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Biography
Sandy Gellis ( ) Sandy Gellis grew up in the Bronx and studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology, as well as the School of Visual Arts, New York. Often described as a conceptual artist, Gellis works in sculpture, drawing, photography, and printmaking, specializing in Earth, Air, and Water studies. Gellis' public art projects are most successful in their approach and response to the environment. In a conceptual landscape piece from 1992, she collected 150 samples of soil from different places around the world (Morocco, Greece, Iceland, Egypt ) and arranged them in a cartographic grid on the wall in a gallery space. Another project dedicated to the Hudson River consisted of a combined photographic record as well as samples of soil collected from the Hudson River near Lower Manhattan. Gellis explores the interaction of art and nature, observing minuscule interactions and happenings. In many of her works, she chronicles changes in objects, pointing out the mysterious process of nature in the permanence of the art object. Gellis places us in a context of something natural and temporary. She combines water, oxygen and minerals and utilizes them as metaphors for natural processes. Site and sculpture become one, acting as part of the active process of the life of the site.
Curriculum Vitae
Sandy Gellis School of Visual Arts, NYC 1965-1972
Fashion Institute of Technology, NY 1960-1964
New School for Social Research, NY
City College University of New York, NY
Queens College, Queens, NY Selected Solo Exhibitions
Catching light, migrations, water flow, extinctions. . . two person show w/Margot McLean, La Specola, Florence, Italy, 2004*
Studies on the Nature of Things, two person show w/Margot McLean, Galleria Falteri, Florence, Italy, 2004
Prints and Project Studies, Karen McCready Fine Art, NY 1998
Hudson River Drawings, TZ’Art & Co., NY 1995
Projects: Earth, Air and Water Studies, The Gallery Three Zero, NY 1992*
Earth, Air and Water Studies, Storefront for Art and Architecture, NY 1989*
Studies for Dump Sites, New York Experimental Glass Workshop Gallery, NY 1985
Environment As A Point of Departure, 55 Mercer, New York, NY 1980*
55 Mercer, New York, NY 1978
55 Mercer, New York, NY 1977 Selected Group Exhibitions
The Elements: Water, the Gallery of Contemporary Art, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT, 2006
Meteorologic Phenomena, Glyndor Gallery, Wave Hill NY, 2005
Print Arts Northwest Gallery, Portland, Oregon, 2005
Sets, Series and Suites: Contemporary Prints, Torf Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2005
Collaborations, Portland Oregon, 2005
Cut, Bite and Stroke, Firehouse Art Gallery, Nassau Community College, Nassau, NY, 2004
Imaging the River, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY 2003-2004
Joint Venture: The Editions of Karen McCready and Jean-Yves Noblet, International Print Center NY 2001
Prints and Drawings 1960-2000, Arthur M Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass 2000
PRINTED, Karen McCready Fine Art, NY 2000
Contemporary Narratives in American Prints, Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion, CT 2000
Sight/Insight: Visual Commentaries on the Physical World, New York Public Library, NY 2000
Themes and Variations, The Publications of Vincent Fitzgerald & Company, Columbia University, NY 2000*
Primary Source, University of Mass at Amherst, Mass 1999
My Girlfriend Iris, Pamplemousse Press, NY 1999
Brand New Editions, Karen McCready Fine Art, NY 1998
Paper +, Works on Dieu Donné paper, Dieu Donné Papermill plus Jacqueline Brody, NY 1998*
New Nature, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania 1998*
Outside/Inside, Transamerica Pyramid Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1998
Oceans and Galaxies, Karen McCready Fine Art, NY 1997
Green Piece, Castle Gallery College of New Rochelle, NY 1995
Looking Over the Hudson, Russell Sage College Gallery, Troy, NY 1994
TEN Projects for the Printmaking Workshop, The Printmaking Workshop Gallery, NY, 1994
Contemporary Public Art In The Bronx, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY 1993*
Naturalunnatural, TZ ’Art & Co., NY 1993
Breaching Containment, The Gallery Three Zero, NY 1993*
The Stories Exhibit; Art Beyond Words, Henry Street Settlement, NY 1992
Process As Issue, College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY 1992
Apocalypse & Resurrection, AMFAR, The Gallery Three Zero, NY 1992*
The Printmaking Workshop: Bob Blackburn's Collection, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH 1992
1692 Salem Witch Trials - 1991 Designs for a Permanent Memorial, The Essex Institute, Salem, Mass 1992
Against The Tide: Artists and the Water Cycle, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY 1992*
Presswork:The Art of Women Printmakers, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C. 1991*
Empty Pedestals, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, NY 1991
Garbage Out Front: A New Era of Public Design, Municipal Art Society, NY 1990
Prague Assembly of Architects, Designers and Planners, International Conference, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1990
Political Landscapes, Hillwood Art Museum, C.W. Post University, Greenvale, NY 1990*
Projects and Portfolios, 25th National Print Biennial, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY 1989*
Topical Rainforest, Sundered Ground, New York, NY 1989
Land and the Elements: Prints, Luise Ross Gallery, NY 1989
Exhibition Diomede, The Clocktower Gallery, NY 1989*
New York Experimental Glass, The Society for Art in Crafts, Pittsburgh, PA 1989*
Lines of Vision: Drawings by Contemporary Women, Hillwood Art Museum, C.W. Post University, Greenvale, NY 1989**
Through the Land, Mary Delahoyd Gallery, NY 1989
Collaborations, Gallery Grafiska Saliskapet, Sweden, 1989 *
About Time, Islip Art Museum, Long Island, NY 1987
A New Genre:Time, City Gallery, Department of Cultural Affairs, NY 1987
The Future of Storefront, Storefront for Art and Architecture, NY 1987
Homeless at Home, Storefront for Art and Architecture, NY 1986
Homeless at Home, American Institute for Architects, (AIA), Washington D.C. 1985
AdoRnmenTs, Berenice Steinbaum Gallery, NY 1985 **
Experiments In Glass, Paper, Clay and Fabric, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT 1985**
Time Will Tell, The Squibb Gallery, Princeton, NJ 1985
Diversity-New York Artists, Main Gallery, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 1985*
After Tilted Arc, Storefront for Art and Architecture, NY 1985
Exceptions Three, Pratt Manhattan Center, NY 1985
Contemporary Drawings, Arkansas Museum, Little Rock Arkansas 1984
55 Mercer: 12 Years, 55 Mercer, NY 1983*
Spare Parts, City Gallery, Department of Cultural Affairs, NY 1983*
Protective Devices, Windows on White, NY 1983*
Visiting Artists, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD 1983*
Space Probes, Nexus, Atlanta GA 1981* 10 Sculptors, Fine Arts Center Art Gallery, State University at Stonybrook, Stonybrook, NY 1981
Condensed Space, Nassau County Museum of Art, Long Island, NY 1977*
Zaratini Gallery, NY 1974
Gevind, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark 1974*
Alumni Exhibition, School of Visual Arts, NY 1973
New York Artists, Rundetorn, Copenhagen, Denmark 1973
A.I.R. Gallery, NY 1972
Museum"A Project for Living Artists", NY 1970
Statement
"Public spaces interest me; they are full of information to be explored, full of movement to be experienced. Time, the elements, people and a myriad of other things impact on space continuously and alter it in its content. New dialogues emerge. The site provides boundaries, the inspiration and is in part the reason for the sculpture. Observation of the site over time reveals the many sides, sounds, visual densities, light and functions of the space as well as the recorded history imbedded into and surrounding the space."
-- Sandy Gellis, 1994
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