Born 1971 Minneapolis, MN
Lives and works in Portland, OR
Education
1999 Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, MFA, New Brunswick, NJ
1999 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
1995 BFA University of Washington, Seattle, WA, US
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
(forthcoming) Stay in the Centre of No-Man's Land, Hollybush Gardens, London, UK
2022
The Land Of Feminye, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
2021
Amazonknights, ICA Miami, Miami, FL
2020
The Sky Is Leaden in the South, Hollybush Gardens, London, England
Together we lie in ditches and in front of machines, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
Velvet Fist, Baltimore Museum of Art, MA
2019
Flowers Wrapped in Newspaper, Adams & Ollman, Portland, OR
2018
Lily of the Arc Lights, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
2017
The Subjects and W.I.T.C.H, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
2016
Run Now Women, XO, Project Room, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France
2015
We Were Singing, Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR
2014
You & I Are Earth, Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR
2013
It’s Never Over, Ambach & Rice, Los Angeles, CA
2011
The Strong, Star-Bright Companions, Ambach & Rice, Seattle, WA
2010
Ellen Lesperance, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
2005
Off the Grid, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY
Ellen Lesperance & Jeanine Oleson, Samson Projects, Boston, MA
This is Our World, Savage Art Resources, Portland, OR
2002
Over the River and Through the Woods, PS122 Gallery, New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
(forthcoming) Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, curated by Lynne Cooke, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
(forthcoming) Social Fabric: Ellen Lesperance & Evelyn Roth, Ivory Tars, Glasgow, Scotland
To Weave the Sky: Textile Abstractions from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, El Espacio 23, Miami, FL
(re)Focus, Philadelphia Art Alliance at UArts, Philadelphia, PA
Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA
2023
Exemplary Modern, Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY
Long Story Short, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2021
Connecting Currents, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Staying with the Trouble, Curated by Kate McNamara, SMFA/Boston, Tufts University Galleries, Boston, MA
Active Threads, KAI 10/ARTHENA FOUNDATION, Dusseldorf, Germany
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
2020
Drawing 2020, Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY
Never Done: 100 Years of Women in Politics and Beyond, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, NY
Yesterday's Tomorrows: Selections from the Collection 1933-2018, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2019
Feminist Histories: Artists After 2000, Sao Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil
Dress Codes: Ellen Lesperance and Diane Simpson, Frye Museum, Seattle, WA
Less is a Bore: Maximalist Art & Design, ICA Boston, MA
Honolulu Biennial: To Make Wrong / Right / Now, Honolulu, HI
2018
New Materialism, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
Nashashibi / Skaer, Tate St Ives, Cornwall, UK
Still I Rise: Feminisms, Gender, Resistance, Nottingham Contemporary and De La Warr Pavilion
Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY
2017
Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon, New Museum, New York, NY
Makers Catalogue, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
Occupation, Boston University Galleries, Boston, MA
Thread Lines, (traveling from the Drawing Center, New York, NY) Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY
2016
Ellen Lesperance and Helen Mirra, Traversing, Armory Arts Center, Pasadena, CA
Who Cares?, Valerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France
Exploring Reality, Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR
Crafting the Future, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
2015
Book of Scores, Disjecta, Portland, OR
Take Back Vermont, Zieher, Smith & Horton, New York, NY
Common Thread, Mixed Greens, New York, NY
Harlem Postcards, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
2014
Sincerely, Ambach & Rice, Los Angeles, CA
Thread Lines, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
Almost Something, Not Quite Nothing, Ambach & Rice Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
PORTLAND2014 Biennial, curated by Amanda Hunt, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Portland, OR
2013
American Identities: A New Look, Modern Life, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live, Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR
Biennaleonline, curated by Jens Hoffmann, www.artplus.com
2012
Hang Up, Josh Lilley Gallery, London, England
Dear Pippa Bacca, Frieze Frame, New York, NY
Contemporary Watercolor, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY
Falling Through Space, Drawing by the Line, University of Buffalo Center for the Arts, Buffalo, NY
2011
Body Gesture, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
will be home..., Ambach & Rice Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2010-12
People’s Biennial, curated by Harrell Fletcher and Jens Hoffmann, Traveling: PICA, Portland, OR; Dahl Arts Center, Rapid
City, SD; Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale,
AZ; Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford, PA
2010
Performance Forever, Façade/Fasad Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2008
The Gathering, Drawing Room, Portland, ME
2007
Mother, May I?, Campbell Soady Gallery, New York, NY
Art as Intervention, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
2006-7
Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale, Traveling: Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO; Bates College Museum of Art,
Lewiston, ME
2006
Redykeulous, curated by Nicole Eisenman and A.L. Stein, Participant Inc., New York, NY
Bearings: The Female Figure, curated by Allen Frame, PS122 Gallery, New York, NY
2005
Something is Somewhere, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY
Human Nature, Pump House Gallery, London, UK
Off the Coast: A Landscape Chronology, Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME
2004
RE:SOURCE Performances, Art in General, New York, NY
RE:SOURCE, curated by Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy, Art in General, New York, NY
2003
The Changing Same, Triple Candie, New York, NY
La Superette, Deitch Projects, NYC; Participant Inc., Brooklyn, NY
Off the Top, curated by Sid Sachs, Bill Maynes Gallery, NewYork, NY
Mark: Contemporary Drawings, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA
Portland Biennial, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
2002
Inside Out, The Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL
2001
Fully Human, The Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY
Domestic Culture: The Home in Visual Culture, curated by Mark Bessire, Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, ME
2000
Deterritorialization of Process, curated by Michael Joo, Artists Space, New York, NY
In Its Own Way, curated by Joan Linder, Makor Gallery, New York, NY
7,840,800 CU FT, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, Queens, NY
1999
Lesperance’s Hand-Knit Self Portrait, Printed Matter, Inc., New York, NY
1996
Project Room, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA
Bibliography
2023
Gluibizzi, Amanda. “Exemplary Modern: Sophie Taeuber-Arp with Contemporary Artists”. The Brooklyn Rail (October, 2023)
Clavarino, Elena. “Exemplary Modern Sophie Taeuber-Arp With Contemporary Artists”. Air Mail (October 2023)
Pound, Cath. “Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s Enduring, Modernist Legacy Is Still Inspiring Contemporary Artists Today”. Artsy (October 2, 2023)
2022
Seidel, Stephanie. “Ellen Lesperance Merges Knitting With Paint To Extend Activist Archives”. Ocula Magazine (March 9, 2022).
2021
Cascone, Sarah. “Ellen Lesperance: Amazonknights”. Artnet News (November 26, 2021)
Quinton, Jared. “Unexpected Vernacular: Ellen Lesperance Interviewed by Jared Quinton”. Bomb Magazine (July 14, 2021)
Moldan, Tessa. “Ellen Lesperance: Patterns for Protest” .Ocula Magazine (June 23, 2021)
2020
Lossin, R.H. Ellen Lesperance's "Together we lie in ditches and in front of machines," art-agenda, November 10
Kopf, Suzy. “Seeking Out Imperfection with Ellen Lesperance,” Bmore Magazine, April 8
Buhe, Elizabeth. “Ellen Lesperance, Velvet Fist,” The Brooklyn Rail, March
Cascone, Sarah. “Here are 21 Highly Anticipated , Mind-Expanding Museum Exhibitions…,” Artnet, January 6
2019
Porter, Jenelle. “Less is a Bore: Maximilist Art & Design,” The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston
2018
Vogel, Wendy. “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon,” at The New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY, exhibition review, Mousse magazine, January
Lehman, Claire. “Ellen Lesperance at Derek Eller Gallery,” Artforum, December
Bravo, Arthur Ivan. “Ellen Lesperance at Derek Eller Gallery,” Artillery, November 6
Brock, Hovey. “Ellen Lesperance, Lily of the Arc Lights,” The Brooklyn Rail, October 15
Steinhauer, Jillian. “Ellen Lesperance at Derek Eller Gallery,” The New York Times, September 20
Fateman, Johanna. “Ellen Lesperance at Derek Eller Gallery,” The New Yorker, September 24
2017
Cotter, Holland. “When it Comes to Gender, Let Confusion Reign,” exhibition review, The New York Times, September 28
Saltz, Jerry, “The New Museum’s ‘Trigger’ is Radical in content: Retrograde in FormL What Should we Make of That?," exhibition review, New York Magazine, October 23
Scott, Andrea K. “Makers Catalogue,” exhibition review, The New Yorker, August 4
“Ellen Lesperance: Congratulations and Celebrations”, portfolio feature, Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, Vol. 44, #6
Kabat, Jennifer. “Yearly Round-Up: Congratulations and Celebrations,” exhibition review, Frieze magazine, January
Kabat, Jennifer “Pattern Recognition,” Frieze, September
Vogel, Wendy. “W.I.T.C.H. Way,” Artforum, August 22
2016
Rosenberg, Karen. “Knit, Purl, Protest: The Radical Feminist Stitchcraft of Ellen Lesperance," Artspace, January
Mizota, Sharon. “Review for Ellen Lesperance and Helen Mirra,” L.A. Times, June 27
2015
Frank, Joey. “Ellen Lesperance,” Intercourse Magazine, Issue 4, Winter
Meyers, Ashley Stull. “Ellen Lesperance: We Were Singing, at Adams and Ollman," Daily Serving, September 29
Halpert, Juliana; “Common Thread,” Artforum, August 14
2014
Taylor, Sue, “Ellen Lesperance, Portland, at Adams and Ollman,” Art in America, December
Dorfman, John. “Get in Line,” Art and Antiques, December
Rosenberg, Karen. “Thread Lines,” The New York Times, October 17
Romanow, Joanna Kleinberg. “Thread Lines,” Drawing Papers #118," The Drawing Center, New York, NY
Langner, Ellen . “PDX Road Trip,” New American Paintings, March 25, 2013
"Vitamin D2: New Perspectives in Drawing," Phaidon Press
2012
Poostchi, Becky. “This Sweater’s Better,” Garage, Spring/Summer 2012
2011
Fletcher, Harrell, Jens Hoffmann and Renaud Proch, “People’s Biennial: A Guide to America’s Most Amazing Artists," Independent Curators International
Grants, Awards, and Residencies
2020
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in Fine Arts, New York, NY
2018
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award, New York, NY
2017
Macdowell Colony Artist’s Residency, Peterborough, NH
Chiaro Award, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2014
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, NY
Djerassi Artists Residency, Bear Gulch, CA
Individual Artist Fellowship, Oregon Arts Commission, Salem, OR
2012
Hallie Ford Foundation Fellow, The Ford Family Foundation, Roseburg, OR
2010
Betty Bowen Award, Seattle, WA
MacDowell Colony Artist-In-Residence, Interdisciplinary / Performance, Peterborough, NH
2005
LEF Foundation Grant, New England Division, Boston, MA
2003
Associate Artist, “First Contact: Photographers Explore the Florida Landscape,”
The Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL
2001
Faculty Development Grant, Maine College of Art, Portland, ME
Course Work, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
2000
Project Honorarium, Artists Space, New York, NY
1999
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Grant, Morristown, NJ
1998
Artist-in-Residence, Studios Midwest, Galesburg, IL
1996
Artist-in-Residence, Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle, WA
Selected Public Collections
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX
​Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Frye Museum, Seattle, WA
ICA Miami, Miami, FL
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR
The Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY