Merrilee Challiss

EDUCATION

BA Studio Arts, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1994

MFA Sculpture, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 2000

Post-Graduate Apprenticeship, Fabric Workshop and Museum 2000

MA, Education in the Visual Arts, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2022

EMPLOYMENT

2023 Executive Director, Studio By The Tracks, Irondale, AL 

2003 - 2020 Adjunct Faculty, UAB College of Arts & Sciences, Birmingham, AL

2019 Adjunct Faculty, UAB Honors College, Birmingham, AL

2012 Art Instructor, The Arlington School, Birmingham, AL

2006-2015 Co-Owner, BottleTree Café, Birmingham, AL

2002-2006 Art Director, Studio By The Tracks, Birmingham, AL

1999-2000 Art Instructor / Work Study, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

1996-1998 Studio Artist, Studio By The Tracks, Birmingham, AL

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023

Unstuck in Time: Here, Now, St. EOM, Bo Bartlett Center (Columbus, GA), Pasaquan, Buena Vista, GA

Palimpsest, Julia Martin Gallery, Nashville, TN

Embodied: Contemporary Takes on the Dress, Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, AL 

Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL 

2022

The Black Cherry Tree Project Inaugural Exhibition, Vox Gallery, Birmingham, AL

2021

Different / Fit: Eugenics in Alabama 1919-1935, Mobile Medical Museum, and Alabama Contemporary Art, Center Mobile, Alabama

October 2020 - May 2022

Signs & Wonders, Solo Show, Lowe Mille Arts, Huntsville, AL

November 2021-Jan 2022

2020

In the Key of Moon, with Kevin Reilly, Julia Martin Gallery, Nashville, TN, Dec 2019-Jan 2020

2019

"Flat and Framed," Group Show, Wedding Cake House, Providence, RI

Group Show, Vinegar Airbnb, Birmingham, AL, November 2019

Collaborative Installation, “Dial-a-Tree,” Moss Rock Festival, Birmingham, AL, October 2019

Group Show, "From the Artist's Collection," Mint Gallery, Atlanta, GA, August 2019

"The Eyes Have It: Community is based on sharing with friends, so here are some of my friends I would like to share with you. -Tim Kerr”, Studio E Gallery, Seattle, WA, August 2019

Installation, Chapel of the Last Sea Witch, Group Show "URBAN WILD,

Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, AL, May- October 2019

2018       

What is Love, Julia Martin Gallery, Nashville TN, September 2018

La La Land, Hall Barnett Gallery, New Orleans, LA, October 2018

Activating the Apparatus, B Complex, Atlanta, GA, October 2018

2017      

Superfine Art Fair (with Hall Barnett Gallery), Art Basel, Miami, FL

Uncommon Territory, Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, Montgomery, AL

Menagerie as Symbol, Ground Floor Contemporary, Birmingham, AL

Disappearing Act, Collaborative Sound Performance, as part of the opening of THIRD SPACE, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL

2016      

SHIFT: A Temporary Platform for Social Exchange, a Birmingham Museum of Art Initiative, Birmingham, AL

2010    

New Works, exhibit with Margaret Oomen, Craftland Gallery, Providence, RI

2005      

Two person exhibit with Laura Ball, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019  

Nightvisions, Lowe Mill Gallery, Huntsville, AL

2018         

Portals, Hoover Public Library, Birmingham, AL

Indwellers and Other Beings: Small Works, Sanctum Art, Birmingham, AL

2017         

Call of the Void, Joy Gallery, San Francisco, CA

The Void and the Eye, Julia Martin Gallery, Nashville, TN

2016          

Haus of Shamanista, Lowe Mill, Huntsville, AL

The Origins of Life and Other Fairy Tales, AKA/ PDX, Portland, OR

2015          

Source Energy, Julia Martin Gallery, Nashville, TN

2014          

Everything, Obliquely, Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR

2004           

By Hoof, Stitch, or Limb, Durbin Gallery, Doris Wainwright Kennedy Art Center at Birmingham Southern College, Birmingham, AL

2002           

Her Mind’s Livers and Her Heart’s Knives, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2019                 Voyage Houston, January

2018               Open Color Magazine, May

2015                Art & Antiques, article by Edward Gomez, September

2015, 2005     New American Paintings Quarterly, Southeast Edition, “Juror’s Pick” 2015

AWARDS / HONORS

2005             Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship Grant

2004             Emerging Artist Award, Magic City Art Connection, Birmingham, AL

2000             Window of Opportunity Award, The Leeway Foundation, Philadelphia, PA

RESIDENCIES

2019  Hambidge Residency, Rabun Gap, Georgia

2015                       Starry Night Residency, Truth or Consequences, NM

2013, 2015           Signal Fire, Mt Hood, OR and Owyhee Canyonlands, ORto where they are.