CV
-EXHIBITION-
2023 Office for Public Art, Neighborhood Allies | Public Event Series: Let’s Eat: Abundance, Access, Community | Pittsburgh, PA
Soil Sisters | Sculpture: untitled (Let's Eat Plates) | Beltzhoover, PA
2022 Gardens of Millvale | Land Art Sculpture and Engagement: For Every Fig a Wasp |Pittsburgh, PA
2021 Oasis Project | Land Art Sculpture and Engagement: How To Protect an Oasis |Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh Creative Corps: Riverlife and Office for Public Art | Public Performance, Engagement and Installation: River of the Ancient Ones | Pittsburgh, PA
Springboard for the Arts/Fergus Falls Public Library|Installation: Truth Booth and Reconciliation Station 3 | Fergus Falls, MN
McDonough Museum of Art - Anthropology of Motherhood: Culture of Care | Video: Abscission | Pittsburgh, PA
Oasis Project - Homewood Bible Center | Untitled (Commissioned Site Specific Installation) and youth engagement | Pittsburgh, PA2020
2020 Carlow University Art Gallery - Anthropology of Motherhood: Culture of Care |Video: Abscission | Pittsburgh, PA
Three Rivers Arts Festival: Anthropology of Motherhood Exhibition|Video: Abscission | Virtual, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
Limbus Farm | Portal 1 (Site Specific Installation) | Richville, MN
SlowCycle LLC | Pollinator Labyrinth (Commissioned Site Specific Installation) Richville, MN
2019 Santa Fe Art Institute|Public Installation: Truth Booth and Reconciliation Station 2.1 and 2.2 | Santa Fe, NM
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh|Public Installation: Archway | Pgh, PA| (commissioned)
Contemporary Craft: Creatives for Climate Show | Wearable Sculpture: Onomatopoeia Warmclothes, Something Old Something New | Pgh, PA
Carnegie Museum of Art |Installation: If I’m going to Spend My Life Working | Pgh, PA
Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse | I would Watch Storms in the Distance | Pgh, PA
2018 Artist Image Resource AIR | Interactive Collage: January | Pittsburgh, PA
BOOM Concepts | Interactive Collage: Out of the Rabbit Hole | Pittsburgh, PA
Assemble PGH |Installation:Truth Booth and Reconciliation Station | Pittsburgh, PA
Carnegie Museum of Natural History|Installation:Truth Booth and Reconciliation Station|Pittsburgh, PA
2017 Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh|Public Installation/Community Engagement: Wattle and Walk | Pittsburgh, PA (commissioned)
2016 The MINE Factory | Installation/Performance: If I’m going to Spend My Life Working | Pgh, PA
2015 Sweetwater Center for the Arts| Sculpture: Riders on 61B | Sewickeley, PA|
Bricolage Production Company and Real Time Interventions Saints Tour: Something In the Dirt | Public Installations: untitled | Throughout Braddock, PA (commissioned)
2014 Three Rivers Juried Visual Art Exhibition — Pittsburgh Cultural Trust |Sculpture, Photography: Riders on 61B , Mississippi River Storm| Pittsburgh PA
ClaySpace Juried Art Exhibition | Sculpture: Riders on 61B | ClaySpace, Chicago, IL|
2013 Unsmoke Systems Artspace | Multimedia Installation, Photography, Sculpture: Faster Than Walking | Braddock, PA
2012 Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery| Performance, Sculpture, Photography: “Three Ring Circus” | Pittsburgh, PA
2011 Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery| Installation: Talismen | Pittsburgh, PA
2008 Traveling Installation | Interactive Sculpture, Performance: Mississippi River Project | Mississippi River, MN to MO USA. http://www.mississippiriverproject.blogspot.com/
2006 Transmissions Gallery | Performance, Sculpture: Warmclothes, | Albany, CA
2004 Tilden Park | Public Performance, Sculpture: You Know, For the Kids | Berkeley, CA
Gallery A | Gallatin Arts Festival | Sculpture, Photography: untitled | New York, NY
2000 Garage Gallery | Photography, Sculpture, Painting: In Flux group Show | Rockville, MD
-ENGAGEMENT-
Artist in Residence
THE BRASHEAR ASSOCIATION | Office of Public Art and Neighborhood Allies, Public Art and Communities Residency | Pittsburgh, PA | 9/2021 - 7/2023
To address shame around using food services in the Hilltop, collected ‘Food Stories’ through mass campaign, and created a meal series where community testimonials asked residents to eat and connect with each other at performances of original play based in the stories and thoughts from the community. The 80 handmade ceramic plates they ate from were fired again with the residue of the meal burnt on as an artifact of the event.
Artist in Residence
PITTSBURGH CREATIVE CORPS: RIVERLIFE AND OFFICE OF PUBLIC ART | Pittsburgh, PA | July 2021
Created a research methodology involving role play and public performance and collected stories from over 80 individuals downtown Pittsburgh.
River of the Ancient Ones, research performance: Directed, costumed, and performed as agents from The Pittsburgh Future Archive 2132 and engaged an audience of members of the public in a meditation on the health and personality of the Allegheny River.
Artist in Residence
SPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS | Hinge Arts Residency | Fergus Falls, MN | June 2021
Engaged with several communities in West Central Minnesota to collect diverse stories about belonging to place and the fraught connections to land within settler colonialism.
Senior Teaching Artist
CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART|Pittsburgh, PA|August 2016 - currently
Develop and lead The Art Connection for 8th grade, an 18 week program based in generating artwork inspired by museum collection and participants’ own stories and identities.
Artist in Residence
UNITED SOMALI BANTU OF GREATER PITTSBURGH | Office of Public Art, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council | Pittsburgh, PA | 4/2017 - 6/2019
Embedded with Somali Bantu refugee community and co-developed a project that would address their goals of better integrating into US society while retaining a robust sense of cultural heritage.
Color Of Strength, website (2019 launch): Lead community team to collect content for a multimedia documentary website that answer questions about the past, present and future of people living in Northview heights.
Museum Educator - Learning Research and Special Projects
CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY|Pittsburgh, PA|August 2014 - Present
Facilitated design processes between scientists, environmental organizations and artists and developed public activities for creative engagement with climate change. Ran collaboration with scientists, museum staff, and teenagers to design, construct, and install museum quality exhibits.
Garden Manager/CoFounder
GARDWEENO!|North Braddock, PA|Summer 2014 - 2017
Led community members in re-imagining a vacant lot into a collaborative garden and art installation. Hosted building events, cook-outs, and summer programming based in design and exploration.
Teaching Artist
WORDS WITHOUT WALLS|Pittsburgh, PA|Spring 2012 - 2018
Taught creative writing workshops to adult inmates at Allegheny County Jail (ACJ) and State Correctional Institute Pittsburgh (SCI).
If I’m going To Spend My Life Working (2016): Facilitated 6 week course focused on ideas of labor and resulting in this collaborative installation based in texts written by inmates at SCI.
Freedom and Attachment (2013): Prompted inmates at ACJ to reflect on their most valuable possessions then combined their interviews with those of other people living away from home and with the images of objects people had lost or left on roadsides.
Teaching Artist: Community Art Lab and Summer Art Cooperative
THE MATTRESS FACTORY|Pittsburgh, PA|August 2015, July 2016
Led children in an exploration of space and installation. Taught sculpture with natural fibers.
Shantytown (2015): Led 6-7 year olds in an investigation of the built environment, then facilitated a collaborative installation of cardboard spaces that each had a personal function.
Team Coordinator
THE BRADDOCK YOUTH PROJECT|Braddock, PA|May 2013 - August 2014
Facilitated design of youth-generated community projects including a community cafe, promotional murals for local businesses, and expression of their perspective of their community.
Bureau of Place Pilot (2013): Facilitated the development of documentation method based in chance operations which led teens to collect images and interviews in Braddock.
Visiting Artist
EKIALO KIONA COMMUNITY CENTER| Mfangano Island, KENYA|12/2012 – 2/2013
Taught journalism, creative writing, community documentary, audio production, and ethnography skills to young adults.
-EDUCATION-
MFA Creative Writing — Creative Non Fiction Chatham University | Pittsburgh, PA | 2012
BA Interdisciplinary Studies —Anthropology + Visual Art New York University| New York, NY | 2004
-AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, COMMITTEES-
Hinge Art Residency, Springboard for the Arts, Fergus Falls, MN (2021)
Investing in Professional Artists Award. Pittsburgh Foundation and Heinz Endowments. (2020)
Sant Fe Art Institute Thematic Residency: Truth and Reconciliation, Santa Fe, NM (2019)
Artists As Change Agents in Complexity. Workshop Fellow with EMC Arts. Pittsburgh, PA (2019)
Committee Member, Environment Health and Public Art Initiative. Office of Public Art (2019)
Climate and Urban Systems Partnership Minigrant Award for Truth Booth and Reconciliation Station. Creatives For Climate, Carnegie Museum of Natural History (2018)
Committee Member, ReMake Learning Awards. Sprout Fund, (2016)
boOST Fellowship. University of Pittsburgh School of Education and Allegheny Partners for Out of School Time | Pittsburgh, PA (2015 - 2016)
Community Partner of the Year, Gardweeno! Monongahela Valley Initiative and North Braddock Cares, 45th Senatorial District Certificate of Recognition (2015)
Three Rivers Arts Festival Juror Award, Nick Chambers Andy Warhol Museum for Riders on 61B (2014)
ReMake Summer Learning Award. Sprout Fund: Gardweeno! (2014)