![](https://paulmahdergallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Iris-van-Herpen_Sculpting-the-Senses.jpg)
Lanny Bergner (born in Anacortes, WA, 1952) is a mixed-media metal mesh sculptor with a body of work ranging from small basketry to large-scale installations.
He creates his sculptural works using industrially woven stainless steel and copper mesh that he cuts into shapes and flame paints with a butane and/or propane torch. He then hand models the mesh creating bas-relief accentuating the flame painted design. With linesman pliers he connects the mesh together transforming the material into three-dimensional semi-transparent biomorphic and geometric constructions. He finishes each piece by hand-stitching seams with coated wire.
The resulting forms reference the natural world, both micro and macro. Plant biology, undersea creatures, cellular structures, earth geology and otherworldly cosmology inspire his creations. His visually intricate works engage the viewer with glimpses into a universe where nature and manmade materials coalesce while celebrating the mystery and wonder of it all.
Mr. Bergner received his M.F.A. in sculpture from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, in 1983 after earning a B.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Washington in 1981. His work is in numerous museum collections including the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Museum of Art and Design, NY, NY; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA and the Central Museum of Textile, Łódź, Poland.
Exhibitions/Bio
EDUCATION
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1983 MFA in sculpture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
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1981 BFA in sculpture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
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2023 Un/Natural Wonders, i.e gallery, Edison, WA
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2021 Wings and Leaves, i.e gallery, Edison, WA
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2016 Life in the Universe, Timeless Textiles, Newcastle, Australia
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2013 Nature’s Matrix, San Juan Island Museum of Art, Friday Harbor, WA
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2012 Primordial Muse: Evolution, North Idaho College, Coeur d’Alene, ID
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2012 Primordial Muse, Chehalem Cultural Center, Newberg, OR
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2012 Mesh, Schack Art Center Gallery, Everett, WA (catalog)
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2011 Nature’s Matrix, Duane Reed Gallery, Saint Louis, MO
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2011 Bending Space, Anchor Art Space, Anacortes, WA
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2009 Un/Natural Construct, Bingham Gallery, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
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2009 Luminosity, Prichard Art Gallery, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID
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2009 Cosmology, Skagit Valley College Art Gallery, Mount Vernon, WA
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2007 Matrix, Jane Sauer Thirteen Moons Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
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2007 Snyderman/Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
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2006 Entering Ether, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA
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2006 Ether Space and Screen Works, Shoreline Community College, Shoreline, WA
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2003-04 From the Garden, Bellevue Community College Gallery, Bellevue, WA
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2003 Strange Fruit, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
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2002 Dream Botanica, A.N. Bush Gallery, Bush Barn Art Center, Salem, OR
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2002 Phantasmagoria, South Bend Regional Museum of Art, South Bend, IN
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2002 Strange Fruit, Port Angeles Fine Art Center, Port Angeles, WA
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2001 Elliott Brown Gallery, Seattle, WA
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2001 Corvallis Art Center, Corvallis, OR
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1999,2000 Un/Natural World, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
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2002,1996,’93,’91,’88 Gallery K, Washington DC
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1996 Commencement Art Gallery, Tacoma Arts Commission, Tacoma, WA
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1996 Allied Art of Whatcom County, Bellingham, WA
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1996 Foundation Gallery, Skagit Valley College, Mount Vernon, WA
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1993,’91,’88 Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
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1988 College Gallery, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
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1984 Challenge Exhibition #1, Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
AWARDS AND GRANTS
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2021 Honorable Mention, Cheongju International Craft Competition 2021, Cheongju, Republic of Korea
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2019 Artistic Excellence Award, Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes, WA
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2015 Fine Craft Artist of the Year, ACA Awards, Art Design Consultants, Cincinnati, OH
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2011 People’ s Choice Award, Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes, WA (sponsor: Peoples Bank)
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2009 Artist Trust GAP Grant, Artist Trust, Seattle, WA (VT Studio Center Residency support)
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2008 Best of Show, Beyond Basketry, Dairy Barn Art Center, Athens OH (catalog)
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2005 Gold Prize, 4th Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Cheongju-Si, Republic of Korea
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2000 Artist Trust GAP Grant, Sagourda Familia, Gourd Project, Artist Trust, Seattle, WA
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1999 Jurors’ Award, Annual NW International Art Comp., Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
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1999 Mary McIntyre-Gorrell Award, NW International Art Comp., Whatcom Museum
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1997 Artist Trust Crafts Fellowship, Artist Trust, Seattle, WA
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1997 Jurors’ Award, Annual NW International Art Comp., Whatcom Museum
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1995 Seventeenth Annual Betty Bowen Memorial Award, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
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1995 Artist Prize, Annual NW International Art Comp., Whatcom Museum
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1991 Visual Arts Fellowship, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Harrisburg, PA
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1990 Sculpture Prize, Contemporary Philadelphia Artists, Philadelphia Museum of Art
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1989 Best of Show, Biennial ’89, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
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1989 Mildred Bougher Prize, Works on Paper, Beaver College Art Gallery, Glenside, PA
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1987 Visual Arts Fellowship, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Harrisburg, PA
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1985 Charles Gohn Sculpture Award, Doshi Center for Contemporary Art, Harrisburg, PA
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1983 Alumni Award, most outstanding graduate student in painting, drawing and sculpture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
MUSEUM AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
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Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
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Imagine Museum, St. Petersburg, FL (four collaborative works with Rik Allen)
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Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
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Central Museum of Textiles, Łódź, Poland
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Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
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Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
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University of Washington Medical Center
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Museum of Northwest Art, LaConner, WA
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Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Cheongju-Si, Republic of Korea
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Swedish Hospital, Seattle, WA
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Landmark Bank, Columbia, MO
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Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
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Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
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Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
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Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
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Multnomah County, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Portland, OR
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Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
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Walker Hill Art Center, Seoul, Korea
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Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes, WA
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Water Department Portable Works Collection, Seattle, WA
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Island Hospital, Anacortes, WA
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Skagit Valley College, Mount Vernon, WA
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Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
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Emory Healthcare, St. Joseph’s Cardiology Clinic, Atlanta, GA
COMMISSIONS
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2018 Verity Credit Union, Seattle WA
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2015 Swedish Hospital, Edmonds, WA
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2014 Beaumont Health Systems, Neuroscience Center, Royal Oak, MI
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2013 Machias Elementary School, Snohomish, WA, (Washington State Arts Commission)
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2012 Northwest Career and Technical Academy, Mount Vernon, WA, (Washington State Arts Commission)
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2012 Seattle City Light South Service Center, Seattle, WA, (City of Seattle)
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2010 Bremerton High School, Bremerton, WA, (Washington State Arts Commission)
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2005 Giaudrone Middle School, Tacoma, WA, (Washington State Arts Commission)
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2003 Anacortes Public Library, Anacortes, WA, (City of Anacortes)
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1994 Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia, PA, (City of Philadelphia)
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
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2023-2024 Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Paris, France.
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2024 BAC/NWDC Exquisite Ornament, Bainbridge Arts and Crafts, Bainbridge, WA
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2024 Instructor Exhibition, Southern Highland Craft Guild, Asheville, NC
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2023 Inspired, Confluence Gallery, Twisp, WA
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2022 This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
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2022 The 7th International Textile and Fibre Art Exhibition “Fibremen,” Ivano-Frankivs’k, Ukraine
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2022 Finding Your Thread, Timeless Textiles Gallery, Newcastle NSW, Australia
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2022 Mt. Analogue, the en gallery (independent art space), Seattle, WA
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2022 22 Textile Artists for 2022, Mobilia Galllery, Cambridge, MA, Mid-April 2022
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2022 Seattle Art Fair, represented by i.e. gallery, Edison, WA
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2021 Cheongju International Craft Competition 2021, Cheongju, Republic of Korea
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2020 Currents 2020 National Craft Exhibition (NWDC), Schack Art Center, Everett, WA
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2020 Fiber 2020, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Bainbridge, WA
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2020 The Language of Pattern, i.e. gallery, Edison, WA
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2019 Seattle Art Fair, represented by i.e. gallery, Edison, WA
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2019 Lanny Bergner: Meshells (two-person exhibition with David Hall), i.e. gallery, Edison, WA
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2018 Invitational Exhibition featuring collaborative mesh and glass works created with Rik Allen, Arts at the Port Focus Gallery, Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes, WA
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2017 juried exhibition, Washington State Surface Design Association members’ works, Schack Art Center, Everett, WA
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2017 Warping the Bubble, two-person exhibition with Rik Allen, Smith & Vallee Gallery, Edison, WA
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2016 Here and There: Topographic Conversations with Morris Graves, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA, January 9 – March 17 2016. Participating artists: (from Washington) Ann Chadwick Reid, Eve Deisher, Allen Moe, Lanny Bergner; (from California) Emily Silver, Julie McNeill, Leslie Price, Lori Goodman (Catalog)
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2016 Finding Shelter, Baum Gallery, University of Arkansas, Conway Arkansas
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2015 Hands + Expansion & Coexistence, 9th Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Cheongju, Republic of Korea
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2015 All Things Considered VIII, National Basketry Organization, Grand Hand Gallery, St. Paul MN and traveling to the Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, MA
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2015 Beyond Materials: Pushing the Boundaries of Contemporary Basketry, Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, OH
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2015 The New Textiles: Transformed, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
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2015 Art Comes Alive, Art Design Consultants, Cincinnati, OH
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2015 Entwined, Museo Gallery, Langley, WA
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2014 Reaching Beyond: Northwest Designer Craftsmen at 60, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
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2014 Design: Four Perspectives, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
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2014 Game Changers: Fiber Art Masters and Innovators, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
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2014 Forming: The Synergy Between Basketry and Sculpture, Alden B. Dow Museum of Science & Art, Midland Center for the Arts, Midland, MI
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2014 Flight Patterns, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport, Atlanta, GA
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2014 Draw, Stitch and Burn (two-person show) with Eve Deisher, Gallery Cygnus, La Conner, WA
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2014 Good as Gold, Craft Alliance, Saint Louis, MO
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2014 Considering the Kylix, Peters Valley Craft Center, Sally D. Francisco Gallery, Layton, NJ
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2013 8th Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Cheongju-Si, Republic of Korea
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2013 Jellies: Living Art, Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga, TN
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2013 First Light, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Bainbridge, WA
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2013 All Things Considered VII, NBO, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN, traveled to the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
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2013 Material Space, three-person show, Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Birmingham, MI
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2012 Hot Tea: 13th Biennial Teapot Exhibition, Craft Alliance, Saint Louis, MO
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2012 Wire Transference, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA
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2012 8th International Fiber Biennial, Snyderman/Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
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2012 The Teapot Redefined, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
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2012 Thread of Life, Florida State University, Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL
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2011 7th Cheongju International Craft Biennale Juried Exhibition, Cheongju-City, Korea
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2011 The Vessel Redefined, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
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2011 AIR, VI International WTA Art Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art, Xalapa, Mexico
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2011 5th International Exhibition of Miniature Textile Art, Kherson, Ukraine
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2010 13th International Triennial of Tapestry, Central Museum of Textiles, Łódź, Poland