www.leahsobsey.com

ljsobsey@uncg.edu

leah@leahsobsey.com

                                                           

Education

 

2001 MFA, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

1995 BA, Anthropology; Minor, Studio Art, Guilford College, Greensboro, NC

1997 Resident Certificate Program, Maine Photographic Workshops, Rockport, ME

                                                           

Teaching Experience

 

2017 Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

2014-2017 Visiting Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

2006-2014 Lecturer in photography, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

2006-2014 Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC

2003 Maine Photographic Workshops, Rockport, ME

         Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC

2002 Maine Photographic Workshops, Rockport, ME

2001 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

                                               

Books

 

Collections, Leah Sobsey. Daylight Books, 2016, 128-page monograph of photographs and installations created from specimens from the collections of the US National Park Service museums, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and North Carolina State University Insect Museum

Bull City Summer, Daylight Books, 2014, Collaborative photography and writing project documenting a season at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Artists include: Alex Harris, Frank Hunter, Kate Joyce, Elizabeth Matheson, Alec Soth, Hiroshi Watanabe, Jeff Whetstone, and Hank Willis Thomas

 

Exhibitions Solo and Two Persons

 

*Denotes solo show

2018 *Center For Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO Curated by Hamidah Glasgow

          Block2 an outdoor public video venue in Raleigh, NC

2017 *Tintypes A Community Portrait, Anchorlight, Raleigh, NC

         The photography Show, AIPAD, New York, NY

         https://www.artsy.net/aipad-2017/browse/artist/leah-sobsey

2016 *Collections, 21c Museum Hotel, Durham, NC

          Collections, Rayko Photo Gallery, San Francisco, CA

          The Accidental Self, Carrack Modern Art, Durham, NC

2015 Visual History Collaborative Tapestry, Denver Performing Arts Center, Denver, CO

2013-2011 Rose Community Foundation, Denver, CO

2012 *Horace Williams Gallery, Chapel Hill NC

2010-2009

         Chapel Hill Community Art Project, collaboration with Lynn Bregman Blass,  Town of Chapel Hill, one- year traveling public art installation: stops include Chapel Hill Museum, University Mall,                 Carrboro High School, and Carrboro Arts Center

2008 Time, Lineage, Memory, collaboration with Lynn Bregman Blass, Durham Art Guild, Durham, NC

         *Appropriations, Benjamin Gallery, Graham, NC

2007 *Photograms, Points of View Gallery, Raleigh, NC

         *The In Between Series Continued, Wee Gallery, Carrboro, NC

          Phase Two, Gathering in the Stories: One Man’s Impact on the Members of the Duke University Health System Community, part of the 19th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration, Duke            Hospital, Durham, North Carolina

2006 *The In Between Series Continued: Here Is Now and Now Is Here, Padgett Station Gallery, Carrboro, NC

         *The In Between Series, Nested, Carrboro, NC

          Gathering in the Stories: One Man’s Impact on Members of the Duke University Health System

          Community, part of the 17th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration, Permanent installation, Duke University Hospital, Durham, NC

2005 *The Goode Collection, Duke University Hospital, Durham, NC

2004 *Fallen, Nested Gallery, Carrboro, NC

          *The Goode Collection, Duke Hospital, Durham, NC

2003 The Goode Collection, Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill, NC

2002 *Housing a Home, Series 1Studio, Carrboro, NC

         *Running with Trains, Lee Moore Gallery, Carrboro, NC

         *New Works, Sizl Gallery, Carrboro, NC

2001 *New Works, Stillights Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2000 *Incision, Stillights Gallery, San Francisco, CA

           

Selected Group Exhibitions

 

2018    Bloc2, The Wild, Raleigh NC Curated by Stacy Bloom Rexrode

Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech, VA

2017 The Portrait, Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, Juror Ross Anderson

         Faculty Biennial, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC

         The Fence Project, Public Art Installation, Durham North Carolina      

2016 Collections, Rayko Photo, San Francisco, CA

         Actual Size, Cassilhaus Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC

2015 The Modernists, Lee Hansley Gallery, Raleigh, NC

         Faculty Biennial, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC

         The Scanners, Carrack Modern Art, Durham, NC

         The Committee, Horace Williams Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC

         Butterflies Are Free, Light Art Design, Chapel Hill, NC

         Self Portraits by NC Artists, Greenhill Gallery, Greensboro, NC

2014 Bull City Summer, NC Museum Of Art, Raleigh, NC

         Bull City Summer, Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh NC

         Spirit, Brink Gallery, Missoula, Montana

         Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Curator Xandra Eden, Greensboro, NC,

         Engaging Light, Frank Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC

2013 Faculty Biennial, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC

         The Residents, Gatewood Gallery, Greensboro, NC

2012 Through Your Eyes, National Parks System Gallery, digital gallery online

2011 No Mirrors, Rayko Gallery, San Francisco, CA

         North Carolina Museum of Art, Art of the Auction, Raleigh, NC

         Local Histories, the Ground We Walk On, 523 East Franklin, Chapel Hill, NC

         Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC

2010 North Carolina Artists Exhibition, Betty Ray McCain Gallery, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh, NC

         Flora, Photo Place Gallery, Middlebury, VT

2009 Faculty Biennial, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC

         Celebrating Creative Teaching, African American Atelier Greensboro, NC

2008 Regrowth, Greenhill Center for North Carolina Art, Curator Edie Carpenter, Greensboro, NC

        Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Curator Xandra Eden, Greensboro, NC

        Faculty Show, Weaver Cooke, Greensboro, NC

        Photographic Memories, Gallery 115, Wachovia Tower, Greensboro, NC

2007 UNCG Department of Art Faculty Biennial, Greensboro, NC

         Portraits, Points of View Gallery, Raleigh, NC

2006 Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Curator Xandra Eden, Greensboro, NC

         Never Exhibited Works, Visual Art Exchange, Raleigh, NC

         Celebrating Creative Teaching, Greensboro Cultural Center, Greensboro, NC

         New Faculty Show, Elliot Center Gallery, Greensboro, NC

         Alternative Process Show, Curator Christopher James, Soho Photo Gallery, NYC, NY

         Hot & Now, Gallery 115, Greensboro, NC

2005 From the Hive, Weatherspoon Museum, Greensboro, NC

         Student Action Farm Workers Benefit Auction,

         The Center for Documentary Studies, Durham, NC

         New Works, Faculty Exhibit, Gallery 115, Greensboro, NC

         Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Museum, Greensboro, NCR

2004 Loom 3: Labeler, Pittsboro, NC

         Group Show, Red Hat, Raleigh, NC

         Through Women’s Eyes, by Women’s Hands, Chapel Hill, NC

2003 Fresh Picks, UNCG Faculty Biennial, Weatherspoon Museum, Greensboro, NC

         Mirror with a Memory, CCB Gallery, Durham, NC

2002 Faculty Show, Maine Photographic Workshops, Rockport, ME

         Group Show, Sandspur Gallery, Raleigh, NC

         All About Eve, Green Tara Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC

2001 Mirror with a Memory, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA

         Group Show, Microsoft headquarters, San Francisco, CA

2000 Group Show, Fairfield Visual Arts Center, Fairfield, CA

         Group Show, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1997 Group Show, Gallery One, Rockport, ME Press

 

Collaborations

 

2018 Double Crossed, a multidisciplinary performance piece.

        Thoreau’s Woods: Meditations on Life and Loss, an interdisciplinary multimedia art installation using digitized animations of Thoreau’s pressed plant specimens, housed at Harvard University’s            Herbaria, to explore the beauty of the natural world Thoreau documented as well as the decline.

2017 *Click! Photography Festival PIC grant award with Tim Telkamp, created tintypes in a mobile unit to bring community together.

         *Walden Collection, with Emily Meineke, Harvard researcher, Marsha Gordon, film-maker, Robin Vuchnich, graphic designer

2016 The Accidental Self, with Linda Belans, Carrack Modern Art, 2016

2014 Bull City Summer: A Season at the Park, with artists Alex Harris, Frank Hunter, Kate Joyce, Elizabeth

         Matheson, Alec Soth, Hiroshi Watanabe, Jeff Whetstone, and Hank Willis Thomas

2011-present 

        Visual History Collaborative, with Lynn Bregman Blass

2013 Professor Diablo’s True Revue, a documentary production with biologist Courtney Fitzpatrick and

         musician Melissa Swingle, Casbah, Durham, NC

2006 Gathering in the Stories: One Man’s Impact on the Members of the Duke University Health System

         Community as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, Duke Hospital, Durham, NC

 

                                               

Commissions/Public Art

 

2011-16 Rose Community Foundation, Visual History Project, with Lynn Bregman Blass, Denver, CO

         Habitat for Humanity Durham 25th anniversary, with Lynn Bregman Blass

2013-14 Bull City Summer, Durham, NC

2009 Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission, with Lynn Bregman Blass, Chapel Hill, NC

2008 Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission, with Lynn Bregman Blass, Chapel Hill, NC

2006 Gathering in the Stories: One Man’s Impact on the Members of the Duke University Health System

         Community as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, Duke Hospital, Durham, NC

 

Workshops

 

North Carolina Museum of Art, Teacher Workshop, Art as Advocacy, Cyanotype workshop for North Carolina educators, in conjunction with the Ansel Adams exhibition.

North Carolina Museum of Art, Alchemy and Cyanotype workshop for college students.

Wet Plate Collodion Workshop, Chapel Hill, NC

Hirsch Wellness, a cancer support community workshop: Memories, Objects and

Images, Cyanotype text and image workshop, Greensboro, NC

Habla, The Center For Language and Culture, Teaching Artist Residency and

Workshop, Cyanotype text and image workshop, Merida, Mexico

 

 

International Press

 

Telegraph, July 14, 2016 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/photography/what-to-see/beautiful-inspiring-photographs/leah-sobsey/

AmateurPhotographerUK, June 15, 2016 http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/technique/interviews/leah-sobsey-capturing-collections-americas-national-parks-80022

Fisheye, no. 6, May 14, 2014, pp. 8-9, 33-34

https://issuu.com/fisheye-magazine/docs/fisheye6-issuu

L'oeil de la photographie, April 14, 2014

http://www.loeildelaphotographie.com/en/2014/04/14/article/24657/bull-city-summer-a-season-at-the-ball-park/

                                                           

National Press

 

Lenscratch, November, 17, 2017

http://lenscratch.com/2017/11/leah-sobsey-the-states-project-north-carolina/

The Caolinian, October 4, 2017

https://carolinianuncg.com/2017/10/04/professor-spotlight-leah-sobsey/

Audubon, August 3, 2016

http://www.audubon.org/news/why-national-parks-are-actually-secret-museums

Crave Online, August 21, 2016

http://www.craveonline.com/art/1022853-photographer-leah-sob- sey-discovers-life-death

Slate.com, September 16, 2016 http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2016/09/16/leah_sobsey_photographs_the_collections_of_national_park_museums_in_her.html

All about Photo.com, January 10, 2016

http://www.all-about-photo.com/article.php?title=leah-sobsey&id=147

Art Fix Daily, March 29, 2016 http://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/release/6986-leah-sobsey-photographs-collections-of-americas-national-park-mus

Hyperallergic, July 13, 2016 http://hyperallergic.com/304776/photographs-of-the-birds-and-bones-in-us-national-park-collections/

Musee Magazine, June 16, 2016 http://museemagazine.com/culture/2016/6/16/book-review-leah-sobsey-collections-birds-bones-and-butterflies

PDN blog, March 22, 2016

http://potd.pdnonline.com/2016/03/37427/

Daylight Publishing, July 2016

http://stories.daylight.co/leah-sobsey-collections/

Indy Week, December 23, 2015

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/five-great-local-visual-art-shows-of-2015/Content?oid=4957674

News and Observer, October 13, 2015

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/durham-news/dn-community/article38749014.html

Indy Week, August 26, 2015 http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/fall-guide-editors-picks-for-must-see-art-exhibits/Content?oid=4683247

Photo Booth ( blog), New Yorker, August 13, 2014, http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/sam-stephensons-bull-city-summer

Mother Jones, August 31, 2014, http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/08/bull-city-summer-minor-league-baseball

Burnaway The Voice of Art in the South, June 3, 2014 http://burnaway.org/review/art-baseball-bull-city-summer-raleigh-nc/

Slate.com, March 4, 2014 http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/03/04/bull_city_summer_documents_a_season_at_the_ballpark_with_the_durham_bulls.html

Paris Review Daily (blog), Paris Review, July 24, 2013, http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/07/24/when-winning-is-everything/

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/tag/leah-sobsey/

Southern Photographer, February 9, 2011

http://southphotography.blogspot.com/2011/02/leah-sobsey-in-local-histories-ground.html

NC ArtBlog, Our Stories: A Community–Based Public Art Project, Jeff York, 2010

Shots Magazine, no. 105 autumn issue, 2009

The State of Things, NC Public Radio, 2009

Chapel Hill Herald, “Art’s Value Lies in the Stories behind It,” Rebekah, Cowell, 2009

Daily Tarheel, “Art Project Aims to Share History,” Mazare Rogers

Metro Magazine, “Marching,” Louis St. Lewis, 2008

Chapel Hill Magazine, Sept./October issue, 2008

Durham Magazine, August/September issue, 2008

Winston Salem Journal, Reviewed by Tom Patterson, August 10, 2008, http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/aug/10/nature-as-muse-and-mentor/entertainment-art/

Yes Weekly, “Green Hill Gallery Hangs Art Garden,” August 2008, reviewed by Amy Kingsley

Metro Magazine, Review by Louis St. Lewis, June 2008, http://www.metronc.com/article/?id=1629

Rambler Magazine, July August Issue, 2008

Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, Christopher James, 2008

Rambler Magazine, October/November issue, 2007

Independent Weekly, 2007

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A154433

Durham Herald, Jan. 2006

WRAL TV, 2006

Independent Weekly, May 2003

Independent Weekly, March 2002 www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A17376 - 40k

 

 

Television, Radio & Podcast

 

WUNC, The State of Things, NPR affiliate, 2016,

http://wunc.org/post/things-my-mother-would-have-told-me-if#stream/0

Drunkbooksellers Podcast, July 2016, http://drunkbooksellers.libsyn.com/2016

WRAL TV, 2016, http://www.wral.com/Arts/Leah-Sobsey-Art-Exhibition/15911651/

WUNC The State of Things, NPR affiliate, 2015

http://wunc.org/post/scanning-dead-birds-celebrating-unconventional-photography-triangle#stream/0

WUNC The State of Things, NPR affiliate, 2013

http://wunc.org/post/writer-musician-and-photographer-walk-casbah#stream/0

WRAL TV, February, 2014, http://www.wral.com/museum-photo-exhibit-captures-durham-bulls/13417906/

 

Awards, Grants & Residencies

 

2018 Hewnoaks Artist Residency, Lovell Maine

         CVPA Diversity Initiatives Mini-Grant, Greensboro, NC

         Faculty Excellence award, The University of North Carolina Greensboro

2017 UNCG New Faculty Research Grant, Greensboro, NC

         UNCG CVPA Grant, UNCG, Greensboro, NC

         CLICK Triangle Photography Festival PIC grant winner

         Faculty Excellence Award, The University of North Carolina Greensboro

2010 Grand Canyon Artist in Residence, National Park Service

2008 Emerging Artist Grant, Durham Arts Council

         Orange County Artist Grant, Chapel Hill, NC

         HABLA The Center for Language and Arts, Teaching Artist Residency, Merida, Mexico

2006 Vermont Studio Center Artist Residency, Fellowship, July 2006

         The Duke Semans Fine Arts Foundation,

         Gathering in the Stories, Duke Hospital, 2006

2000 Anderson Ranch Scholarship Award

1999 Alligator Juniper Print Competition

1998 Ernst Haas Golden Light Award: 3rd place, still life print competition

        Ernst Haas Golden Light Award: named in the Top 100 Photographers in the Country

 

Juror/Panelist/Curator/Book Signings/Conferences, Artist talks

 

2018  Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech, VA

2017 *GPS, 485 exhibition, curator, Greensboro, NC

         University of North Carolina Greensboro, Gatewood Gallery, curator

         *The Fence, Durham Arts Council, Artist talk

         *The University of Alabama, Artist talk

         *Juror, Durham Arts Council Emerging artists Grant, Durham, NC

         *Conference presenter, Collections, at the Unleashing and confronting stories Of Bildung: Remediations

         of cultural-natural heritage, University of Copenhagen, December 4-5, 2017                   

         *Association of International Photography Art Dealers, NYC, Artist talk/Book signing

2016 Rayko Photo Gallery, Collections, San Francisco, CA, Book Signing

         Weatherspoon Art Museum, Collections, Greensboro, NC, Artist talk and book signing

         Durham Public Library, Collections, Durham, NC, Artist talk and book signing

         21C Art Museum, Collections, Durham, NC, Artist talk and book signing

         SF Camerawork, Collections, San Francisco, CA, Artist talk and book signing

2015 Carrack Modern Art, The Scanners, Durham, NC talk, Artist talk

         Carolina Theater, Durham, NC, Artist talk, Bull City Summer, Panel discussion

         Weatherspoon Art Museum, Observed / Examined / Fabricated, POV Talk with Leah Sobsey + Chris Poulos, Discussion with curator and panelist

2014 Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, Bull City Summer, Artist talk and book signing

2011 Curator, University of NC Greensboro Multi-Cultural Gallery, Black Marker Project

         Curator, Jackson Library, UNC Greensboro, Shifting Grounds

2010 Juror/Curator, Jackson Library, UNC Greensboro Borrowed Narratives Exhibition

         Juror, Center for Visual Artists 2010 Exposure Photo Biennial Exhibition, Greensboro, NC

         Curator, University of NC Greensboro Multi Cultural Gallery, For Women By Women

2009 Juror, Emerging Artist Grant, Durham, NC

2008 Juror, International Festival of Film and Video Dance, American Dance Festival, Durham, NC

         Panelist, Guilford College Art Symposium, Greensboro, NC

         Panelist, Design, Art and Technology Symposium, University of North Carolina Greensboro

                                               

Films                                     

 

Leaving Traces, dir. Ivan Weiss, 2014, documentary film covering the making of the book Bull City Summer

                                               

Selected Public and Private Collections

 

Cassilhaus Collection

North Carolina Museum of Art

Fidelity Investments

Rose Community Foundation

Habitat for Humanity, Durham, NC

Town of Chapel Hill

Bill Gates, Microsoft Collection

Maine Photographic Workshops

Rockport College Collection

San Francisco Art Institute

Duke University Medical Archives

Grand Canyon National Park

                                               

Leah Sobsey

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