Holly Morrison’s work engages media of photography, print media, book and digital forms, with a means to ends approach. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Painting & Printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

Born 1959, Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Lives and works in Richmond, VA

Education

MFA Printmaking, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
BFA Painting & Printmaking, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO

Select Solo Exhibitions

2008
Lightly Here, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2002
The Extinguishing of Stars, an Artists’ Book,  Holly Morrison & Carolyn Frase
The Office Place: Photogravures by Holly Morrison, CWRU Weatherhead School of Management, Cleveland, OH

2001
(t)here: Holly Morrison, College of Wooster Art Museum, Wooster, OH

1994
Passage, William Busta Gallery, Cleveland, OH

1993
Holly Morrison: Prints and Drawings, Isis Gallery, Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN

1992
Holly Morrison: New Work, William Busta Gallery, Cleveland, OH

1991
Holly Morrison: Work on Paper, San Antonio Art Institute, San Antonio, TX

1990
Holly Morrison, Moreau Gallery, St. Mary’s College, South Bend, IN

1987
Enactment for Mnemosyene, installation and performance, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO

1986
Offerre, performance, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
Visitation, performance, Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY

Select Group Exhibitions

2016
Sixteen Sixteen, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2013
View Find, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2012
View Find, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA (curated)

2010
Brand, Rebrand,Debrand?, Crane Arts/University of Delaware off-site gallery, Philadelphia, PA (curated)
Love & Text, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA (curated)

2009
Cold Press, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA (curated)
Vitamin C, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA (curated)

2008
⌘P (commandPRINT),
Digitally Mediated Prints by VCU Faculty, Plant Zero, Richmond,VA (invitational)

2007
Reading Light: Books by Artists and Photographers; Donna Seager Gallery, San Rafael, CA
Multiple Impressions: Contemporary Voices in Printmaking; University of Georgia, Athens, GA

2006
Photo Books Now, The San Francisco Center for the Book,  San Francisco, CA (curated)

2005
4th International Book & Paper Triennial, Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts (curated)
The NEO Show, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (curated)
Book Arts from the Permanent Collection, College of Wooster Art Museum, Wooster, OH, (curated)

2004
Site in Sight, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Matter & Spirit: The Genesis and Evolution of the Book, Wells College, Aurora, NY, (curated)
Four Extraordinary Books, Heights Arts, Cleveland, OH, (curated)

2003
The Method & The Matrix: Contemporary Printmaking in Ohio, Riffe Gallery, Columbus, OH, & Weston Art Gallery, Cincinnati, OH (curated)
Page Me: the art of zines, commix and other artist-made books, SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH, (curated)

2001
Photo/Graphic: Reading Postmodern Photography, (collaborative installation with Mary Jo Toles) Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH

2000
Fabricating Memory, William Busta Gallery, Cleveland, OH,  (invitational)
The Great Lake Erie: Imagining an Inland Sea, Hallwalls Gallery, Buffalo, NY, (curated)
Reading Visual Text: Regional Volumes, Brew House Space, Pittsburgh, PA, (invitational)

1999 –  2000
Common Ground: Contemporary Landscapes from Israel and Ohio, Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery, Columbus; Weston Gallery, Cincinnati; the Artists House, Jerusalem, Israel, “catalogue” (curated)

1999
Embody/Disembody, Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington, DC; Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, “catalogue” (invitational)
Ohio Print Biennial, Cleveland Artists Foundation, Cleveland, OH, (invitational)

1996
Urban Evidence: Contemporary Artists Reveal Cleveland, collaborative exhibition curated by the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, and SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH, “catalogue” (invitational)

1989
The Women’s Room, The Edge Gallery, Chicago, IL, (invitational)

1985
Works on Paper, Detroit Artist’s Market, Detroit, MI, (juried)
Motor City Breakdown, University of Kentucky Center for Contemporary Art, Lexington, KY
Collaboration, Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI, (curated)
Kansas City Art Institute 100th Anniversary, Six Selected Graduates, Karl Oskar Gallery, Westwood Hills, KS, (invitational)

1984
Heroes and Idols, Detroit Focus Gallery, Detroit, MI, (juried)
Works on Paper, Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI, (juried)
Scarab Club Annual Print Exhibition, The Scarab Club, Detroit, MI, (juried, awarded Best of Show)
Steelface Corporation Annual Exhibition, Steelface Corporation, Southfield, MI (juried, awarded first place, printmaking)

1983
Monoprints Published by Squadron Press, Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, KS, (invitational)

Museum Collections & Public Commissions
Ball State University Museum of Art, Muncie, IN
Capital One Financial Corporation; Richmond, VA
Cleveland Institute of Art, Jessica R. Gund Memorial Library, Artists’ Book Collection, Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Public Library, Louis Stokes Wing, public art commission, Cleveland, OH
Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit, MI
The Federal Reserve Bank, Cleveland, OH
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum (Rutgers Archives)
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division
Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Louisiana State University, Hill Memorial Library Rare Book Collection; Baton Rouge, LA
Milwaukee Art Museum
The Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Prints and Drawings
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI
The Museum of Modern Art Department of Prints and Illustrated Books
National Gallery of Art
Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
New York Public Library Print Collection
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Progressive Corporation, Cleveland, OH
Southern Graphics Council Archive, University of Mississippi; Oxford, MS
State Library of Victoria, Rare Book Collection; Melbourne, Australia
TIAA-CREF, St. Louis, MO
UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts
Wesleyan University Museum of Art, Middletown, CT
Whitney Museum of Art

Grants, Fellowships, and Awards

2006 – 2007
Virginia Commission for the Arts Artist Fellowship, Richmond, VA
VCU Center for Teaching Excellence Grant, Richmond, VA

2004
Headlands Center for the Arts, Residency Fellowship, Sausalito, CA
Cleveland Institute of Art John and Maxeen Flowers Digital Technology Grant, Berkeley and Brisbane, CA

2003
Cleveland Institute of Art John and Maxeen Flowers Digital Technology Grant

2001 – 2002
Ohio Arts Council Artist Project Grant

2000
Cleveland Institute of Art Faculty Travel Grant Designing Leadership

1999
Cleveland Institute of Faculty Development Grant, funds supported travel, workshop, and residency
Ohio Arts Council Individual Artists Grant

1998
Recipient of the 1998 Cleveland Arts Prize in Visual Art, supported by the Cleveland Women’s City Club Foundation

1991
MacDowell Colony, Residency Fellowship, Peterborough, NH

Visiting Artist & Public Presentations

2004
Visiting artist lecture, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Public lecture in conjunction with 3 month residency, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Visiting artist lecture, Center for Word, Text, and Image, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Public lecture, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA

2003
Presenter with poet Harvey Hix and painter Daniel Dove for Marcus Thomas Design firm’s annual retreat, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Presentation: “The Extinguishing of Stars: The Making of an Artists’ Book,” Friends of the Oberlin College Library, Oberlin, OH
Photogravure lecture and demonstration, Cleveland Museum of Art Print Club, Cleveland, OH

2002
Public presentation: “The Extinguishing of Stars: The Making of an Artists’ Book,” Zygote Press, Cleveland, OH

2001
“Communicating Vessels” lecture in concert with the Photo/Graphic exhibition, Akron Art Museum, OH
Visiting artist lecture, The College of Wooster Art Museum, Wooster, OH

1999
Lecture on photography with collaborator Mary Jo Toles, Akron Art Museum, OH
“Art at the End of the Millennium: an Artist’s View,” lecture/discussion, Akron Art Museum, OH

1998
Studio visit and presentation to SUNY graduate students of public art commissions, SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, NY

1997
Public lecture in conjunction with the completion of The Golden Game – a public art commission completed in 1997, Cleveland Public Library, Louis Stokes Wing, Cleveland, OH
Studio visit and presentation to Cranbrook graduate students of public art commissions completed and in process, Cranbrook Academy of Art and Design, Bloomfield Hills, MI

1996
Public lecture in conjunction with the exhibition Urban Evidence: Contemporary Artists Reveal Cleveland, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH

1994
Visiting artist lecture and studio demonstration in color intaglio printing, Kent State University, Kent, OH

1993
Visiting artist lecture, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH
Visiting artist lecture, studio demonstration color intaglio printing, critique with graduate students, Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN

1993
Lecture in conjunction with the exhibition Drawing Together, McDonough Museum of Art, Youngstown, OH

1992
Visiting artist lecture, critique with graduate students, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

1991
Visiting artist lecture & workshop with undergraduate printmaking students, San Antonio Art Institute, San Antonio, TX

1990
Visiting artist residency in the Printmaking Department during resident area head Steve Murakishi’s sabbatical, Cranbrook Academy of Art and Design, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Visiting artist lecture, St. Mary’s College, South Bend, IN

1988
Visiting artist lecture, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA

1986
Visiting artist residency with Kansas City magnet school, Sumner Academy of Art and Science, Kansas City, KS

Conferences

2012
“Mentorship: Navigating Currents,” SGC International Conference-Mark/Remarque, New Orleans, LA

2010
Panel: FstMdia/Slow Knowledge; co-chair, with Troy Richards, University of Delaware; Nigel Rolfe, Royal College of Art, London; and Rhys Himsworth, VCUarts Plant Zero Fellow; SGC International Conference-Mark/Remarque, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA

2008
Presenter: “The Role of Classical Practices in the Digital Age,” with Cynthia Kukla – Professor, School of Art, Illinois State University, Mid America Print Conference, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND

2006
Presenter, “Art and Design Facilities of the Future” with Cynthia Lawson – Parsons School of Design; Moderator: Sally McRorie – Dean, College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance, FSU; NASAD Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN

2003
Panel participant, printmaking roundtable, “The Method & the Matrix,” Ohio Arts Council, Columbus, OH

2002
Conference Workshop/Presenter with Kaylynn TwoTrees, and Matthew Scott Haar Farris, “Seven Directions Practice: Discovering and Developing Ways of Learning,” AAHE NCHE, Chicago, IL

2001
Presenter, “Seven Directions Practice for Higher Education,” NAWE Conference on Women in Higher Education, Boston, MA
Panelist, “Cleveland’s Creative Essence 1900-2000: the Artist Past and Future” with artists Don Harvey and Michaelangelo Lovelace, Moderator: Frannie Taft, The Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland Institute of Art, (public panel simultaneously broadcast on Cleveland Public Radio WCPN)

1999
Panelist, “Don’t Look Back: What the Future Holds for Artists’ Spaces” with Frank Green, Roberta Bedoya, and Martha Wilson; Moderator William Busta, SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH

1998
Panelist for Firelands College symposium Censorship in the Arts, Firelands College/Bowling Green State University, Huron, OH

Teaching Experience

2005 – Present
Associate Professor, Painting & Printmaking, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

1991   –  2005
Associate Professor, Integrated Media Environment, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

2001
Summer course, “Sense of Place,” for Cleveland Institute of Art in Fasano, Italy

1994
Printmaking Head, summer session, Lacoste School of the Arts, Lacoste, France

1990
Instructor, painting and drawing in the women’s minimum and medium security facilities, Adult Correctional Institution, Cranston, RI

1988 – 1990
Assistant Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Foundation Drawing, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA

1987 – 1988
Instructor, “Introduction to Studio Art,” Rutgers University, Camden, NJ

1986, 1987
Drawing Instructor (consecutive summers), Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY

1985 – 1986
Instructor, Foundation Drawing, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA

1984 – 1985
Teaching Assistant, Department of Printmaking, Cranbrook Academy of Art and Design, Bloomfield Hills, MI

1982 – 1983
Arts Instructor in Kansas City Schools, Kansas City, MO

1979 – 1983
Instructor, Education DepartmentNelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO

Curatorial & Juried Work

2003
Juror with Sabine Kretschmar, Stark County Artists Exhibition, Massillon Museum, Massillon, OH

1999
Juror for the Wendy Moore Emerging Artist Award, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH

1998
Member of a 3-person jury for the 10th Annual Cleveland Performance Art Festival, Cleveland, OH

1997
Co-curator with Bellamy Printz for the exhibition What’s Rite?, SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH

1995
Member of the curatorial team for the exhibition Radical Ink, SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH

1992
Curator for the exhibition The Printmaking Workshop: Bob Blackburn’s Collection, Cleveland Institute of Art, Reinberger Gallery, Cleveland, OH
“Printmaking Paradigm,” lecture presented in conjunction with the Printmaking Workshop/Bob Blackburn exhibition, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

Professional Activity

2007
Master Printer; artist – Sebastiaan Bremer; published by VCU’s PAPR EDITIONS, Richmond, VA
Loirinha – quad-tone digital print with etching and engraving on Somerset Enhanced Velvet, paper 32” x 24”, plate 23 ¾” x 17 ¾”, edition of 12 with 2 artists proofs, 4 working proofs, and 3 color trial proofs;

2006
Master Printer; artist—Joanne Greenbaum; published by VCU’s PAPR EDITIONS, Richmond, VA
untitled – 4 plate etching and aquatint, paper 22” x 15”, plates 12” x 9”, in an edition of 15;
untitled – 4 plate etching and aquatint, paper 22” x 15”, plates 12” x 9”, in an edition of 18;
untitled – 1 plate etching and engraving, paper 30” x 22”, plate 22” x 17”, in an edition of 15;

2002
Team Project Manager, One Week: A Week in the Life of University Circle, an collaborative digital media project between CIA and the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University

1998
Participant in Media Working Group’s Open Studio: the Arts On-line, funded by the Benton Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, Covington, KY, (invitational)
Photogravure with Lothar Osterburg, 2 week workshop, workshop organizer and assistant to master printer Osterburg, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

1991 – 1996
Visiting Artist Program Director, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

1989
Master Printer for artist Tony Fitzpatrick’s suite of 16 intaglio prints, Dark Horses, published by Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1986 – 1987
Printer for the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, tutorials and editioning for visiting artists Alice Aycock, Mary Beth Edelson, Brenda Goodman, Anne Humanfeld, and Tony Naponic

1984 – 1985
Museum Preparator for the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI

Community Service

2001 – 2007
Cleveland Arts Prize, Visual Arts Award, Member of a six-member committee responsible for reviewing nominations and awarding the annual Cleveland Arts Prize in Visual Arts, Cleveland, OH

1995 – 2000
Appointment to the Board of Trustees SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH, member of the Programming Committee and Space Lab Committee

1995 – 1997
Appointment to the Programming and Education Committees of the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH

1993 – 1995
Appointment to the Board of Trustees of the Committee for Public Art, Cleveland, OH, 1993 appointed co-chair of the Programming Committee with Tom Hinson – Curator of Contemporary Art and Photography, Cleveland Museum of Art

Holly Morrision / Nigel Rolfe

The vivid red and blue of dry pigment colors
the stick and stone.
Fragile, the vulnerable paint clings to substance.
Powdery surface flakes away
and is blown by wind from the nearby shore.
Echoes of Miro primaries, and his time and place.
The sea, the sky, and the Spanish earth.
The stone is head and the stick spine,
anthropomorphic stand-ins for being
and just being
there, in front of the doors
to his world.

This new work is a portion from the series Holly Morrison made in collaboration with performance artist Nigel Rolfe at the Miro Foundation in Mallorca Spain. Morrison and Rolfe have worked collaborative for more than three years in relation to site—Rolfe as performer, and Morrison behind the lens.

Miro established the Mallorca Sert Studio in 1956, to fulfill his dream to “…settle down somewhere, and have a large studio, not so much for reasons of brightness, northern light, and so on, which I don’t care about, but in order to have enough room to hold many canvases, because the more I work, the more I want to work.” The Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Mallorca was established on March 7th, 1981. It consists of a large site which houses Miro’s multiple studios and the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a center for creating contemporary art as well as for its analysis, research, interpretation, exhibition, and promotion.