EDUCATION
MFA California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA 2010
BA Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 1999
— International School of Art, Umbria Italy 1998
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2022 12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now selection, Albuquerque, NM
2022 Outstanding New Teacher of the Year Award, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
2019 Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant (nomination), New York, NY
2019 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (nomination), Washington DC
2018 Artist in Residence, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito CA
2017 Individual Excellence Award, Ohio Arts Council, Columbus OH
2016 SECA Award Nominee, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA
2016 Artist in Residence, Sedona Summer Colony Program, Sedona Arts Center, Sedona AZ
2014-15 Artist Residency and Public Project, c3 initiative, Portland OR
2013 A1 Travel Grant Recipient, San Francisco CA
2013 Artist in Residence, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village CO
2010 Barclay Simpson Award, San Francisco CA
2009 Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship Recipient, San Francisco CA
2005 Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant Recipient, New York NY
2003 Jurors Choice Award, Attleboro Museum, Attleboro MA; juried by Dorothy Simpson Krause
1999 Wolfenden Fine Arts Prize & Yakovak Fine Arts Scholarship, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH
SOLO | TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2023 SLANT, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2021 Elephant-Shoe, Rainbow Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2018 DIAGONAL RESISTANCE //, Northern Arizona University Art Museum, Flagstaff, AZ (catalog)
2013 Shadow Masks, Esqueleto Gallery, Oakland, CA
2012 Everything Changes, Make Hang Gallery, San Francisco, CA (two-person exhibition)
2011 Space Stations, Carville Annex, San Francisco, CA
COLLABORATIVE & SPECIAL PROJECTS
2018 STANDING SOUND COSTUME: LION and Power Place, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
2016 The Calmest of Us Would be Lunatics, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN (two collaborative works included)
2015 DEMOS, c3:initiative & St. Johns Community Center, Portland, OR (collaborative public project with video, publication, print, and event)
2014 ERNEST Introductions, c3:initiative, Portland, OR (two-person collaborative exhibition)
2012 Over My Dead Body, Root Division Gallery, San Francisco, CA (one collaborative work included)
2008 Pilgrims and Visitations, Simon Edwards Gallery, Yakima, WA (two-person collaborative exhibition)
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Strangers To / In / And of … This World, Harry Wood Gallery at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Artists as Knowledge Keepers, 516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM
2022 12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2022, Pie Projects, Santa Fe, NM
2021 In Tandem, Masley Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2020 Art In Practice, San Francisco Zen Center (online exhibition), San Francisco, CA
2019 Advice for Future Homecomers, People’s Liberty, Cincinnati, OH
Open Source 1.4, The Carnegie Galleries, Covington, KY
AD:2019 Cincinnati Edition, Anytime Dept., Cincinnati, OH
2018 Women to Watch Ohio – 2018: A collaboration with the Ohio Advisory Group of the National Museum of Women in the
Arts, Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery, Columbus, OH (catalog)
Igniting Change, Dorothy Uber Bryan Gallery, Bowling Green, OH (catalog)
Altered States, Lexington Art League, Lexington, OH
Beyond Things, Alternate Projects, Cincinnati, OH
Companion Pieces, Anytime Dept., Cincinnati, OH
2017 Animal Magnetism, Wave Pool Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2015 Just Passing Through, University of San Francisco Kalmanovitz-Hall Rooftop Sculpture Terrace, San Francisco, CA
2013 Print, Print, Pass, Berkeley Central Arts Passage, Berkeley, CA
The Familiar Unfamiliar, Casa Agave, Wonder Valley, CA
Actual Scale, Kala Gallery, Berkeley, CA
MFA Selections, Gatehouse Gallery at di Rosa, Napa, CA
Thinking Like The Universe, Hatch Gallery, Oakland CA
2012 We’re All Here Because We’re Not All There, Tecoah Bruce Gallery, Oakland, CA (catalog)
2010 breathe, Project One Gallery, San Francisco, CA; curated by Jessica Silverman and Brooke
Waterhouse
Symbolic Flow, SUB Mission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Graduate Fine Arts Exhibition, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Barclay Simpson Award Exhibition, Oliver Arts Center, Oakland, CA
The Domestic-Garde, ap-art-ment, San Francisco, CA
2009 Immediate Future: The 2009 Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship in the Visual Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery,
San Francisco, CA
A Matter of Course, Swell Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
About Place, AC2 Gallery, Albuquerque, NM (catalog)
Threads, National Queer Arts Festival, SomArts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Hare & The Hounds, 18 Reasons Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008 Thought Processes, Krause Gallery, Providence, RI
2007 Confluence, Krause Gallery, Providence, RI
2005 Steel Yard Summer Tour, SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME & Hillel Gallery, Providence, RI
Photography and Sculpture Juried Exhibit, Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge, MA
2004 Small Works, Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, MA
2003 Kawit Legong, Shadowlight Productions, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA
2002 Seven Visions, Shadowlight Productions, Brava Theater, San Francisco, CA
PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
Zastudil, Nancy. “Critic’s Picks: Welly Fletcher,” ArtForum, October 2023.
Ware, Joshua. “Welly Fletcher: 12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2022,” Southwest Contemporary. June 2022.
Rosen, Steven. “Five best Arts & Culture Events in Cincinnati for this weekend (June 15-17),” City Beat. 15 June 2018.
Distel, Matt. Exhibition catalog for Women to Watch Ohio – 2018: A collaboration with the Ohio Advisory Group of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Riffe Gallery, 2018: 4-5, 14.
Ostrow, Saul. Exhibition catalog for Igniting Change, Dorothy Uber Bryan Gallery, 2018: 32.
Seda-Reeder, Maria. “Collaborative Art Exhibit ‘Companion Pieces’ Opens at Camp Washington’s Anytime Dept.,” CityBeat. 6 June 2018.
Carter, Christopher. “Serenading the Bones: Animal Magnetism at Wave Pool Gallery,” ÆQAI. 29 October 2017.
Thee, Mike. “Birds-Eye View: Striking new installation in Student Center inspires playfulness, pondering,” The Commons. 17 February 2017.
Harned, Megan. “Top 5 Visual Arts Shows: Fall Arts Guide,” Willamette Week. 8 September 2015.
Spitz, Enid. “Look Inside St. John’s Unoccupied Jail; Demos: Wapato Correctional Facility makes the NoPo point of contention into art,” Willamette Week. 13 November 2015.
Anderson, Jennifer. “Wapato Stars in Artful Video, Book,” Portland Tribune. 5 November 2015.
Jahn, Jeff. “Demos: Wapato Correctional Facility by ERNEST,” PORT. 11 November 2015.
Brook, Pete. “An Exhibit, Film and Community Engagements to Grapple with a Mothballed Portland Jail’s Legacy,” Prison Photography. September 2015.
Rogers, Pat. “Animals Take the Spotlight in ‘Kingdom Animalia.’” Hampton Art Hub. 27 September 2013.
Westbrook, Lindsey. “Awards and Accolades.” Glance Magazine. Fall 2013: 40.
Aesthetica Blog. August 2013.
Herriman, Kat. “Animal Masks for Minimalists,” Artlog.com. June 2013.
Federico, Cherie. “The Aesthetic Art Prize 2013: 100 Contemporary Artists.” Aesthetica Magazine. 2013: 86.
Beal, Stephen, David Kasprzak, & Larry Rinder. 25: Celebrating 25 Years of the Barclay Simpson Award. San Francisco: California College of the Arts, 2012.
Barber, Bonnie. “Newsmakers.” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. July/August 2012: 53 & 55.
Bamberger, Alan. ArtBusiness.com. 1 June 2012.
Fontaine, Sarah, & Alexis Petty. “Llewelynn Fletcher Interview.” a Case For Making. October 2011: 34 – 37.
Bamberger, Alan. ArtBusiness.com. 13 August 2011.
Lehner, Ace. “Inhabiting Space Stations, a Performance Interview.” AceLehner.com. February 2011.
Maers, Jennifer. “Close Encounters at Carville Annex.” The Bold Italic. 26 January 2011.
Gross, Jaime. “REMIX: STYLE MAP; SAN FRANCISCO: Riding a Wave.” The New York Times Style Magazine. 21
November 2010: 28.
Cole, Serena. “breathe.”: Art Show with Welly Fletcher.” Artists and Astronauts. 19 June 2010.
Ketenjian, Tania. “Interview with Llewelynn Fletcher.” Audio Tour of California College of the Arts MFA Exhibition. May 2010.
Sussman, Matt. “All The Young Turks.” San Francisco Bay Guardian. 5 – 11 May 2010: 30.
PUBLICATIONS (AUTHORED)
2021 Land Art of the 21st Century – includes shortlisted award designed with/Poured Earth Collaborative for 2020 Fly Ranch LAGI Competition. (Fall 2021, Hirmer Publishers).
2019 Unraveling the Rational: Making Kin and Amplifying Attunement, Commissioned essay, exhibition catalog Creatures:
When Species Meet, at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, May 2019
2016 //, Publication produced with Special Collections Press, University of Cincinnati; Edition of 100,
6.5 X 5.25 inches
2015 Demos: Wapato Correctional Facility, Publication produced with Container Corps and
c3initiative, 31 pp. with special inserts, 10 x 8 inches
VISITING ARTIST LECTURES | PUBLIC TALKS
2023 Artist Lecture, Fine Arts Lecture Series - Kari Marboe Endowed Lecturship, California College of the Arts
2022 Artist Talk, 12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now, Pie Projects, Santa Fe, NM
Public Guest Critic/Respondent, BFA Senior Thesis Conversations: Glass, California College of the Arts
2021 Panelist, Arts and Dartmouth Career Day, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Artist Lecture, Lightning Lounge, University of New Mexico Faculty, Albuquerque, NM
2019 Public Lecture, Unraveling the Rational: Making Kin and Amplifying Attunement, for opening event of Creatures: When Species Meet, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, May 2019
Visiting Artist Lecture, DIAGONAL RESISTANCE //, Miami University
Visiting Artist Lecture, DIAGONAL RESISTANCE //, School for Creative and Performing Arts
2018 Public Talk, Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery, Cincinnati OH
Visiting Artist Lecture, Queer Sculpture, Stanford University
Visiting Artist Lecture & Critic, Senior Seminar, Art Academy of Cincinnati
Visiting Critic, Wood Sculpture, University of Cincinnati
2016 Visiting Artist Lecture, University of Cincinnati
Visiting Artist Lecture, Beginning/Intermediate Sculpture, City College of San Francisco
2015 Visiting Artist Lecture /Exhibition/Critic, Senior Level Interdisciplinary Critique, San Francisco State University
Visiting Artist Lecture & Critic, Sculpture, San Francisco State University
2014 Public Talk, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
Visiting Artist Lecture & Critic, Brandeis University
Guest Critic, First Year CORE Reviews, California College of the Arts
2013 Visiting Artist Lecture, Beginning/Intermediate Sculpture, City College of San Francisco
Guest Panelist, The Real World (MFA course), with Glen Helfand, California College of the Arts
Visiting Artist Lecture & Critic, Graduate Critique Seminar, with Chris Finley, San Francisco State University
2012 Public Talk, Alumni Lecture Series, Dartmouth College
Visiting Artist Lecture, Convent of the Sacred Heart High School
2011 Guest critic, Dialogues & Practices (MFA course) with Allison Smith, California College of the Arts
2010 Guest critic, Dialogues & Practices (MFA course) with Allison Smith, California College of the Arts
TEACHING | WORKSHOPS
Fall 2019- Assistant Professor of Sculpture, University of New Mexico
Fall 2018 - MFA Graduate Thesis Advisor, University of Cincinnati
Spring 2019
Summer 2018 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Metal Sculpture, University of Cincinnati
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Summer Research Studio, University of Cincinnati
Fall 2017 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Fiber Sculpture, University of Cincinnati
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Senior Thesis Seminar, University of Cincinnati
Adjunct Assistant Professor, SPACE Studio, University of Cincinnati
Spring 2017 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Advanced Sculpture, University of Cincinnati
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Senior Thesis Seminar, University of Cincinnati
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Senior Studio, University of Cincinnati
Fall 2016 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Sculpture II, University of Cincinnati
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Senior Thesis Seminar, University of Cincinnati
Adjunct Assistant Professor, SPACE Studio, University of Cincinnati
Spring 2016 Lecturer in Sculpture, Sculpture I/II, Stanford University
Summer 2015 Workshop Leader, Skin and Bones, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
Lecturer in Sculpture, Beginning/Intermediate/Advanced/Independent Study Sculpture, City College of San Francisco
Spring 2015 Lecturer in Sculpture, Beginning/Intermediate/Advanced/Independent Study Sculpture, City College of San Francisco
Fall 2014 Lecturer in Sculpture, Beginning/Intermediate/Advanced Sculpture, City College of San Francisco
Summer 2014 Workshop Leader, Building Art with Industrial Felt, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
Spring 2014 Lecturer in Sculpture, Sculpture I: Making and Meaning, California College of the Arts
Spring 2012 Lecturer in Sculpture, Introduction to Sculpture, Sonoma State University
Lecturer in Sculpture, Intermediate/Advanced Sculpture, Sonoma State University
Fall 2011 Lecturer in Sculpture, Foundation of 3-Dimensional Design, Sonoma State University
Lecturer in Sculpture, Intermediate/Advanced Sculpture, Sonoma State University
Fall 2010 Lecturer in Sculpture, Metal Techniques for Sculpture, California College of the Arts
Summer 2010 Lead Teaching Artist, Mission Voices, Southern Exposure Youth Education Program
1999-2016 Traveling Drawing & Painting focused Artist Workshops. These independently led workshops range from 5 nights to 4 weeks, and include both novice and advanced practitioners. Locations include Oaxaca, Mexico, Cornwall, England, Tuscany, Italy, and the Dordogne Valley in France.
OTHER EMPLOYMENT
Fall 2018 - Ground Floor Makerspace Technician, 1819 Innovation Hub, University of Cincinnati
Sum 2019 Member of inaugural team at new center founded to support and encourage interdisciplinary research. Tasked with creating an equitable and inclusive experience with materials and making, accessible and available to all UC students, faculty and staff. Responsible for instruction on wide range of analog and digital fabrication equipment including Waterjet cutter, CNC Router, Lasercutters, 3D printers, metal and woodshop equipment including TIG, and MIG welding and plasma cutting.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
Advisory Board Member, Contemporary Art Center, Learning and Programs
College Art Association
Juror, Individual Fellowship Grant, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Providence RI
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My artworks address the body by creating spaces and objects that can be used for reflection, or as locations for positive transformational experiences. I am heavily invested in the contemporary role of the physical, and utilize raw materials to communicate in body-based terms like weight, texture, temperature, scent, and sound reflection.
In reckoning with today's political, environmental, and social realities, I have been compelled to make objects that enact support. Collaboration is often an element of my overall practice, which manifests as projects made with other artists and as objects that may require the viewer’s participation to complete. I have been exploring the diagonal as a literal manifestation of queer politics: leaning material-bodies form a sculptural field of resistance to the straight, right angles of the normative world. Crafted using raw materials such as industrial felt, wood, clay, and steel, each sculpture offers a direct, physical encounter.
My practice involves a work flow that weaves digital and analog tools and techniques. I harness benefits of working digitally (easy scale shifts, repeatable forms, and flexibility to generate an object in multiple materials), while remaining rooted in the hand-made. The combination of analog and digital marks combine in both dialogue and tension, identifying my particular practice, as well as engaging larger tensions in our contemporary evolved human tool-use.
In recent work, my investigations have embraced themes of human-animal kinship, and the body’s central role within that inquiry. I carve a diagonal trajectory in my research, drawing from sources ranging from the writings of Judith Butler, Sarah Ahmed, and Donna Haraway, to the prehistoric animal carvings and drawings in the Dordogne Valley, to the emerging discipline of Animal Studies and the Post-humanities. I am investigating how our paleo-past informs our post-human future, while taking aim at human exceptionalism – a claim which has led to a culture with severe consequences for non-human people, and is tied to fabricated hierarchical divides within human kinships as well.
I hope my artworks can provide alternate paths and possibilities. I believe the expanded field of sculpture offers increasingly-rare opportunity for an embodied, intersectional, poetic experience of otherness.
***
Welly Fletcher is an artist and educator, working and living on unceded Tiwa land (Albuquerque NM), the traditional homelands of the Pueblo of Sandia. They are currently an Assistant Professor of Sculpture in the Department of Art at the University of New Mexico.