Sam Vernon
Earned her MFA in Painting/Printmaking from Yale University in 2015 and her BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 2009. Her installations combine xeroxed drawings, photographs, paintings and sculptural components in an exploration of personal narrative and identity. She uses installation and performance to honor the past while revising historical memory. Vernon has most recently exhibited with We Buy Gold, Interstitial Gallery, Coney Art Walls curated by Jeffrey Deitch, Brooklyn Museum, Queens Museum, Fowler Museum at UCLA and Seattle Art Museum. Sam lives in Oakland, CA and teaches printmaking as an Assistant Professor at California College of the Arts (CCA).
Born 1987 in Brooklyn, New York, US
Currently living in San Francisco, California, US
E: samevernon@gmail.com
P: (240) 676-1980
www.samvernon.com
Education
2015 MFA Yale University
New Haven, CT, USA
2009 BFA The Cooper Union
New York, NY, USA
Teaching Experience
2017- Assistant Professor, Printmaking, California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA, USA
2016/17 Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA
2014 Teaching Assistant, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Teaching Assistant, Yale Norfolk Summer School of Music & Art, Norfolk, CT, USA
Awards/Fellowships/Residencies
2019 San Francisco Artadia Awards Finalist, San Francisco, CA, USA
Sally and Don Lucas Artists Program (LAP) Visual Arts Fellowship
Montalvo Arts Center nomination, Saratoga, CA, USA
2018 SECA Art Award nomination, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA, USA
Artistes en Résidence, Clermont-Ferrand, France
2015 Fountainhead Residency, Miami, Florida, FL, USA
Helen Winternitz Award, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
2010/11 Emma Bee Bernstein Fellowship, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
A.I.R. Gallery Emerging Artist Fellowship, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2009 The Pietro and Alfrieda Montana Prize, The Cooper Union, New York, NY, USA
Solo Exhibitions
2020 Future Shock
MiM Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Impasse of Desires, curated by Elena Gross
Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA, USA
2019 False Calm, curated by Sam Yates
UT Downtown Gallery, Knoxville, TN, USA
Endless Supply, curated by Ashara Ekundayo
Ashara Ekundayo Gallery, Oakland, CA, USA
2018 Cross-breeze, curated by Zach Mitlas
Off the Rail, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Rage Wave, curated by Leila Timmins
G44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, Toronto, Canada
2016 Rage Wave, curated by Julia Greenway
Interstitial Gallery and Seattle Presents Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
2015 How Ghosts Sleep (Seattle), curated by Pamela McCulsky and Erica Massaquoi
Seattle Art Museum, Olympic Sculpture Park, Paccar Pavilion, Seattle, WA, USA
2011 Think On It—Then Lay It Down For Good (Fellowship Exhibition)
A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2020 Sanctuary: Recent Acquisitions to the Permanent Collection, curated by Mars Hollingsworth
California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Someone Else’s Ghost, curated by Patrick McElnea
MiM Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2019 Mappings, curated by Essence Harden
Residency Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2018 NextNewGames, curated by Patricia Cariño Valdez
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA, USA
Bonjour Tristesse, curated by Julian A. Jimarez Howard
Barney Savage Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Terribly Vulnerable and Terribly Hard, curated by Ashton Cooper
Cooper Cole, Toronto, Canada
FOREGROUND 19, curated by Alfred R. Dudley
The Cooper Union, New York, NY, USA
2017 Summertime
Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
Dialogues in Drawing
Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
THREE: On Visibility and Camouflage, works from BWA for BLM
We Buy Gold, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Post-Election, Co-Organized by Kristen Dodge and Kate Gilmore
September Gallery, Hudson, NY, USA
The World After January 20, 2017: Works by Contemporary Artists & Poets
James W. Palmer Gallery, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA
Temporal Gestalt, curated by Mary E. Cooke
Lee Gallery, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA
Commissions
2020 Svane Foundation Ark Commission
2019 Geode
King School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA), Portland, OR, USA
Shadows go the wrong way
Facebook Artist in Residence, San Francisco, CA, USA
2017 Round 46: Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter
Project Row Houses, Houston, TX, USA
2016 Coney Art Walls
Coney Island Amusement District, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2015 How Ghosts Sleep (Seattle)
Seattle Art Museum, Olympic Sculpture Park, Paccar Pavilion, Seattle, WA, USA
2011 Intersections, a mural by Heidy Garay, Mikell Fine Iles and Sam Vernon
Dumbo Improvement District in partnership with NYCDOT, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Selected Collaborative Projects
2019 Visual Art contributor, The Arsonist, a play written and conceptualized by Mai Sennaar
Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA, USA
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA, USA
2016 Visual Art Contributor, Broadsided Press, art & literature collaborations with poets Danez Smith and Nathan McClain
Organizer, When You’re Smiling…The Many Faces of the Mask, QI2016 performance
collaboration with Abby Dobson accompanied by Wes Mingus
Queens Museum, Queens, NY, USA
2015 Visual Art Contributor, Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter
New Museum, New York, NY, USA
Performer, Ganggang: Creative Misunderstandings Series, organized by Alejandro Guzman
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2014 Visual Art Contributor, American Gothic, a play by Eli Epstein-Deutsch and Nahuel Telleria
Yale Cabaret, New Haven, CT, USA
Print Media
2019 Lena Gustafson, “Sam Vernon,” Practice, July 21, 2019. 46–51.
2018 Olivia K. Young, “Sam Vernon, Rage Wave: Resisting Repose,” January 14, 2018.
David Buuck, “Sam Vernon,” TRIPWIRE 14: THE RED ISSUE, August 8, 2018. 184-193.
Leila Weefur, “Interview with Sam Vernon,” Wolfman New Life Quarterly, May 12, 2018. 28-33.
Peggy Cooper Cafritz, “peek-a-boo,” Fired Up! Ready to Go!: Finding Beauty, Demanding
Equity:
An African American Life in Art. The Collections of Peggy Cooper Cafritz, February 20, 2018.
Legacy Russell (Ed.), “Bye, Hi (self portrait),” Apogee Issue 10, January 31, 2018.
2017 Elizabeth Spettel, “Sam Vernon: the fiction reveals the taboos of history,” Black Renaissance
Noire: Volume 17, May 7, 2017. 8-11.
Selected Panels and Lectures
2020 Panelist, “When We Come Out,” Associated Students Art Gallery, San Francisco State (online)
Panelist, “Imagine Freedom: Art Works for Abolition” (online)
2019 Moderator, Artist Panel, / (slash), San Francisco, CA, USA
Panelist, Creative Mean: community conversation series, San Francisco, CA, USA
Guest Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Artist Talk, Ashara Ekundayo Gallery, Oakland, CA, USA
Guest Lecturer, Watkins College, Nashville, TN, USA
2018 Artist Talk and Gallery Walk Through, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA, USA
Guest Lecturer, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, USA
2017 Guest Lecturer, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA
Artist Talk, Real Time & Space, Oakland, CA, USA
Contributor, “Black Printed Matter” Presentation, E.M. Wolfman Bookstore, Oakland, CA, USA
Artist Series Speaker, 2017 NAEA National Convention, New York, NY, USA
Selected Press: Online & Print
Benjamin Sutton, “Six Artists Working as Teachers Share the Lessons They’ve Learned,” Artsy Editorial, October 16, 2018.
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-six-artists-teach-share-lessons-learned
Nicolette Loizou, “Colonial history explored in “Rage Wave” by Sam Vernon at Gallery 44,” BLOUINARTINFO (blog), October 9, 2017.
http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/2575077/colonial-history-explored-in-rage-wave-by-sam-vernon-at
Antwaun Sargent, “How to Survive Systemic Racism in America,” VICE (blog), July 12, 2017.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59p585/survive-systemic-racism-america-bwaforblm
Jessica Lynne, “Allostasis,” Open Space Issue – 5: Liminality of Form. openspace.sfmoma.org (blog).
Jaime Rojo & Steven Harrington, “Artists Bring 22 New Murals To Coney Art Walls 2016,” huffpost.com (blog), December 6, 2017.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coney-island-art-walls-2016_b_10465646
Joanna Nikas, “30 Under 30: Sam Vernon,” New York Times on Facebook, September 10, 2016.
Sam Vernon, a 29-year-old artist whose work has been featured at the Brooklyn Museum, uses her multidisciplinary art to confront questions about racial bias. In this episode of “30 Under 30,” Sam, also a member of “Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter,” will show us how she uses a copy machine to create some of her work. Comment with your questions, and NYT reporter Joanna Nikas will ask some.
Posted by The New York Times on Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Jen Graves, “The Crashing of Sam Vernon’s Rage Wave in Seattle,” TheStranger.com (blog), September 19, 2016.
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/09/19/24568262/the-crashing-of-sam-vernons-rage-wave-in-seattle
Lea McGarrigle and Jessica Lynne, “4 Black Artists You Need to Know,” amuse-i-d.vice.com, August 12, 2016. https://amuse-i-
d.vice.com/four-black-artists-in-ny-who-you-need-to-know/
Miranda S. Spivack, “Against Tough Odds, a High School Arts Program Fosters Success,” NewYorkTimes.com, May 3, 2016.
Anuli Akanegbu, “16 Female Artists You Should Know,” BRIT + CO (blog), March 15, 2015. http://www.brit.co/female-artists-you-should-know/
Deanna Kim, “15 Young Black Artists Making Waves in the Art World,” Complex Mag.com (blog), February 3, 2015.
http://www.complex.com/style/2015/02/young-black-artists-to-watch/
Donald Brown, “Tales from the Dark Side,” newhavenreview.com (blog), October 12, 2014.
http://www.newhavenreview.com/blog/index.php/2014/10/tales-from-the-dark-side
Priscilla Frank. “Black Artists: 30 Contemporary Art Makers Under 40 You Should Know,” huffpost.com (blog), February 26, 2013.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-artists-under-40-contemporary-painters-sculptors-performance-race-representation-art_
Brendan Carroll. “An Emerging Artist by the Financial Numbers,” art:21 (blog), October 3, 2012, http://magazine.art21.org/2012/10/03/an-
emerging-artist-by-the-financial-numbers/#.XV4NICMrKCQ