Galen Cheney
Biography:
Galen Cheney is a painter’s painter. Her formal art education began at Mount Holyoke College and continued at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, where she received her MFA and was mentored by Grace Hartigan, Hermine Ford, and Salvatore Scarpitta, among other important artists.
Three decades later, she continues to push herself and her work with honestly, commitment, and fearlessness. Deep diving into her own creative process, Cheney is a physical artist whose richly layered paintings embody her curiosity about and exploration of materials, abstraction, and her own psyche.
Born in Los Angeles and widely traveled, Cheney has spent most of her life in New England where she feels a deep connection to her roots, the land, and centuries-old architecture. A childhood trip to Europe was the start of her enduring love of travel and fascination with ancient civilizations. Along with an affinity for the ancient world, Cheney feels the gravitational pull of contemporary urban life--its grit, noise and neon graffiti—and an unshakable connection to the mid-century Abstract Expressionists. In her distinct way she synthesizes these influences to create work that is complex, beautiful, and uniquely hers.
Cheney’s work has been exhibited and collected widely in the U.S. and in Europe, China, Canada, and the UK. She was featured in New American Paintings (vol. 86) and was nominated for a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. Past residencies and fellowships include the Millay Colony, MASS MoCA, Vermont Studio Center, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, and Da Wang Culture Highland.
Her home and studio are in North Adams, Massachusetts.
Résumé:
Education 1990 MFA Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art
1984 BA cum laude, Mount Holyoke College
1982-83 University of Florence Italy, Smith College Abroad
1980 Taft School, Watertown, CT.
Awards/Residencies
2019 Mass MoCA Assets for Artists North Adams Project Grant and residency
2015 Fellowship Award, Da Wang Culture Highland, Shenzhen, China
2014 Full Fellowship, Millay Colony
2013 Nomination, Joan Mitchell Foundation award for painting
2012 Full Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center
2010 Publication Award, Open Studios Press
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Blue Heron Gallery Online
2019 Real Eyes Gallery, Adams, Massachusetts
2018 Edgewater Gallery, Stowe, Vermont
Aidron Duckworth Museum, Meriden, NH
2017 Champlain College, Burlington, VT
2016 TJ Walton Gallery, Provincetown, MA
Lost Nation Theater, Montpelier, Vermont
River Arts, Morrisville, Vermont
2015 The Painting Center, New York, NY
Da Wang Culture Highland, Shenzhen, China
2014 Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vermont
Vermont Supreme Court, Montpelier, Vermont
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
AVA Gallery, Lebanon New Hampshire
2013 Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, Vermont
Burlington International Airport, Burlington, Vermont
2012 BCA Center, Burlington, Vermont
2011 Saint-Gaudens Memorial National Historic Site, Cornish, New Hampshire
Vermont Arts Council, Montpelier, Vermont
2010 Julian Scott Memorial Gallery, Johnson State College, Johnson, Vermont
Two-Person Exhibitions
2020 Beatrice Haggerty Gallery, University of Dallas
Lockwood Gallery, Kingston, New York
2019 TW Wood Art Gallery, Montpelier, Vermont
2013 The Painting Center, New York, New York
West Branch Gallery, Stowe, Vermont
Group Exhibitions
2019 Edgewater Gallery at the Boston Design Center
The Painting Center, New York, NY
Eleanor de C. Wilson Museum, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, Vermont
Gallery 51, North Adams MA
Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, Stowe, Vermont
2018 New England Collective juried exhibition, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, MA
Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, Stowe, Vermont
Edgewater Gallery, Stowe, Vermont
2016 Cosmo Logic, Wynwood, Miami
The Fleming Museum, Burlington, Vermont
Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
The Painting Center, New York, New York
Greenville Center for the Arts, Greenville, South Carolina
BCA, Burlington, Vermont
S.I.T.E. Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Chandler Center for the Arts, Randolph, Vermont
New England Center for Circus Art, Brattleboro, Vermont
2015 Central Booking, New York, NY
IDEA Museum, Mesa, AZ
Kent Museum, Calais, VT
Amy Tarrant Gallery, Burlington, Vermont
2014 The Drawing Room Gallery, Cos Cob, CT
Gray Contemporary, Houston, Texas
2013 M55 Noho Art Gallery, New York, New York
Goddard College Gallery, Montpelier, Vermont
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
AVA Gallery, Lebanon, N.H.
2012 Volo Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Quench Artspace, Waitsfield, Vermont
Amy Tarrant Gallery, Burlington, Vermont
Fleming Museum, Burlington, Vermont
Publications Berkshire Magazine, Winter 2020-21
Fresco Street Arts Quarterly, Fall, 2016; Kolaj Magazine, #16, 2016
Art New England, Summer 2016; Mud Season Review, Issue 20; Art New England, May/June, 2013
Whitefish Review, Vol. 6, Issue 1; Aesthetica Magazine, Vol. 40, 2011
Studio Visit, Vol. 13/14, Open Studios Press, 2011
New American Paintings, No. 86, Open Studios Press, 2010
Galen Cheney, Internal Combustion, Kasini House Publishing, 2008
New England Watershed Magazine, Spring, 2007
Seven Days, 2017, 2013, May 2012, August 2011, June 2010, December 2005, September, March 2001
Online Publications Art Spiel, Canvas - a Blog by Saatchi Art, Mutantspace, Artist a Day, Abstract Art, Artsy Forager, Pattern Pulp, The Periphery, Art Blog Daily, Contemporary Abstraction, Design Milk, Mockingbird