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https://www.instagram.com/shonna_pryor/

BIO

Shonna Pryor is a conceptual artist, art programs producer, and an educator at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her multidisciplinary art practice is inspired by references to food theory and its peripheral objects and concepts as a sociocultural lens through which to examine the politics of identity, memory, power, and play. An Afrofuturist -based aesthetic is apparent in the visual language of these expressions. Pryor's engagement in the field of art and culture is enhanced by her award-winning art-based broadcast media work that has sought to create equitable space and expanded awareness through an intersecting of these spaces. She is a 2018-2019 Emmy Award, Midwest winner and was shortlisted for the 2017-18 Harvard University Knight Visiting Neiman Fellowship Award. Shonna Pryor's visual art has been exhibited in major cities such as Chicago, Detroit and New York, with esteemed artist residencies at Hyde Park Art Center; High Concept Labs; and Chicago Council on Science and Technology, and Chicago Artist Coalition's Hatch Residency, respectively. Her visual art and community-based collaborations with nationally recognized organizations and institutions has been instrumental in employing art to encourage young people towards S.T.E.A.M. futures, as applied to a just and equitable society.

"Pryor animates the anthropological through experimental disordering of linear time: historical events, private familial touchstones, trauma, and irrepressible joy are clustered into conceptual ‘tableau vivant,’ acting out upon one another within Pryor’s constructs and critical apparatuses. she elevates a strata of lived history often swept away from what is canonically preserved by pernicious systems of power. she collects trails of crumbs that amass into trenchant stories that allow the artist and her audiences to revisit passages of perseverance, ingenuity, and grace within the Black American experience.

food—bread, cheddar, and dough, for instance—is never exclusively metaphoric nor solely literal in Pryor’s practice. at the nexus of family recipes, meals recollected, as well as more sweeping analyses of wealth distribution and access to the means to build sustainable approaches to living, the artist traces the material realities of what might be called provisions, nourishment, investment. an accounting of the spiritual, psychological, and social ramifications of feeding and being fed.

Pryor’s inquiries press on the fraught pasts and multiple dazzling and disorienting futures of mutual care as a foundational political responsibility. in all seriousness and all playfulness, it’s great to be around what she does." 

   

-Matt Morris, contributing writer to Artforum.com, Art Papers, ARTnews, Flash Art, Fragrantica, Sculpture, The Seen, and X-TRA

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnrzFlcLAo0/ 

CV

EDUCATION

2016—The New School, Master of Science in Media Management, Arts Programming, Production and Development (NY, NY)

2012—School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Master of Fine Arts in Studio Painting and Drawing (Chicago, IL)

2002—College for Creative Studies, BFA in Fiber and Materials Studies (Detroit, MI)

PROFESSIONAL
Multimedia Visual Artist and Art Programs Producer—2007- present

Visual Arts Educator, School of the Art Institute of Chicago—2012-present
Research Producer, WTTW/Chicago PBS, Chicago, IL—2016-2017

Research and Production, Chicago Access Network Television—2012

Art & Design Educator, Baker College, Auburn Hills, MI—2004
Production Assistant, Community Media Network Cablevision, Troy, MI—2002- 2003

AWARDS
2019 Emmy Award Winner, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Midwest:

Arts/Entertainment Programing Program/Special Series (Art & Design in Chicago)

2019 (nominee) Peter Lisagor Award, WTTW Chicago Public Broadcast Television:
“Best News/Specialty/Arts/Culture/Entertainment News–Feature or Series (Art & Design, Chicago)”
2017
 (shortlist) Knight Visiting Nieman Fellowship Award, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

2016 Judy and John McCarter Fellowship, WTTW Chicago Public Television
2012
 Archibald Motley Jr. Artist Grant Award
2009
 School of the Art Institute of Chicago Merit Scholarship Award

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023

"Of Portals and Pathways II: Fiscal Frontiers" Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL

2022

“Solo: Of Portals and Pathways", Material Gallery, Chicago, IL https://vimeo.com/682288057

GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES

2024

(forthcoming) Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL

2023

(forthcoming) Chicago Artist Coalition Hatch Residents Exhibition, Chicago, IL

"Re/View: CCS Alumni Exhibition", Valade Gallery, curated by Sabrina Nelson, Detroit, MI

"Neighbors", Purple Window Gallery at Mana Contemporary, Chicago, IL

2022

"A Woman With A Baguette" Ruschwoman Gallery, curated by Matt Morris

"Relic", curated by Cierra McKissick, University of Chicago Arts Incubator, Chicago, IL https://vimeo.com/710801227

"Faculty Exhibition" Evanston Art Center, Chicago, IL

2020

"The TOGETHER Tablecloth Summer Tour Series", Black Lives Matter Rally(ies), Chicago, IL

“By & For | BLM (Black Lives Matter)”, curated by Fabiola Tosi, Instagram

“WallPAPER of Respect: The Freedmens Bureau Ledgers” guest artist with the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble, Stoney Island Arts Bank, Chicago, IL

2018

“Take Root Among the Stars” curated by D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
“High Concepts Lab Open House Show”, Constellation Chicago, Chicago, IL
"Female Curves", CAN TV Broadcast Channel, Chicago, IL

“Experience: Threewalls Annual Gala”, Threewalls Gallery, Chicago, IL

2017


“The Presidential Library Project: Black Presidential Imaginary” curated by Ross Jordan, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL

2015


“Adorn”, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
 “Gender Bombs and Other Cooking Ingredients” Impromptu Intervention Performance,

“Gender Bombs and Other Cooking Ingredients” Impromptu intervention performances: Expo Chicago
 The Armory Show, New York, NY Frieze, New York, NY

“Surface, Place”, Abrazo Interno Gallery, New York, NY
 “Art from Excess”, Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts, Gary, IN

2014


“Gender Bombs and Other Cooking Ingredients” Impromptu intervention performances:
Art Basel, Miami; Whitney Biennial, New York; New York Frieze Art Fair, New York; Expo Chicago; New York City Gallery tours led by Jerry Saltz courtesy of Vulture Magazine—Gagosian Gallery, Luhring Augustine Gallery, Andrea Rosen Gallery, David Zwirner Gallery, Petzel Gallery

“Female Curves” CAN-TV art video programming hosted by ExTV SAIC, Chicago, IL

2013

"Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity" Performance Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago

Museum, Chicago, IL

“Gender Bombs and Other Cooking Ingredients” Impromptu intervention performance, Expo Chicago

2012


"Graduate Thesis Exhibition", The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL

2011

"Dialogical Self", The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

2010


“Post-Baccalaureate Thesis Exhibition”, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL "Midnight Snacks", 1366 Space, Chicago, IL

2007

“Full Circle”, G.R. N'Namdi Gallery, Detroit MI 2006


"75th Anniversary Show", Detroit Artists Market, Detroit MI

RESIDENCIES

2024

The School of The Art Institute of Chicago Artist-In-Residency (Homan), Chicago, IL

2023 

Chicago Artists Coalition, Hatch Residency, Chicago, IL

2022

Wild Yams, Chicago, IL

2019
Artist Winter Intensive Residency, High Concept Labs, Chicago, IL
2016

Jackman Goldwasser Artist Residency, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL

COMMUNITY / COLLABORATION

2023 “Recipe Storytelling” Workshop, ThreeWalls + Dreaming Circle, Chicago, IL

2021 – "It's Cyborg!" AT&T Community Youth Development Program + Chicago Parks District (Murray Park), Chicago IL

2021 – "Mission to Mars Museum" Carole Robertson Learning Center, Chicago, IL

2018 – "Object Storytelling: Appropriating the AIC Museum" Baker College Prep High School classroom, Chicago, IL

2017-2019 - "Youth Summer Fashion Camp: Food Theme Inspired By First Lady Michelle Obama (Healthy Food Initiative For Children)", The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

2016 – "Recipe Storytelling: Senior Community", Lawndale/Homan Community Center, Chicago, IL

CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2014

“Female Curves”, ExTV Broadcast, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2011

“Dialogical Self”, co-curated with Tony Lewis and Christina Long, School of the Art Institute of

Chicago, Chicago, IL

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2022 October 18, "Routes to Freedom: Shonna Pryor's Speculative Future" by Kerry Cardoza, NewCity Magazine

2022 May 13, "Deeper Research and a Politics of Care", by Kerry Cardoza The Chicago Reader

2022 “Top 5 Weekend Picks” Visualist Chicago (1/27/22-02/02/22)

2021 Feb 12, "60-Word Minute: Shonna Pryor", by Chicago Tribune contributing art critic, Lori Waxman for New City Art Magazine

2014
 “Street Style: Frieze Edition”, Refinery29

2007
 “Motown Leaders Envision a New Paradise Valley: Enclave to Showcase Black Culture”, The Associated Press

LECTURES + WRITINGS

2023 – (forthcoming) "The Soul of Philanthropy" Panel Discussion, ThreeWalls Organization, Chicago

2021 "Visual Art As Journalism", Women's History Month Talk, Waubonsee Community College, Chicago, IL

2015
 “The Great Good Place” publication, Curated by Brandon Alvendia, Threewalls Gallery, Chicago, IL

PUBLIC SERVICE

Auxiliary Board Member, Chicago Council on Science and Technology—2020-current • National Academy of Television Arts & Science Midwest, Awards Judge 2020 • Member Toastmasters (Loop Trustmasters)—2020 • WTTW Community Advisory Board member, Chicago, IL—2015
 • Dorchester Community Garden Project volunteer, Chicago, IL—2015 • Associate Board of Ambassadors, American Cancer Society, Chicago—2015
 • Member of Board of Directors and Fundraising Committee for Creative Arts Center Gallery, Pontiac MI—2007
 • WDET Detroit Public Radio fundraiser and contributing newsletter writer—2007 • Exhibit Committee Member, Detroit Artists Market—2006
 • Member of the Detroit Institute of Arts Speaker's Bureau—2005

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