artist statement
My work acts as a gateway to Source, Love, and Higher Wisdom. Motherhood, art-making, and yoga are platforms on which I perform self-healing, process trauma, dive into the abundance of love, and access vulnerability and oneness. Trauma often occupies the space between our humanity and divinity; preventing us from self-realization. Everyone is worthy of returning home in oneself after experiencing pain. An unfettered, empty heart sees only Love dwelling within.
My most recent body of work is the cathartic residue of birth trauma. This series is highly autobiographical and I invite the viewer on a journey through personal pain, shame, fear, and anger towards a new and reclaimed sense of Self. The arduous story within these works is one of healing. The fragmented compositions, collaged scrap material, marks and tape, all sing a song of a soul being torn apart and fighting to be put back together, to return home.
The monumental drawings in this series act as skins, absorbing my lived experiences. The paintings, videos, and writings are bodily, visceral, and alive. They have a microbial quality, are textural, and deeply layered. The yearning to restore inner harmony lingers in the storytelling embedded in the works alongside representations of sentimental objects such as dominos and references to games like tic-tac-toe. These things and amusements connect my various roles and responsibilities as mother, maker, partner, yogi, divine being, and so on. Furthermore, they give meaning to the mundane and repetitive nature of domestic life and parenting, and forge new ways of seeing and communicating.
I use my lived experiences as a foundation for researching the intersection between God, Love, trauma, vulnerability, domesticity, and motherhood. I continue to explore the gap between omnipresent divinity and the impermanence of being human.
cv
morgan goldsmith
b. 1988, new york
currently dwelling in naples, fl
education
2016 MFA, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
2014 BFA, The State University of New York, Purchase College, NY
solo exhibitions
2023 ALL THAT I'M SEEKING IS SEEKING ME, (forthcoming)
2022 THUNDER FLOWER emotional labor, Florida Mining Gallery, Jacksonville, FL
2019 Soul Force, Town & Country Inn, Santa Barbara, CA
2019 The Presence of the Indwelling Spirit, The Farm on Adderley, Brooklyn, NY
2018 Works on Paper, Marine Park Coffee, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Dixon, The Glass Box Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2015 Receptive to Sensual Impressions, @ Quinto Residence, Santa Barbara, CA
2015 Thug On The Mesa, The Glass Box Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2015 11743, The Glass Box Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
two person exhibitions
2021 Higher Love, with Susan Carr, Florida Mining Gallery, Jacksonville, FL
selected group exhibitions
2022 Eye Hugs, The Lark, Jacksonville, FL
2020 Cellophane, M. David & Co., Brooklyn, NY
2019 Pegs Pongs Applesauce, LoBo, New York, NY
2018 Black Friday 2, George Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2018 Conception Arts, M1-5 Lounge, New York, NY
2018 Dwellings, LoBo, Brooklyn, NY
2018 Transpose, Eastside International, Los Angeles, CA
2016 10x10x10xTieton Exhibition, Mighty Tieton Warehouse, Tieton, WA
2016 UCSB MFA Thesis Exhibition, AD&A Museum, Santa Barbara, CA
2015 GLAMFA, Cal State Long Beach, CA
2015 10x10x10xTieton Exhibition, Mighty Tieton Warehouse, Tieton, WA
2015 Albatross @ PICA TADADA, Portland, Oregon
2015 UCFZ, Gone Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2015 A Neoteric International Juried Exhibition, the HUD Gallery, Ventura, CA
2015 Current Focus, Red Barn Project Space, Santa Barbara, CA
2014 Likewise, Glass box Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2014 UCSB MFA Open Studios, Santa Barbara, CA
2014 SUNY Purchase BFA Exhibit, Purchase, NY
2014 Cut/Scrape/Smear curated by Kathy Bradford, Associated Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2014 107 @ The American Can Factory, Brooklyn, NY
2011 Group Show, Firehouse Plaza Art Gallery, Garden City, NY
curatorial projects
2022 THUNDER FLOWER emotional labor: curated events: poetry gathering, yoga offering, conversation on trauma and healing from the perspective of a mother.
2021 Higher Love, Florida Mining Gallery, Jacksonville, FL
2020 Cribs, LoBo Virtual Exhibit
2019 Pegs Pongs Applesauce, LoBo, New York, NY
2019 Flash in the Pan, LoBo, LIC, NY
2019 Soft Grit, LoBo, Brooklyn, NY
2018 Black Friday 2, George Gallery, Brooklyn,, NY
2018 Dwellings, LoBo, Brooklyn, NY
grants / awards / fellowships
2016 Florimbi Award, University of California, Santa Barbara
2016 Levitan Graduate Fellowship, University of California, Santa Barbara
2014-2016 Graduate Teaching Fellowship, University of California, Santa Barbara
2014-2016 Art Department Fellowship, University of California, Santa Barbara
2012 SUNY Purchase Public Art Commission, NY
2012 PSGA Grant, SUNY Purchase, NY
2011 ICMIS Travel Grant, Bangalore, India
2011 Studio Art Scholarship, Nassau Community College, NY
2011 Firehouse Gallery First Place Award Recipient, Garden City, NY
2010 Art Club Scholarship, Nassau Community College, NY
2005 Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key Recipient
publications
2022 Folio
2019 Hazy Days Zine
2016 10x10x10xTieton Catalog
2016 Studio Visit Magazine, Volume Thirty One
press / bibliography
2022 "How to Ruin Dinner - Morgan Goldsmith", How to Ruin Dinner, Mary McGovern Treyz (FORTHCOMING)
2022 Mekena Rodriguez, abc First Coast News.
2021 Karline Moeller, "Frank Talks", Art Frankly.
2018 Logan Hanley, "Dwellings: An Inaugural Exhibition for a New Type of Gallery", LoBo Blog.
2016 Jim Logan, "Next Stop, Creation", The UC Santa Barbara Current.
2016 Edgar Rodriguez, Art Experience: Morgan McAllister, Eleutheromania, Wordpress Art Blog.
2016 "Towned - Morgan McAllister", TOWNED, Patrick Melroy
2016 Josef Woodard, “Art Review: Forging New Pathways”, Scene, Santa Barbara News-Press.
2016 Charles Donelan, "UCSB MFA Exhibition 2016", Santa Barbara Independent.
2016 Gabriel Lazo “Grads Present Theses at AD&A”, The Daily Nexus.
2014 Nathaniel Vonk, "Review: UCSB MFA Open Studios Annual Group Show Offers a Backstage Pass to the Creative Process", Santa Barbara Independent
2014 Danielle Kalamaras Reviews “get your kicks with six art pix” For Bushwick Daily, http://bushwickdaily.com/2014/04/get-your-kixcks-with-six-art-pix/,
2014 ART HAPS, Cut/Scrape/Smear: SUNY Purchase BFA Painters, https://www.arthaps.com/show/cutscrapesmear-suny-purchase-bfa-painters_1
2014 ArtSlant, Cut/Scrape/Smear: SUNY Purchase BFA Painters
boards / committees / community involvement
2018-Present Co-Founder, LoBo, Brooklyn, NY
visiting artist lectures
2022 "Satsang: A Gathering of Truth", Florida Mining Gallery, Jacksonville, FL
2017 "Death by Air Conditioner", ReSource Nonprofit, South Barre, VT
2016 "Meat and Potatoes", University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
teaching experience
YouthBuild, Winter 2016, ReSource, VT
Teaching Assistant, Art & Life, Kip Fulbeck, Spring 2016, UCSB, CA
Teaching Assistant, Lower Div. Printmaking, Cathy Ellis, Winter 2015, UCSB, CA
Teaching Assistant, Spatial Studies, Kim Yasuda, Fall 2015, UCSB, CA
Teaching Assistant, Image Studies, Laurel Beckman, Fall 2015, UCSB, CA
Teaching Assistant, Lower Div. Drawing, Nathan Hyden, Summer 2015, UCSB, CA
Teaching Assistant, Art & Life, Elizabeth Folk, Summer 2015, UCSB, CA
Teaching Assistant, Visual Literacy, Jen Vanderpool, Summer 2015, UCSB, CA
Teaching Assistant, Art & Life, Kip Fulbeck, Spring 2015, UCSB, CA
Teaching Assistant, Intro to Painting, Philip Argent, Winter 2014, UCSB, CA
Teaching Assistant, Visual Literacy, Dick Hebdige, Fall 2014, UCSB, CA