M Acuff
414 School Ave.
Walla Walla, WA 99362
t. 319-594-2173
acuffm@whitman.edu
Instagram: parched_and_sated
MFA Sculpture, May 2002, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
MA Sculpture, May 2000, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
BA Fine Art, Cum Laude, May 1992, Augustana College, Rock Island, IL
Academic Experience
Professor of Art, Whitman College, 2022-present
Associate Professor of Art, Whitman College, 2013-2021
Associate Professor of Art and Chair, Whitman College, 2013-2016.
Assistant Professor of Art, Whitman College, 2007-2012
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, Millsaps College, 2005-7
Adjunct Assistant Professor, The University of Iowa, Spring 2002
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Grinnell College, Spring 2001
Awards and Residencies
Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, 2022
Monothon 2019, Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts, 2019
Signal Fire, Rio Grande Canoe, 2017
The Arctic Circle, 2017
Djerassi, 2017
Anderson Ranch, Visiting Artist, 2014
VCCA Moulin A Nef, Auvillar, France, 2012
Whitman College Perry Grant, 2012
Playa Artist Residency, 2012
Brush Creek Foundation Artist Residency, 2012
Artist Trust GAP Grant, 2010
Ragdale Foundation Artist Residency, 2010
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency, 2010
Whitman College Abshire Grant, Whitman College, 2009
Mississippi Arts Commission Fellowship, 2006
Millsaps College Faculty Development Grant, 2006
Millsaps College Faculty Travel Award, 2005, 2006
Prairie Center of the Arts, Artist Residency, Peoria, IL, 2006
KHN Center for the Arts, Artist Residency, Nebraska City, NE, 2005
Jentel Foundation, Artist Residency, Banner, WY, 2005
International Sculpture Center Outstanding Student Award in
Contemporary Sculpture, 2000
Paula Patton Grahme Scholarship, 1998, 1999, 2000
Len Everett Scholarship 1999, 2000
Links
Interview with Laurel V. Mchlaughlin in Art & About
Artist Lectures
Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, OR 2023
Lewis & Clark State University, Lewiston, ID 2022
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 2021
Portland State University, Portland, OR 2020
CAVE Gallery, Vancouver, WA 2019
Penrose Library, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA 2018
Walla Walla Public Library, Walla Walla, WA 2012
Bellevue College, Bellevue, WA 2012
Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA 2012
Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, PA 2012
The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 2010
Millsaps College, Jackson, MS 2007
Jentel Presents, Banner, WY 2005
Denison University, Granville, OH 2004
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 2002
Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 2002
Solo Exhibitions + Projects
2020
Torso, Carnation Contemporary, Portland, OR
2019
polyglot plume, Carnation Contemporary, Portland, OR.
2018
CLOUD, Penrose Library, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA.
2014
the immiscible edges, White Box, Portland, OR.
2012
Surrogate, Bellevue College, Bellevue, WA.
Surrogate, Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, PA.
2009
Michelle Acuff – A Topology of Thinking, The Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pendleton, OR.
2008
Michelle Acuff – Corpus, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA.
2007
Michelle Acuff – Mind’s Meander – The Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI.
2006
Wounded- University of Memphis ArtLab, Memphis, TN.
Fragile World - Michelle Acuff, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts Satellite Space, Nebraska City, NE.
2005
Making the Mountain – Michelle Acuff, CSPS, Cedar Rapids, IA.
2002
Butch, Ruby’s Pearl, Iowa City, IA.
2001
Michelle Acuff - Recent Sculpture, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA.
The Locus of a Disassociated Self, Eve Drewlowe Gallery, The University of IA.
Group Exhibitions
2023
Bewildered, 3-person show with Renee Couture, Carolyn Hopkins, Nightingale Gallery, Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, OR.
2022
Bewildered, 3-person exhibition, The Dalles Art Center, The Dalles, OR
Smolder, 2-person exhibition with Carolyn Hopkins, Carnation Contemporary, Portland, OR
Over the Line: A Regional Faculty Exhibition, Lewis & Clark State University, Lewiston, ID
time / creature / portal / self , Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
2021
Second Date, Carnation Contemporary, Portland, OR
2020
Low Boil! Carnation Contemporary, Portland, OR
LEAF LITTER #8: The Storyteller Issue
2019
IF/THEN, Topical Contemporary, Eugene, OR
Alumni Invitational Exhibition, Prairie Center of the Arts, Peoria, IL.
Arctic Lament, (two-person exhibition), CAVE Gallery, Vancouver, WA.
2018
Now You Don’t: Photography and Extinction, In the In-Between, Journal of New and New Media Photography, https://www.inthein-between.com/now-you-dont-photography-and-extinction/
First Date, CARNATION CONTEMPORARY, Portland, OR.
Freeze-thaw, 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH.
Close In: 1st Inland Northwest Juried Landscape Exhibition, Jundt Museum, Spokane, WA.
Studio Art Faculty Exhibition, Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA.
WHITE OUT, Montez Press, 2018.
selected for Djerassi print edition
2015
Of Silence, Tilt Export, Outpost Projects, Yucca Valley, CA.
2014
Mutations of Otherness, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL, juried by Shoshanna Weinberger.
Post-Rural, Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA.
2013
10x10x10’, Mighty Tieton, Tieton, WA, juried by Linda Tesner, Director of the Hoffman Gallery, Lewis & Clark College and Justin Gibbens, co-Founder PUNCH Gallery.
2012
Somewhere Else – Artprize 2012, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI.
Consumer Culture, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL, juried by M.E. Ware, Associate Professor of Sculpture, Central Michigan University.
Mudiliscious, New Jersey Arts Incubator, West Orange, NJ.
2011
10x10x10, Mighty Tieton, Tieton, WA, juried by Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson, Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art at the Portland Art Museum; René Barilleaux, Chief Curator at McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Stephen Lyons, Director of Platform Gallery.
Green, Attleboro Museum of Art, Attleboro, MA, (juror’s award recipient) juried by Kate McNamara, Director and Chief Curator, Boston University Art Gallery.
9th Annual Biennial, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, juried by Alexandra Schwartz, MoMA; Montclair Art Museum.
Intimacy, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL, juried by Andrea Green, Director of the Visiting Artists Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Surrogate, New and Returning Faculty Exhibition, Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA.
12x12x12, Todd Gallery, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, juried by Hamlett Dobbins.
Beacons, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI.
Small Sculpture Exhibition, Andrews Gallery, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, curated by Elizabeth Mead.
2010
Marlboro Gallery National Juried Sculpture Exhibition, Prince George’s Community College, Lardo, MD, juror: Molly Donovan, Associate Curator for Modern and Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Art.
Seeing Double, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA, juror: Kristina Durocher, Curator of Collections, Fitchburg Art Museum.
Artscapes, Tacoma Arts Commission, Tacoma, WA Yesterday: Today: Tomorrow, The Q Center, Portland, OR.
2009
Seattle CoCA, Across the Divide, Belltown multimedia space and Ballard space, Seattle, WA.
Faculty Exhibition, Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
Gertrude Press Group Exhibition, Portland, OR.
2008
Objects of Desire, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL.
2007
New Faculty Exhibition - Introductions – Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA.
Faculty Exhibition – Millsaps College Lewis Art Gallery, Jackson, MS.
2006
Bi-State Annual Art Competition, Meridian Museum of Art, Meridian, MS.
33rdAnnual Juried Exhibition, Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA.
Faculty Exhibition - Millsaps College Lewis Art Gallery, Jackson, MS.
2000
Fall/Winter 2000/2001 Exhibition, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ.
50th Annual Quad State Juried Art Exhibition, Quincy Art Center, Quincy, IL.
1999
Five Star Art, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA.
Corporal Evidence, Arts Iowa City, Iowa City, IA.
Twenty Third Annual Rock Island Fine Arts Exhibition, Centennial Hall Gallery, Rock Island, IL.
1998
Home, Reservoir Space, The University of Iowa, IA.
Handmade Books, Checkered Space, The University of Iowa, IA.
1995
Gelatina, Fundacion Paul Rivet, Cuenca, Ecuador.
1994
Experiencias de Vida y Muerte, Museo del Banco Central, Cuenca,
Ecuador.
1992
Women Do Women, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL.
Lesbian Art Movement, Liz Long Gallery, Chicago, IL.
Rock Island Fine Art Exhibition, Centennial Hall Gallery, Rock Island, IL.
1991
Rock Island Fine Arts Exhibition, Centennial Hall Gallery, Rock Island, IL.
Quad City Regional Art Showcase, Davenport Museum of Art, Davenport, IA.
1990
What’s New in Art? Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg, IL.
Visual Aids, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, IA.