Galen Cheney

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.

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