EDUCATION

2004 – M.F.A. The University of Texas at Austin
1997 – B.F.A . The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

AWARDS/ RESIDENCIES

2014 – Residency SIM, Reykjavik, Iceland
2014 – Centre D’Art, Marnay Art Centre, Marnay France
2014 – Banff Centre Residency, Banff Canada
2011 – Alexander Rutsch Award in Painting
2011 – Summer Research and Artistry Grant (Japan), Northern Illinois University
2010 – Summer Research and Artistry Grant (Iceland), Northern Illinois University
2009 – SIM, Residency, Association for Icelandic Visual Artists, Reykjavik, Iceland
2008 – Jentel Foundation Resident, Banner, Wyoming
2008 – Ragdale Foundation, Artist in Residence, Lake Forest, Illinois
2007 – Stonehouse Residency for the Contemporary Arts, Miramonte, California
2007 – Merit Award, Biennial 24, South Bend Regional Museum of Art, South Bend, Indiana
2005 – Residency Fellow, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
2005 – Chateau de La Napoule, La Napoule, France
2005 – Texas Biennial Award
2001 – Kelly Fearing Endowed Fellowship in Painting
2001 – Elizabeth McGoldrick Endowed Fellowship in Painting
1992 – Castiglione Fine Arts Award

EXHIBITIONS

2019 – (UPCOMING) Small Gestures, Heaven Gallery, with Stephanie McMahon & Gianna Commito, Chicago, IL
2018 – Le Lavage, Linda Warren Projects, Chicago, IL
2017 – Backspace, Backspace Gallery, Curated with Mike Rea, Frank Traknkina, Tim Doud, Zoe Nelson, & Scott Wolniak, DeKalb, IL
2016 – Tectonic Mates, Metropolitan Capital Bank, with Scott Wolniak & Kim Keever, Chicago, IL
2015 – Fiori Frutti Frammenti, (SOLO) G.R.E.T.A., Rome, Italy
2014 – Random, SIM Center, Reykjavik, Iceland
2014 – Above and Below, Wright State University, Ohio
2014 – I’m Jealous of Your Failures, Illinois State Gallery, Springfield Illinois
2013 – Yard Dweller, Art Palace, Houston, Texas
2012 – Soil, Coil, Trefoil (SOLO), Monmouth College, Monmouth Illinois
2012 – Malin Kong, Megumi Ogita Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2012 – Mystery Spot (SOLO), Linda Warren Projects, Chicago, IL
2012 – The Smalls, (SOLO) Hartmann Gallery, Bradley University, Peoria, IL
2012 – A View From There, with Carrie Cook and Sonja Berg, Art Palace, Houston, Texas
2011 – Island- Twenty Two Artists Responding to Iceland, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan & CAVE, Detroit, MI
2011 – Then Again, Maybe Not, with Michelle Wasson and Richard Kooyman, Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, MI
2011 – Groundcover, (SOLO) Skew Gallery, Calgary, AB, Canada
2011 – Subject: Object, Curator, ebersmoore, Chicago, Illinois
2011 – Black at Heart, Bad Dog Gallery, DeKalb, Illinois
2011 – Placeholder, E & W Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2011 – 6th Alexander Rutsch Award Exhibition, (SOLO), Pelham Art Center, Pelham, New York
2011 – The Ambiguous Object, Cantanker Magazine Exhibition, Pump Project Space, Austin, Texas, Curated by Cook & Ruud
2011 – InVisible: Hiding in Plain Sight, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, Illinois
2010 – 20 x 20 x 20, LSU Union Art Gallery, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
2010 – Suhwheelism, Bad Dog Gallery, DeKalb, Illinois
2010 – Perceiving Place, with Corinne Ullmann, Josephine Halvorson, and Mike Glier, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred University, Alfred, New York
2010 – ReVision, Katzen Center for the Arts, American University, Washington, DC
2010 – Skipti/Swap, Association for Icelandic Visual Artists, Reykjavik, Iceland
2010 – Ah-Wilderness, Ebersmoore, Chicago, Illinois
2010 – Majestic!, (SOLO), Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, IL
2010 – Art Chicago, with Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2010 – Texas National, Cole Art Center, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas, Juror: Judy Pfaff
2009 – StArt!, Tinlark Gallery, Los Angeles. California
2009 – AbstWACKtion!, Bad Dog Gallery DeKalb, Illinois. Curated by Frank Trankina
2009 – Gimme Baby Robots, traveling exhibition curated by Michael T. Rea, Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago
2008 – Somewhere, Elsewhere, Linda Warren Gallery,Chicago, Illinois
2008 – Prospect, Creative Research Lab, Austin, Texas
2008 – Bitchin’, Curator, Bad Dog Gallery, DeKalb, Illinois
2008 – Art Chicago, with Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2008 – Of, On, And About Paper, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, California, Jurors: Shelly Bancroft and Peter Nesbett, Editors. Art on Paper magazine
2008 – Built and Grown, Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2007 – Faculty Biennial, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, Illinois
2007 – Cool Sticky, Contemporary Art Workshop, Chicago, Illinois, in conjunction with Sabina Ott, Light Blue and the Same Red Makes a Change, Contemporary Art Workshop, Chicago, Illinois
2007 – Zg Summer Show, Zg Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, Curators: Meg Sheehy and Myra Casis, Co-owners, Zg Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2007 – House and Garden, a collaboration with Michelle Wasson, Bad Dog Gallery, DeKalb, Illinois
2007 – Paimiatki, Akademia Sztuk Piknych w Katowicach, Katowice, Poland
2007 – Biennial 24, South Bend Regional Museum of Art, South Bend, Indiana, (Merit Award) Jurors: Meg Sheehy and Myra Casis, Co-owners, Zg Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2006 – Affair at the Jupiter Hotel, Jupiter Hotel, Portland Curator: Arturo Palacios, Director, Art Palace Austin, Texas
2006 – Wild and Bushy, Volitant Gallery, Austin, Texas Curator: Hana Hillerova
2006 – Luck of the Draw, Diverseworks, Houston, Texas Curator: Diane Barber, Visual Arts Director, Diverseworks, Houston, Texas
2006 – Seismic Shift, Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2006 – On the Horizon: Nina Rizzo & Stephanie Wagner, Art Palace Gallery, Austin, Texas
2005 – Casket Factory ’05, at The Dallas Coffin Co., Dallas, Texas, with Art Palace Gallery, Austin, Texas
2005 – New Texas Painting, Diverseworks, Houston, Texas Curator: Diane Barber, Visual Arts Director, Diverseworks, Houston, Texas
2005 – Texas Biennial, Dougherty Arts Center (venue), Juried Show, Juror’s Choice Award, (catalogue)
2005 – Sisters Show, Fresh Up Club, Austin, Texas, Curators: David Bryant and Peat Duggins, Directors Fresh Up Club, Austin, Texas
2004 – Cha Cha Cha, Wormhole Gallery, Miami, Florida, Curator: Pepe Mar, Wormhole Gallery, Miami, Florida
2004 – Stray Show, Chicago, Illinois, Fresh Up Club, Austin, Texas, Curator: David Bryant, Co-Director, Fresh Up Club, Austin, Texas
2004 – 22nd Annual National Small Works Competition, Schoharie County Arts Council Gallery, Cobleskill, New York, Juror: Katharina Rich Perlow, Director, Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York, New York
2003 – Austin Powers, Williams Tower Gallery, Houston Texas, Curator: Sally Sprout, Houston, Texas
2003 – Seven From Austin; Recent Post Pluralist Painting, Landmark Arts Center, Lubbock, Texas, Curator: Elizabeth Joblin, Director, Gallery 107, Austin, Texas
2003 – Superstring, Creative Research Laboratory, Austin, Texas
2003 – Italart Center Show, Italart Center at Santa Chiara, Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy
2002 – New American Talent 17, Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, Texas, Juror: Kathryn Kanjo, Executive Director, ArtPace, San Antonio, Texas (catalogue)
2002 – Jacket, Creative Research Lab, Austin, Texas, Curators: Merchant Adams, Atteqa Ali, Lynn Boland, M.A. Candidates, Department of Art and Art History, The University of Texas at Austin
2002 – The Unrestrained Creativity, Art and Charity, Finesilver Building, San Antonio, Texas

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2015 – B. David Zarley, “Environmental Impact”, New American Paintings blog, 10/26/2015

2011 – Verfhond Colophon, “A Thousand Living Painters-Disclosing Contemporary Painterly Painting,” www.http://a1000livingpainters.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/nina-rizzo/ Amsterdam, Holland

2011 – Torgeir Husevaag and Catrine Thorstensen, I Mali Og Myndum- Pieces Of and On Iceland, published by artists in Oslo, Norway

2011 – Cook & Ruud, “The Ambiguous Object”, Cantanker Magazine, 3rd Edition, January, 2011

2010 – Chris Smith, Majestic! at Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago Art Magazine, April 8, 2010

2010 – Chicago Art News- Featured, www.chicagoartmagazine.com/2010/04/nina-rizzo-majestic-at-linda-warren-gallery/, 2010

2010 – www.centerstagechicago.com/art/articles/must-see-art.html, 5/2010

2007 – Rachel Fumari, “Luscious Stains in Paint”, New City, October 11, 2007

2006 – Salvador Castillo “Nina Rizzo and Stephanie Wagner, On the Horizon, Art Palace”, Bout what I Sees, http://salvadorcastillo.wordpress.com/2006/02/, March 20, 2006

2006 – Dorothy Meiburg, “On the Horizon at Art Palace”, …might be good (website), mightbegood.org, March 10, 2006

2005 – Caitlin Haskell, Interview, “Three Hours of Road Trip Tunes”, …might be good (website), mightbegood.org/mbg, October 29, 2005

2005 – Elaine Wolff, “Digitally Induced Angst and Sensory Overload”, San Antonio Current, March 10, 2005

2005 – “Brushed with Greatness”, Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin-American Statesman, March 8th, 2005

2005- “Des Artistes Inspires Ont Ouvert les Portes du Chateau”, Stephan Dudzinski, Nice Matin, 22 fevrier, 2005

2005 – “Un Grand Cru d’Artistes, en Residence au Chateau”, Stephan Dudzinski, Nice Matin, 17 fevrier, 2005

2004 – New American Paintings South West Edition 2004, Number 54, Volume 9, Number 5, Juror: Lynn M. Herbert, Senior Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas

2003 – New American Paintings M.F.A. Annual 2003, Volume 8, The M.F.A. Annual, December 2003, Juror: Lawrence Rinder, Curator of Contemporary Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York

2003 – J. Marcus Weekley, “Seven From Austin: Recent Post Pluralist Painting”, Artl!es, Number 39, Summer 2003, 86

2003 – Charlotte Cousins, “A Collaborative Process”, Art Notes, Spring 2003, 13

2003 – K-EYE News Austin, Arts Story, Austin, Texas, September, 7, 2003

2003 – J. Marcus Weekley, “Seven from Austin”, Hub Stuff, Lubbock, Texas, August 2003

COLLECTIONS

Kishwaukee Community College, Malta, Illinois
Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio
Ritz Carlton
ebersmoore, Chicago, Illinois
BMO Harris Bank
Art Palace, Houston, Texas
Stonehouse Residency for the Contemporary Arts
Kirkland & Ellis LLP, International
Buzz Spector, St. Louis, Missouri
Neil Goldberg’s Cirque
K & W, Chicago, Illinois
Tim Doud, Washington, DC
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Deborah Grant, New York, NY
Melissa W. Miller, Austin, Texas
Michael Ray Charles, Austin, Texas

ARTIST REGISTRIES

Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL
White Columns, New York, New York
Texas Artist Registry, ArtPace, San Antonio, Texas
Creative Research Laboratory, Austin, Texas
The Drawing Center, New York, New York
The Mothership Connection, UT Austin, Texas

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2012-Present – Associate Professor in Painting, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois
2006-2012 – Assistant Professor in Painting, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois
2004-2006 – Adjunct Lecturer, The University of Texas at Austin
2005 – Studio Assistant to Michael Ray Charles, Austin, Texas
2004 – Arthouse at the Jones Center, Teen Workshop Instructor
2002 – Mural Assistant to Aaron Parazette, Austin, Texas
1998-2000 – Archival Intern, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Inspired by how natural structures divide and create space, these paintings are an investigation of the intersection between representation and abstraction, image and physical reality. Gestural marks are the building blocks of the forms, constructing image from movements. They are open and fluid, at once adhering to spatial illusion and falling back to material presence. At once static and mobile, the work refers to the fluidity of our experience of place, as transformed by time and perception.