Priscilla Steele
Artist's Statement
“The mind… yearns for some hard task, lifelong, longer than life, to concentrate it and make it whole…”. Wendell Berry
Drawing and printmaking are my chosen tools for exploring the most basic aspects of being human. So much has already been drawn, painted, sculpted, by great, historic masters that the “hard task” of the quote above has, indeed, proven to be life-long. And, while it is certainly true that work has given meaning to my life, whether I am achieving the elusive sense of “wholeness” cited by the poet Wendell Berry, is up for grabs at the end of each day in my studio. I get close when what is personal in my own work communicates the beauty and complexity I find in life.
Priscilla Steele
Biography
I was raised in New Jersey, just outside of New York City where regular trips into New York and Philadelphia opened to me a large, somewhat daunting, but very exciting, cosmopolitan world.
With the promise of extensive work abroad, I chose to study at a small liberal arts college in northern New York state: Saint Lawrence University. Four years later, I had spent a productive academic year in Europe, gained an intellectual foothold and appreciation for the major shifts within Western art, and developed a strong interest in drawing and printmaking.
After graduating in 1973, I moved to the Midwest and balanced printing and drawing with theatrical design and painting, as well as furniture design with my husband, Craig Campbell. It was during this decade that we also had our three children: Maggie, Charlie and Willa.
As a family, we made the decision in 1986 to move to Iowa so that I might attend graduate school at the University of Iowa for an MFA in printmaking. For several years I enjoyed teaching with the excellent faculty at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and for over 45 years have been a working artist, focusing on figurative and botanical subjects.
Priscilla
Resumé - (Photo by Steve Ozone)
Education:
1992 M.F.A. Printmaking, University of Iowa
1990 M.A. Printmaking, University of Iowa
1981-1986 Creighton University, audited printmaking and life-drawing
1974-1975 Kansas City Art Institute, attended printmaking and drawing
1973 Art Students League, New York City, printmaking
1973 B.A., St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, magna cum laude Phi Beta Kappa
1972 Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Madrid, Spain (through St. Lawrence University)
Selected Exhibitions:
2023 Dubuque Museum of Art Biennial
2023 “14th Biennial International Miniature Print Competition”
Center for Contemporary Printmaking - Winner of SpeedBall Award
2023 “Weets & Steele Botanicals” - Dual Exhibition - Campbell Steele Gallery - Marion, Iowa
2023 “Celebrating Women” Kavanagh Gallery - St. Charles, Illinois
2023 “Illustrating Steele” - Solo Exhibition - Campbell Steele Gallery - Marion, Iowa
2022 “New Steele” Solo Exhibition - Campbell Steele Gallery - Marion, Iowa
2021 San Diego Museum of Art - Summer Exhibition - Juror: Anita Feldman
2021 Bowery Gallery - Juried Exhibit - Juror: Clintel Steed
2021 Manifest Gallery - “Magnificent Seven” Juried Exhibition
2019 Gilded PEAR GALLERY, BOTANIC SHOW, SOLO, CEDAR RAPIDS, IA
2019 Blanden Art Museum, “Line”, group show, Fort Dodge, Iowa
2018 The Foundry, “Out on a Limb”, Saint Charles, Missouri, group show
2018 Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, “Figured”, 3 person show
2017 Black Earth Gallery, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Vernal Equinox exhibit, group show
2016-2017 Dubuque Museum of Art, “Dialog Human”, with Thomas C. Jackson, curator Stacy Peterson
2016 7th Annual Discourse on Drawing, University of North Carolina
2016 Coe college, solo show: Eat, Sleep, Draw
2015 Cedar Rapids Museum of Art Summer exhibit
2015 Verum Ultimum Gallery, Portland, Oregon “living mark”
2015 University of Northern Iowa Museum of Art, Cedar Falls, Ia.
“Drawn Together: Dialog Human 2015”, with Thomas C. Jackson
2014 Olson Larsen Galleries, West Des Moines, Ia
2014 ICON, Fairfield, IA., “Dialog Human” with Thomas C. Jackson
2014 Waterloo Center for the Arts, Waterloo, Ia., “Dialog Human” with Thomas C. Jackson
2014 Chait Galleries Downtown, Iowa City, Ia.
2014 Gallery “C”, Dubuque, Ia. (solo)
2013 Botanic Exhibit, Springfield Art Association., Springfield, IL
2013 Solo Botanic Exhibit, Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha, NE
2012 “Voices from the Warehouse District, V8”, Dubuque, Iowa
2012 Olson Larsen Galleries, Figurative Show, (group show)
2011 Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa salon exhibition
2010 Olson Larsen, December group show
2010 University of Iowa, “Botanical Drawings”, exhibited with IA Summer Rep
2009 Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell College, “Beneath the Surface”, group show
2009 Olson Larsen Galleries, West Des Moines, Ia., Botanical show
2008 Olson Larsen Galleries, West Des Moines, Ia. “New Work”, group show
2007 Olson Larsen Galleries, West Des Moines, Spring Invitational
2007 Uptown Art Festival, Minneapolis, ‘05, ’06 (best in drawing)
2006 Olson Larsen Galleries, West Des Moines, Spring Landscape show
2006 Chait Galleries Downtown, Iowa City, Iowa (group show)
2005 Augustana College Art Museum, Best in Show, Rock Island, Illinois
2004 Quad Cities Arts, Rock Island, Illinois (two person show)
2003 “Face to Face”, Peoria Art Guild, Peoria, Illinois
2002 Olson Larsen Gallery, Holiday Invitational, group show
2002 “New Art”, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, curator, Jane Milosch
2002 Arts Iowa City, solo show, Iowa City, Iowa
2002 Kirkwood Community College, Area Faculty Show, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
2001 Cornell College, Area Faculty Show, Mount Vernon, Iowa
2000 Peoria Art Guild, Peoria Art Festival, (best in 2D) (best in show ’90)
2000 Mount Mercy College, solo show, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
2000 Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver Colorado
1999 Henry W. Myrtle Gallery, Cedar Falls, Iowa (solo show)
1999 Luther College, solo show, Decorah, Iowa
1999 Milwaukee Art Museum, Lakefront Festival of the Arts (best in graphics 98,97
1999 Arts Iowa City, “Corporeal Reality”, (best in show), Iowa City, Iowa
1998 Madison Art Center, Art Fair on the Square, (best in show) ‘88, (best in graphics) ’93
1996 Alumni Show, Saint Lawrence University, group show.
Collections:
Saint Lawrence University, Canton, New York
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Mount Mercy University, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois
University of Iowa, Iowa City
University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa
CRST, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa
Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust
Mercy hospital, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
United Way, Cedar Rapids Iowa
Selected Publications:
2014 Cityview, Des Moines, Ia., “Same subject, different points of view”, Oct. 16, 2014
2014 Waterloo Courier, “Dialog Human” April, 2014
2014 Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, Ia., Gallery C Exhibit Jan. 2014
2009 “Beneath the Surface”, Grinnell College, Lesley Wright
2008 Cedar Rapids Gazette, March 23, “Cooperative Competitors”
2008 Corridor Business Journal, Iowa City, Iowa “Entrepreneur 101”
2007 Art Scene (February) Des Moines, Iowa
2006 Des Moines Register, Iowa, “Landscape paintings reveal views of nature”, June 11
2005 Augustana College, Rock Island Fine Arts Exhibition, April
2005 Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa, “Celebrate beauty of land, water”, June 5
2004 Coe College, Faculty Scholarship and Grants
2004 Quad Cities Reader, Rock Island, Illinois
2002 Iowa 2002, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
1999 Peoria Art Guild, Peoria Art Festival (poster)
1996 Saint Lawrence University, Canton, New York, Third Biennial Alumni Exhibition
1992 Cummington Press, Omaha, Nebraska, Dance Music, Barry Goldensohn (frontispiece)
1991 Cummington Press, Omaha, Nebraska, A Final Antidote, Louise Bogan (frontispiece)
1987 Iowa Journal, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
1986 Cummington Press, Omaha, Nebraska, A Voyage to Cythera, Ralph Bobb (frontispiece)
1986 Cummington Press, Omaha, Nebraska, Bathsheba on the Third Day, Jane Greer, (frontispiece)
Related Professional Activity:
2010-2014 Moderator, “Talk in the MUD”, Campbell Steele Gallery
2011 Moderator Portraiture panel, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
2007-2014 Board of Trustees, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
1995-2015 Instructor, Drawing and Printmaking, Coe College,
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
1994-2014 Marion Arts Festival Advisory Board
1991-2017 Co-owner Campbell Steele Gallery, Marion, Iowa
1993–1996 President, Marion Arts Council, secured grant (Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation)
for installation of public art in Marion Public Library
1994 Instructor, Art History, Mount Mercy College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
1988-1993 Co-scenic designer Theatre Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Workshops conducted:
1993-to present Open life drawing sessions twice weekly, year round Coe Coe College
2003 Carlos Ferguson, drawing/ tonality project
2002 Nancy Erskine, monotype
2001 Gerald Auten, drawing
2000 Kathy Caraccio, printmaking
1999 Stephen Cone Weeks, drawing
1998 Joe D’Uva, aluminum plate lithography