Sheila Ross is an English installation artist and photographer living and working in New York City. Trained at the sculpture school of St. Martin's School of Art in London, she has since shifted from the brute physicality of substantial materials to work with light and space. Her current work is in video and photography.

Sculpture is always confrontational in that it stands in our space. We circle it but cannot enter. Environmental installations turn that inside out—we literally enter the work and inhabit the same space that it does in a way similar to that in which we inhabit the world. Work with light and space takes the essence of that environmental situation and brings into view that most intangible (but relentless) aspect of our lives as human beings—our existence in time. By stripping out anything that our centralized and heavily monitored vision can focus on (subject, object, narrative) the peripheral aspects of our life become more strongly felt. Time itself becomes palpable.

May 26 - June 20, 2010 {I am} just the birds in the grass...

sross@fordham.edu

SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND INSTALLATIONS
2010 {I am} just the birds in the grass...: infrared photographs, A.I.R. Gallery
2007 NightVision: video/photographs;, A.I.R. Gallery
2002 Alien Landscapes: video/photographs; Gordon Green Gallery, NYC, NY
2001 Interference: video/photographs; Janalyn Hanson White Gallery, Mount Mercy College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
1999 Life On Earth — is brief: video/photographs; AIR Gallery
1995 Steeped in the Years: drawing installation ; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Lynchburg, VA
1990 The Upper Room: environmental installation with theatre lights and sound; BACA Downtown, Brooklyn, NY
1989 Up from the Deep: environmental installation with slide projections; Long Island City Open Studios, LIC, NY
1988 Day/Night Diary: environmental installation ; MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
1987 Hypnoia: environmental installation with neon lights and film loop; Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1985 M.F.A. show, environmental installation with theatre lights; Hunter College Gallery, NYC, NY
1980 Sculpture and environmental installation, Hunter College Gallery, NYC, NY
1979 Number 6: sculpture, Tim Blackburn Gallery, NYC, NY

COLLABORATIONS
1989 The Dreamer: slide projection series for composer Mary Jane Leach’s Pipe Dreams and Stained Glass; Experimental Intermedia, NYC, NY
1988 Stage set and collaborative lighting design (with Pat Dignan) for choreographer Marjorie Gamso’s Her 1001 Nights; Marymount Manhattan Theatre, NYC, NY

GROUP SHOWS
2009 Third Person Singular: Does Gender Still Matter?, curated by Barbara O'Brien; Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University
2009 In-Sight Photography Center Exhibit and Auction; Brattleboro, Vermont
2008-9 Your Documents Please; Museum of Arts and Crafts, Itami, Japan; Zaim Artspace, Yokohama, Japan; 2B Galéria, Budapest, Hungary; Galerie Kurt im Hirsch, Berlin, Germany; GALÉRIA Z, Bratislava, Slovakia; Galeria Ajolote Arte Contemporáneo, Guadalajara, Mexico
2008 A.I.R.: The History Show: Work by A.I.R. Artists from 1972 to the Present: A.I.R. Gallery with the Fales Collection, New York University Library
2007 One True Thing: A.I.R. in Putney; The Putney School Gallery, Michael S. Currier Center, Putney, Vermont
2004 Generations.04, Sheer: video stillst, A.I.R. Gallery
2003 Biennial Exhibition of Women’s Art, curated by Shamim Momin, A.I.R. Gallery
2003 Williamsmix, sound file contributor; Engine 27, NYC, NY
2002 Faculty Show, video; Fordham University, NYC, NY
2000 Generation II Show, BodyParts: video still; A.I.R. Gallery
1998 The Generation Show, Subtraction: video stills; A.I.R. Gallery
1991 Ten Years of the MFA, The Dreamer photographs: Hunter College Gallery, NYC, NY
1990 Subterranean Passages, photographs from The Subway series; Henry Street Settlement, NYC, NY
1987 Group show, photographs; 22 Wooster Gallery, NYC, NY
1987 Group show, photographs; Ammo Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1986 Group show curated by Donald Kuspit, photographs; Pleiades Gallery, NYC, NY
1986 Group show, slide projections and film loop; Hunter College Gallery, NYC, NY
1985 Group show, photographs; Jon Gerstad Gallery, NYC, NY

TEACHING
2001-04 Adjunct Instructor, Visual Arts Department, Fordham University, NYC, NY
2000 Guest Lecturer, Mount Mercy College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
1987 Guest Lecturer, Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA
1983–84 Adjunct Professor, Art Department, Hunter College CUNY
1975 Guest Lecturer, Bath Academy, England; Leicester Polytechnic, England

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1985-2010 Graphic designer, currently at the Office of Marketing and Communications, Fordham University
2003 Panelist, residency awards, Center for the Holographic Arts, LIC, NY
1979–1985 Staging Director, Dia Art Foundation, for composer La Monte Young, light artist Marian Zazeela, and Indian classical vocalist Pandit Pran Nath, NYC, NY
1979 Visiting artist, New York Studio School, NYC, NY
1975 Assistant to constructivist artist Kenneth Martin for his Tate Gallery retrospective, London, England

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2004 UCDA Excellence Award for design: London Dramatic Academy brochure for Fordham University
2003 CASE Silver Award for poster design: The Cosmic Gaze of Galileo for Fordham University
1996 Fellowship, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
1990 Support for The Upper Room from Experimental Intermedia and Meet the Composer
1989 Change Foundation Award
1988 Fellowship, MacDowell Colony
1987 NYSCA award for Hypnoia

EDUCATION
2000 Certificate in Multimedia, New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies
1985 M.F.A. (sculpture), Hunter College CUNY
1975 Certificate in Advanced Sculpture, St. Martin’s School of Art, London, England
1974 Diploma in Art & Design (B.A.hons., sculpture), St. Martin’s School of Art, London, England