Painting has always been a constant in my life. Design and form became part of my process during grad school for architecture and design.
A one-woman painting show in NYC at Beaux Arts Incorporated in 1983 followed, then a New York State Council of the Arts Grant in 1984 allowed me the freedom to pursue cutting edge work in video, technology, photography and assemblage. The grant led to an Off-Broadway theatre piece, a multi-screen installment called SUBWAYOUT, and spoke to the alienation and fast pace of modern life.
Lizanne Merrill and I formed an artistic duo called “Merrill & Pierce” and our digitized video images in the mid- to late-eighties received recognition from the New York Times and The Village Voice and traveled to Canada and Germany. In response to this work, I was offered, and accepted, an adjunct professorship in photography at NYU in 1989.
When the economics of my life demanded a different kind of creativity, I founded Sherwood Forest Design in 1991, a successful three-decade decorative arts line of heirloom bowls and tableware. My bowls are on tables around the world and have been in numerous partnerships with international fine art institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
In 2021, nature guided me once again. The isolation of Covid nurtured me deeply and offered me time to plant new creative seeds. A new series entitled ‘The Sound Forest’ – a fusion of my past and present via portals made with wood, encaustic, moss, beeswax and paint— calls upon all the senses in a sound forest.
RÉSUMÉ | SOLI PIERCE
Born in Fort Polk, Louisiana
Resides in Hudson Valley, New York
EDUCATION
1981-83 The Art Students League of New York
1978-79 Laguna Beach School of Art, Laguna Beach, California
1975-78 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California
MA, Architecture and Environmental Design
1971-74 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, B.F.A
EXPERIENCE
1991-Present Sherwood Forest Design, Founder & CEO, Specializing in heirloom hand-painted wooden bowls
1988-1991 Adjunct Professor of Photography, New York University
1985-1991 “Merrill & Pierce”
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 “Sound Forest: Songs of Disappearance,” Soli Pierce with Bruce Odland, Hammond Museum, North Salem, New York
1983 “Soli Pierce,” Beaux Arts Incorporated
1988 “Merrill & Pierce,” Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Hempstead, New York
1987 “Merrill & Pierce,” Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1986 “Merrill & Pierce,” Fashion Moda, New York City, New York
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
KinoSaito Annual: Community Art Benefit, Verplank, New York
Peekskill Arts Alliance, Peekskill, New York
LABspace, Hillsdale, New York
2023
MIXING IDENTITIES, London, England
LONDON CONTEMPORARY 8th Edition, London, England
CANVAS 2023 - BODYSPACES, Venice, Italy
2022
LABspace, Hillsdale, NY
Canvas - Bodyspaces, London, England
Venice International Art Fair, 16th Edition, Venice, Italy
By-the-Dam Bookstore, Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Fahrenheit 100+, Ossining Public Library
Contemporary Venice, 2022
ACC Exhibit, KinoSaito Art Center
1988
“Art Quest,” Inaugural Opening at C.W. Post, Hillwood Commons Art Gallery, Greenvale, NY
“Merrill & Pierce – Paul Joffe,” On the Wall, New York City
“Curators’ Choice,” Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas
“The 5th Annual Juried Exhibition and Invitation of Computer and Video Art,” Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Hempstead, New York
1987
“Computer Assisted – The Computer in Contemporary Art,” Freedman Gallery, Albright Knox College, Reading, Pennsylvania (catalogue)
“Artists in the Computer Age,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (catalogue)
“New American Talent,” Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas
“Neoteric Landscapes,” On the Wall, New York City
“New York Art,” American Image, New York City
“Art for Money,” Art et Industrie, New York City
1986
“Salon Show,” Fashion Moda, New York City
“Illuminations – The Art of Our Future”, Art et Industrie, New York City
“Gracie Mansion Juried Exhibition,” Zeus Trabia, New York City
“The Women,” On the Wall, New York City
“Computer Artists – On & Off,” Parsons Gallery, New York City
“Computer Assisted – The Computer in Contemporary Art,” Owens-Illinois International, -Toledo, Ohio
“Bergen Invitational,” Bergen Museum of Art and Science, Paramus, New Jersey
1985
“Subway Out” Multi-media Off-Broadway, The Medecine Theater Company, New York City
“New York Siggraph Expo,” New York Siggraph, New York City
“Computer Art,” ADP Corporation Electronic Exhibition, New York City
“Artifacts of the Future,” Kamikaze Gallery, New York City
One Woman Show, Beaux Arts Incorporated, New York City
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Harrison, Helen. “Computer Imaging on Display,” The New York Times, January 3, 1988.
_________. “Merrill & Pierce,” Cover Arts, February 1987.
_________. “Merrill & Pierce,” The Village Voice, September 30, 1986.
GRANTS
New York State Council for the Arts Grant, 1985
AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS
Curator’s Choice Award, Juried Exhibition, Art Museum of South Texas, 1988
Contrast in Design Award, AV Video Magazine, August 1986