Bio
Cara Sullivan was born in Bangor, Maine and earned her B.F.A. at Arkansas State University, graduating with honors as the President's Scholar of the College of Fine Arts. Sullivan studied abroad at the University of Ulster College of Art and Design in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and earned her MFA at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She was recipient of a Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship and has exhibited her work in many locations, including Belfast, N.I.; Brooklyn, NY; Portland, OR; Memphis, TN; and St. Louis, MO. Her work is interdisciplinary with a strong interest in drawing and painting.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2004
MFA Visual Arts, Rutgers University (magna cum laude)
2001
BFA Studio Art, Arkansas State University (Honors)
1999-2000
Studio Art and Women's Studies, University of Ulster School of Art and Design, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Professional affiliations
FATE (Foundations in Art: Theory and Education)
College Art Association
Professional Experience
2015-present
Instructor of Foundations, Department of Art + Design, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR
2014
Juror: 11th Annual Student Exhibition, Kresge Gallery, Lyon College, Batesville, AR
2012-2015
Instructor at Charlott Jones School of Art, Jonesboro, AR
2012
Adjunct Instructor, Department of Art + Design, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR
2009-2012
Web Designer, Arkansas State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts
2008-2012
Senior Instructor, Studio Art, Foundation of the Arts, Jonesboro, AR
2006
Interim Director, Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
2005
Curator, Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
2003-2004
Teaching Assistant, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
- 2-D Foundations (Instructor of Record)
- 3-D Foundations (Instructor of Record)
2003
Studio Assistant, Immaculate Conception, Inc., studio of Janine Antoni, NYC
Selected Exhibitions
2020
Margins, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY, National Juried Exhibition, Curator: Anthony Elms, Chief Curator, ICA Philadelphia
Refugia, Royal Society of American Art, Brooklyn, NY Curator: Amelia Biewald
Rise, Focus Gallery, Windgate Center of Art and Design, University of Arkansas, Little Rock (solo)
2019
Flourish, Historic Arkansas Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas (two-person exhibition)
Faculty Biennial, Bradbury Art Museum, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR
2018
Pink, Fine Arts Center Gallery, Department of Art + Design, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR
2017
Wild Things, Bradbury Art Museum, Jonesboro, AR
Small Works on Paper, Arkansas Arts Council, Regional Traveling Exhibition
2016
53rd Annual Juried Competition, Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA
Flesh, Revealing a Passion for Paint, Verum Ultimum Gallery, Portland, OR
2015
Faculty Biennial, Bradbury Art Museum, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR
2014
The Dam Show, Reservoir Art Space, Queens, NY, Curators: Ronna Lebo & Joe Nanashe
Located Space, Kresge Gallery, Lyon College, Batesville, AR, Curator: Dustyn Bork
HomeEc, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, Curator: Adrienne Callender
Figurative Works, Foundry Art Center, St. Charles, MO (Juried)
2013
American Art Today: Figures, The Bascom Center for the Visual Arts,
Highlands, NC, Juror: Jonathan Stuhlman, Curator of American Art, Mint Museum
In the Flesh 4, Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA (Juried)
National Juried Exhibition, Batesville Area Arts Council, Batesville, AR, Juror: David Bailin
Innaugural Exhibition, 505 Union Gallery, Jonesboro, AR (two-person exhibition)
2012
The Figure Now, Fontbonne University Art Galleries, Fontbonne University, St. Louis, MO (Juried)
2011
Slip, Department of Art Gallery, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR (two-person exhibition)
2010
Delta National Small Prints, Bradbury Gallery, Arkansas State University, Juror: David Kiehl, Curator of Prints, Whitney Museum of American Art, Juror's Merit Award (catalogue)
2009
Annual Juried Exhibition, South Arkansas Arts Center, El Dorado, AR
Texas National 2009, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX, Juror: Mel Chin (catalogue)
2005
The Odds, City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ (Juried)
2004
Wit, Wisdom and Invention, Gruss Center of Visual Arts, Lawrenceville, NJ, Curator: Kip Deeds
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ (solo exhibition)
2003
An Evening of Performance, Five Myles, Brooklyn, NY, Curator: Hanne Tierney
2002
Homecoming, Bradbury Gallery, Jonesboro, AR, Curator: Les Christensen
2001
MAX: All About Paint, University of Memphis Gallery, Memphis, TN, Curator: Holly Block, Director, Bronx Museum of the Arts (catalogue)
Exit 23B, Marshall Arts Gallery, Memphis, TN, Curator: Hamlett Dobbins
Domestic Disturbance, Salina Art Center, Salina, KS, Curator: John Salvest
2000
Praying, Cursing, and Setting Big Fires, Catalyst Arts, Belfast, NI
Texas National 2000, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, TX, Jurors: The Art Guys (catalogue)
1999
Women in the Visual Arts, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT, Juror: Elisabeth Sussman, Whitney Museum of American Art
Research in the Classroom
2018 - 2019
Learning to See
This initiative applies the perceptual content of Drawing 1 to a rotating slate of visiting professors and administrators across disciplines. The function of this effort is to demonstrate the role of drawing in building perceptual acuity in ways that are important to every field of study. This is incredibly important to Foundations practice as programs are scrutinized in the 21st Century.
2017 - 2018
Iron Gall Ink
This initiative is a cross disciplinary approach to the content of Drawing 1 involving Art History, Studio Art and the Biological Sciences. Students were able to harvest gall nuts locally to make their own Medieval Iron Gall Ink. With the participation of Dr. Katherine Baker, Art Historian, Dr. Tanja McKay, Entomologist, and Dr. Argelia Lorence, Metabolic Engineer, students were able to understand the process of making ink, testing that ink through drawing, and were able to situate themselves in the context of renowned masters like Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci who used this medium.
Published Writing
Cara Sullivan, "Perception in the Digital Age: The Hybrid Paintings of Tiffany Calvert," Number: an independent journal of the arts for Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas 92 "2017": 18-19. Print
Cara Sullivan, "Scary Monsters", Number: an independent journal of the arts for Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas 84 "2015": 7. Print
Cara Sullivan, "Regional Update: Northeast Arkansas", Number: an independent journal of the arts for Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas 80 "2014": 8. Print
Cara Sullivan, "Scary Monsters", Number: an independent journal of the arts for Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas 77 "2014": 18. Print
Reviews
Rebecca Mixon, "Cara Sullivan's Wild Things," Number: an independent journal of the arts for Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas 92 "2017": 28. Print
Commissions
2012
Portrait of Dr. Robert L. Potts, Chancellor, Oil on Canvas, 47" ⨯ 30", Collection: Arkansas State University, State University, AR
Awards
2015-16
Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts Curated Online Registry, February 6, 2015
2010
Juror's Merit Award, Delta National Small Prints, Bradbury Gallery, Arkansas State University, Juror: David Kiehl, Curator of Prints, Whitney Museum of American Art
2009
Elizabeth J. Pruet Internship, Arkansas State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts
2003-2004
Teaching Assistantship, Rutgers University
2002
Graduate Scholarship, Department of Visual Arts, Rutgers University
2001
National Graduate Fellowship, The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
2000
President's Scholar, College of Fine Arts, Arkansas State University