About the artist:

The drawings and sculptures of Drew Shiflett are sensuous and tactile, yet capable of transcending their own physicality to embrace both pathos and comedic self-consciousness. Growing up in a theatrical family, it was natural that Drew Shiflett’s first artistic ventures would be in the performing arts. But as an adolescent she evidenced an affinity for the visual when, inspired by a Matisse exhibition at the nearby Chicago Art Institute, she feverishly embarked on a series of cut, assembled and glued collages. Her gifts as a visual artist would not again manifest themselves until well into college where she developed her first accomplished series of figurative drawings. Figuration would be the catalyst for the development of her early work, and to the degree that figuration involves sympathy, emotion, flesh and skin, it remains extant in her work. Still, it would be in the throes of the Maryland Institute of Art’s MFA program that the inevitable frustrations of graduate school would come to bear on her, driving her to begin ripping up paper and once again assembling it into the layered and woven wall pieces which define the basis of her mature work. To this end she developed a series of wall reliefs in which an intensive process of dense layering and compulsive repetition eventually eclipsed the readable images imbedded within them, transforming the picture plane itself into a swollen, tumorous rectangle. These early works, their pacing slow and laborious, expanded outward from the wall as if afflicted by a type of Postmodernist Elephantism. Architectural,allegorical and convulsively maximal, then and now Shiflett’s works have defied easy categorization. EDUCATION: 1978 The Maryland Institute, College of Art - Hoffberger School of Painting - MFA 1974 Columbia College - BA 1970 Goddard College - Liberal Arts GRANTS & AWARDS: 1993 Mid Atlantic/NEA Regional Visual Arts Fellowship - Sculpture Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation 1992 Guggenheim Fellowship Award - Sculpture John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 1990 Artists' Fellowship Award - Sculpture New York Foundation for the Arts SOLO EXHIBITIONS: 2004 Islip Art Museum, Collections Insights: Drew Shiflett, East Islip, New York 1993 The InterArt Center, New York City (catalogue) 1984-85 White Columns, New York City 1983 Fashion Moda, Paper Constructions, Bronx, New York GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 2004 Art On Paper 2004 – curated by Ron Platt at The Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina 200 Drawings – curated by Annie Herron & Barry Blinderman (from Pierogi Flat- files, Brooklyn, NY) at University Gallery of Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois 2003 Work In Process – three-person show at Kristen Frederickson Contemporary Art, New York City New Work New York – New Mexico Annie Herron’s Selections from the Pierogi Flatfiles, Carlsbad Museum and Art Center, Carlsbad, New Mexico Worlds Apart Microcosm/Macrocosm - curated by K. G. Rogers at Axel Raben Gallery, New York City Artenavas 2003 - art festival curated by Blanca Mora Sanchez, Las Navas Del Marques (Avila), Spain (catalogue) New Projects Show - Dieu Donne Papermill & Gallery, New York City Custom Fit - Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, New York 2002 Art for Now - Kristen Frederickson Contemporary Art, New York City TriBeCa Works on Paper Show - DFN Gallery, New York City 2001 Liminal - curated by David Gibson at The Space @ Media Triangle, New York City; 2003, traveled to Hampden Gallery at U. of MA Amherst, MA Nature Revisited - curated by Lesley Heller at Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, New York Sculpture - curated by Caroline Cox & Tim Spelios at Flipside Gallery, Brooklyn, New York Cross-Pollination - curated by Susan Joyce & Mery Lynn McCorkle at Holland Tunnel Gallery, Brooklyn, New York and The Arboretum of Los Angeles County, Arcadia, CA 2000 - 01 Invented Spaces - curated by Lesley Heller at The Work Space at Dolgenos Newman & Cronin LLP, New York City 2000 Checked - Coat Check Room, Museum of Modern Art, New York City 1999 New York Undiscovered - Markham-Murray Gallery, New York City Making It Up - Wake Forest University Fine Arts Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC 1998 Paper - Jerrfrey Coploff Fine Art Ltd., New York City Utopia - Momenta Art Gallery, Brooklyn, New York Domain - curated by Karen Shaw at the Islip Art Museum, East Islip, New York Scale, relatively speaking - Art In General, New York City 1997 Selected drawings curated by Joe Amrhein, from the Flat File at Pierogi 2000 Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, traveled to the Corner House in Manchester, England, the Gas Works Gallery in London, England, The Brooklyn Museum of Art in Brooklyn, New York -"Current Undercurrent: Working in Brooklyn," The Gramercy International Contemporary Art Fair at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City The Art Exchange Show - Annie Herron Productions, 60 Broad Street, New York City Spring Benefit - Sculpture Center, New York City Across Lines - curated by Dan Devine, Rosenberg Gallery, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York Fresh - Jeffrey Coploff Fine Art Ltd., New York City White Out - curated by Theresa Hackett at The Work Space at Dolgenos Newman & Cronin, New York City 1996 The Innocence of Ornaments - curated by Germaine Keller at St. Marks Position, New York City Drawing From New York - Gray Matters Gallery, Dallas, Texas The Art Exchange Show - Annie Herron Productions, 60 Broad Street, New York City Water Line - curated by Barrie Black at Black & Herron Space, New York City Spring Benefit - Sculpture Center, New York City Black and White: Sculptors' Drawings - curated by Susan Mastrangelo at MMC Gallery, Marymount Manhattan College, New York City (catalogue) 1995-96 Recreation - curated by Karen Shaw at the Islip Art Museum, East Islip, New York (catalogue) 1995 Ooze - curated by Annie Herron at Black & Herron Space, New York City Between This And That - NY Soho '95 Biennial - curated by Carolanna Parlato at 473 Broadway, New York City In Three Dimensions: Women Sculptors of the '90s - Part III - curated by Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein, co-sponsored by The Women's Caucus for Art/NYC Chapter and Snug Harbor Cultural Center, at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, New York (catalogue) Spirit House - sculpture in Willie Birch's installation, El Museo Francisco Oller y Diego Rivera at the Martin Luther King Urban Life Center, Buffalo, New York The Crest Hardware Show - Crest Hardware, Brooklyn, NY Delving and Tinkering - curated by Tom Butter at E. S. Van Dam Gallery, New York City Beyond Circumstance - The Gallery at Hunter College, M.F.A. Building, New York City (catalogue) Critical Mass - curated by Charles Long at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary Museum, Dallas, Texas (catalogue) 1994 Critical Mass - curated by Charles Long at the Yale University School of Art, A&A Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut (catalogue) Small & Wet - Abstract Painting & Sculpture, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts Spirit House - sculpture in Willie Birch's installation, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, New York; show traveled to 5501 Columbia - presented by Contemporary Culture and Documentary Arts, Dallas, Texas 1993 Idio Cognito - curated by Caroline Cox at The Police Building (Grand Street), New York City, and William Patterson College, Ben Shahn Galleries, Wayne, New Jersey (catalogue) Spirit House - sculpture in Willie Birch's installation, Sculpture Center, New York City Cartoonal Knowledge - Dooley Le Cappellaine Gallery, New York City Arachnosphere - curated by Kathleen Cullen, consultant - Robert Mahoney, Ramnarine Gallery, Long Island City, New York BWAC Spring Festival - Sculpture Survey '93 - co-curated by Mariella Bisson and Vasela Sretenovic at One Main Space, Brooklyn, New York Spring Benefit - Sculpture Center, New York City 1992 Salon - Art In General, New York City The Salon of the Mating Spiders - Herron Test-Site, Brooklyn, New York The Neurotic Art Show II: The Return of the Repressed - Artists Space, New York City The Radio Show - Artists Space, New York City (in cooperation with Four Walls) The 1.5 Show - curated by Yvonne Muranushi and Russet Lederman at 148 Duane Street Gallery, New York City The Travel and Leisure Show - Four Walls, Brooklyn, New York January - Sculpture Center, New York City 1991 Selections from the Slide File I - OIA, New York City 1990 Points of Origin - City Gallery, Dept. of Cultural Affairs, New York City 1988 Soho Center for Visual Artists - New York City 1986 Liberty Project - La Maison Francais, New York City New York Academy of Sciences, New York City New York Academy of Art, New York City 1985 Update 84-85 - White Columns, New York City 1984 Rhythm and Form - 22 Wooster Gallery, New York City 1983 Letter From New York City - Sheppard Gallery, University of Nevada at Reno, Reno, Nevada 1982-83 55 Mercer Annual Invitational - 55 Mercer Street Artists, Inc., New York City Sacred Artifacts, Objects of Devotion - Alternative Museum, New York City (catalogue) 1981 Five From New York - Cannon Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland 1978 The 1978 Maryland Biennial Exhibition - The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland (catalogue), The Dr. and Mrs. James Sherman Award 1976 The 1976 Maryland Biennial Exhibition - The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland (catalogue), The Maryland Institute College of Art Award BIBLIOGRAPHY: ARTICLES Jill Conner, “CustomFit,” Contemporary, Issue no. 52, 2003 Phoebe Mitchell, "Hampden Gallery Abstracts Invite Viewers Within," Hampshire Gazette, May 1, 2003 Rachel Youens, "In Review - Sculpture at Flipside," Arts,Volume 1, Number 4, wburg.com home, Summer 2001 Holland Cotter, "Sculpture," The New York Times, May 11 & 18, 2001 Ken Johnson, "Invented Spaces," The New York Times, January 19 & 26, 2001 Tom Patterson, "New York Explorers," Winston-Salem Journal, March 21, 1999 Tom Patterson, "All That Jazz," Winston-Salem Journal, March 7, 1999 Chris Lee, "Film & Video," Waterfront Week, Volume 8.10, May 21 - June 3, 1998 Annie Herron, "Fresh Perspectives," Review , Volume 2, Number 12, March 15, 1997 Helen A. Harrison, "Artists Who Make Work Out of Play," The New York Times, January 7, 1996 Tom Moody, "Critical Mass," Art Papers, July/August issue, 1995 Charles Dee Mitchell, "Critical Mass': More Than Meets The Eye," The Dallas Morning News, February 3, 1995 Shawn Hill, "Nature's Ordeal," Bay Windows, November 17, 1994 William Zimmer, "Sculpture at Two Displays In Wayne," The New York Times, December 5, 1993 Eileen Watkins, Review, The Star Ledger, December 5, 1993 Holland Cotter, "Willie Birch," The New York Times, September 24, 1993 Grace Glueck, "Update 1984-85," The New York Times, June 21, 1985 ESSAYS “Collection Insights: Drew Shiflett On Linear Thinking,” essay by Janet Goleas for The Permanent Collection, Collection Insights: Drew Shiflett show at the Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY, 2004 “Work in Process,” essay by Kristen Frederickson PhD, for brochure for Work in Process show at Kristen Frederickson Contemporary Art, NYC, 2003 "Making It Up," essay by curators David Finn and Victor Faccinto for brochure for Making It Up show at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, 1999 "Correct Me If I'm Wrong," essay by Barry Schwabsky for brochure for White Out show at Workspace, NYC, 1997 CATALOGUES ArteNavas 2003, Feria De Artes Visuales, July 24 – August 6, 2003, Colegio Publico Vicente Aleixandre, Las Navas Del Marques (Avila) Momenta Art Exhibitions 1995 Through 1999, introduction by Eric Heist/Laura Parnes, essay by Bill Arning, published by Momenta Art, Brooklyn, New York Domain, essay by Karen Shaw, published in 1998 by the Islip Art Museum, East Islip, New York MMC Gallery Exhibitions 1995-1996, essay by Karen L. Harris, published in 1996 by Marymount Manhattan College, New York City In Three Dimensions: Women Sculptors of the '90s, introduction by Olivia Georgia, essay by Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein, published in 1996 by Snug Harbor Cultural Center's Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art and the Women's Caucus for Art/NYC Chapter Staten Island, New York Creation/Recreation, essay by Karen Shaw, published in 1995 by the Islip Art Museum, East Islip, New York Beyond Circumstance, introduction by James Acevedo, essay by Margaret McInroe, published in 1995 by Hunter College of The City University of New York, New York City Critical Mass, essay by Charles Long, published in 1994 by Dallas Artists Research and Exhibition at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas The InterArt Center 1991-1994, introduction essay by Birgit Spears, published in 1994 by The InterArt Center, New York City 1993 Sculpture & Crafts, Regional Visual Arts Fellowships, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, National Endowment For The Arts, edited by Katie McCoy Chang, published in 1994 by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland Idio Cognito, essay by Nancy Princenthal, published in 1993 in New York City Drew Shiflett, essay by Kathleen Cullen, published in 1993 in New York City White Columns Update 1989-1990, introduction by Bill Arning, published in 1990 by White Columns in New York City White Columns Update 84-85, introduction by Thomas B. Solomon, published in 1985 by White Columns in New York City Sacred Artifacts, Objects of Devotion, essay by Kenneth S. Friedman, published in 1982 by the Alternative Museum in New York City The 1978 Maryland Biennial Exhibition, introduction by Tom L. Freudenheim, published in 1978 by The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland The 1976 Maryland Biennial Exhibition, introduction by Tom L. Freudenheim, published in 1976 by The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland BOOKS The Private Arts, edited by D. R. Heiniger and Ken Saunders, published by Private Arts Press, 1994, Chicago, Illinois Privates, edited by D. R. Heiniger and Ken Saunders, published by Private Lives Press, 1984, Chicago, Illinois COLLECTIONS: 2004 Islip Art Museum, East Islip, New York 2001 Werner H. Kramarsky, New York City 2001 Alexander C. Cortesi, New York City 1995 Peco Energy, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 1983 Best Products Co., Inc., Richmond, Virginia TEACHING: 1997 Guest Lecturer of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 1995 Guest Lecturer of Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1994 Guest Lecturer of Art, School of Visual Arts, New York City 1987 Lecturer of Art, University of Texas at Austin