999–2002 Visitor Services Staff, Dia Center for the Arts, New York, NY
1994–2002 Art Image Library Assistant, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT
1999–2005 Freelance Video Producer and Artist Assistant

Memberships

2023-Current Outer Voice Time Based Artists’ Alliance, Portland OR
2022 Mother Artist Group, Paisley Studios, Portland OR
2022 Variable West
2021-present Union Docs, Brooklyn, NY
2015-2019 Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn NY
2012–2017 Dialog Box, critique group member and organizer, Boston, MA
2013 Atlantic Works Gallery member, Boston, MA
2010–present Rise Industries, Collaborative Member, Los Angeles, CA and Boston, MA
2008–present. Grub Street, writers workshop, Boston, MA
2008–11 Axiom Center for New and Experimental Media, Boston, MA
2009–11 Art Technology New England, Boston, MA