ARTIST STATEMENT
Soli Pierce is an interdisciplinary artist working in various media including sculpture, encaustics, photography, installation and found-object assemblage. Light — its mapping over time, and its temporal qualities of both mystery and discovery — infuse her work.
Soli draws inspiration from nature, fostering a desire to both protect and act on its behalf while exploring the themes of origin, balance, and interconnectedness.In her work, the circle is the message, offering a meditation on the nature of time. The circle acts as a portal, inviting us inward while invoking harmony and inclusivity.
By aligning introspection and environmental awareness, Soli’s artwork echoes a deep connection to nature and to finding the still point within.
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BIOGRAPHY
Soli Pierce, a 2025 artist-in-residence at Kino Saito, New York and at Jentel in Wyoming, is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, encaustics, photography, installation, video, and assemblage. Her art reflects a deep reverence for nature and explores themes of time, mystery, and spiritual introspection. She is especially known for immersive sound and sculptural installations, as well as her iconic encaustic paintings and photo-based works.
Her recent Sound Forest installation series, in collaboration with sonic artist Bruce Odland, was supported by multiple grants and presented at the Hammond Museum, ArtsWestchester, and KinoSaito Arts Center (2024–2025). Pierce was recently awarded the 2025 Jentel Artist Residency in Wyoming.
Pierce’s career began with a solo show at Beaux Arts Incorporated (1983) and a New York State Council on the Arts Grant (1984), launching her into video and multimedia work. This included SUBWAYOUT, an Off-Broadway production exploring alienation in a fast-paced world. In the late 1980s, she partnered with Lizanne Merrill as “Merrill & Pierce,” creating digitized video art that was exhibited internationally and acclaimed by The New York Times and The Village Voice. She became an adjunct professor of photography at NYU in 1989.
In 1991, she founded Sherwood Forest Design, producing heirloom bowls featured by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, she returned to nature-based work with The Sound Forest, a tactile sculptural series made of wood, encaustic, and beeswax that invites meditative interaction.
Pierce’s work consistently explores origin, balance, and interconnectedness. The recurring circle motif symbolizes wholeness and introspection. Her art bridges environmental and personal consciousness, offering moments of stillness amid a fractured world.
RÉSUMÉ | SOLI PIERCE
Born in Fort Polk, Louisiana
Resides in Hudson Valley, New York
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Jentel Artist-in-Residence, Wyoming 2025
KinoSaito Artist-in-Residence, New York, 2025
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 “unEARTHED,” BAU Gallery, Beacon, NY
2025 “Chasing Light,” BAU Gallery, Beacon, NY
2025 “Sound Forest / Between Worlds,” Soli Pierce with Bruce Odland, KinoSaito Arts Center, Verplank, New York
2024 “Sound Forest / Memory Cave,” Soli Pierce with Bruce Odland, Janet Langsam Vault Project, ArtsWestchester Gallery, White Plains, New York
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
2025
Yonkers Arts Triennial Sculpture Review, Yonkers, NY
“Healing Hallways,”Katonah Museum Artists’ Association in collaboration with
Northern Westchester Hospital, Katonah, NY
“Autumn,” Rowayton Art Center, Norwalk, CT
”Wish You Were Here,” A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
”A Gathering of Unasked Possibility,” Material Projects Space, Ellenville, NY
”2025 All Member Show,” Katonah Museum Artists’ Association, Bethany Arts
Community, Ossining, NY
“Nest,” BAU Gallery, Beacon, NY
“Passages,” BAU Gallery, Beacon, NY
LABspace, Hillsdale, NY
“The Shape of Things,” BAU Gallery, Beacon, NY
“Lust for Rust,” Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY
“GAC Member Show,” Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY
“Fresh Start,” BAU Gallery, Beacon, NY
2024
KinoSaito Annual: Community Art Benefit, Verplank, NY
LABspace, Hillsdale, NY
”Changing Perspectives,” Peekskill Arts Alliance, Field Library, Peekskill, NY
“An Inference of Wildness,” Katonah Museum Artists’ Association, Katonah, NY
”Obscura,” BAU Galley, Beacon, NY
”Juncture + Rift,” Bau Gallery, Beacon, NY
KinoSaito Annual: Community Art Benefit, Verplank, NY
Peekskill Arts Alliance, Peekskill, NY
LABspace, Hillsdale, NY
2023
LABspace, Hillsdale, NY
KinoSaito Annual: Community Art Benefit, Verplank, NY
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, Ossining, NY
Contemporary Venice, 2022
ACC Exhibit, KinoSaito Art Center, Veplank, NY
1988
“Art Quest,” Inaugural Opening at C.W. Post, Hillwood Commons Art Gallery, Greenvale, NY
“Merrill & Pierce – Paul Joffe,” On the Wall, New York, NY
“Curators’ Choice,” Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX
“The 5th Annual Juried Exhibition and Invitation of Computer and Video Art,” Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Hempstead, NY
1987
“Computer Assisted – The Computer in Contemporary Art,” Freedman Gallery, Albright Knox College, Reading, PA (catalogue)
“Artists in the Computer Age,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (catalogue)
“New American Talent,” Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX
“Neoteric Landscapes,” On the Wall, New York, NY
“New York Art,” American Image, New York, NY
“Art for Money,” Art et Industrie, New York, NY
1986
“Salon Show,” Fashion Moda, New York, NY
“Illuminations – The Art of Our Future”, Art et Industrie, New York, NY
“Gracie Mansion Juried Exhibition,” Zeus Trabia, New York, NY
“The Women,” On the Wall, New York, NY
“Computer Artists – On & Off,” Parsons Gallery, New York, NY
“Computer Assisted – The Computer in Contemporary Art,” Owens-Illinois International, -Toledo, OH
“Bergen Invitational,” Bergen Museum of Art and Science, Paramus, NJ
1985
“Subway Out” Multi-media Off-Broadway, The Medecine Theater Company, New York, NY
“New York Siggraph Expo,” New York Siggraph, New York, NY
“Computer Art,” ADP Corporation Electronic Exhibition, New York, NY
“Artifacts of the Future,” Kamikaze Gallery, New York, NY
One Woman Show, Beaux Arts Incorporated, New York, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hill, Jean Cameron, “Soli Pierce: Turning A Talent into Profit,” Be Joyful Podcast, December 19, 2023.
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
KinoSaito Installation Grant through ArtsWestchester, 2025
Janet Langsam Vault Project Grant through ArtsWestchester, 2024
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
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”