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.
Biography
Soli Pierce is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the interconnectedness of the natural world, material transformation, and human experience. Working across photography, sculpture, installation, encaustic, and monoprint, she draws inspiration from the landscape and its cycles of growth, decay, and renewal. Recurring forms, particularly the circle, reflect themes of origin, wholeness, balance, and the relationship between the individual and the larger environment. Through her use of light, natural and reclaimed materials, and found objects, Pierce creates works that invite reflection on our place within the living world. Her practice is grounded in a deep commitment to environmental awareness and climate responsibility.
Pierce has participated in artist residencies at KinoSaito in Verplanck, NY, and Jentel in Wyoming in 2025, and at Tongue River in Wyoming in 2026. Her recent solo exhibitions include Poetry of Place at the Hammond Museum (fall 2026) and she was one of fifteen Hudson Valley sculptors to be featured in Beyond Clay at HVMOCA i(October 2026). Exhibition venues include KinoSaito Arts Center, Verplanck, NY; . Her work has also been included in exhibitions at Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; Pictorial Foundation, Newburgh, NY; Field Projects and Mother-in-Law's Gallery, Germantown, NY; Bendheim Gallery, Greenwich, CT; Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY; A.I.R. Gallery and Atlantic Gallery, New York City; ArtsWestchester Gallery, White Plains, NY; Woman's Work Art, Poughkeepsie, NY; and Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY, among others.
Pierce has received grants supporting her work from ArtsWestchester and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). She previously taught photography as an adjunct professor at New York University. Her work and projects have been featured in The New York Times, The Village Voice, and Ars Electronica, and she has exhibited nationally and internationally.
Résumé
Born in Fort Polk, Louisiana
Resides in Hudson Valley, New York
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Tongue River Artist-in Residence, Wyoming, 2026
Jentel Artist-in-Residence, Wyoming, 2025
KinoSaito Artist-in-Residence, New York, 2025
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 Poetry of Place, Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden, North Salem, NY
2026 BAU Gallery October, Beacon, NY
2026 Stillness Speaks, BAU Gallery, Beacon, NY
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, NY
2024 Sound Forest / Memory Cave, Soli Pierce with Bruce Odland, Janet Langsam
Vault Project, ArtsWestchester Gallery, White Plains, NY
2024 Sound Forest: Songs of Disappearance, Soli Pierce with Bruce Odland,
Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY
1983 Soli Pierce, Beaux Arts Incorporated
1988 Merrill & Pierce, Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Hempstead, NY
1987 Merrill & Pierce, Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1986 Merrill & Pierce, Fashion Moda, New York, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2027
Soli Pierce and Donna Bassin, Pictorial Foundation, Newburgh, NY (March)
A Beautiful and Strange Otherness: Soli Pierce, Rita Maas & Kelly O’Brien, Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden, North Salem, NY (April)
2026
Beyond Clay, HVMoCA, Peekskill, NY
Traces of the Infinite: Helena Palazzi, Soli Pierce & Lara Saget, Yellow Studio, New York, NY
Between Worlds, Ely Center for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT
Experiments and Discoveries, BAU Gallery, Beacon, NY
Remember When, Wallkill River Center for the Arts, Montgomery, NY
91st Annual National Exhibition, Cooperstown Art Association, Cooperstown, NY
Code Girl, Pictorial Foundation, Newburgh, NY
2026 Small Works Juried Show, Mamaroneck Artists’ Guild, Larchmont, NY
109th Annual Juried Exhibition, Bendheim Gallery, Greenwich Art Society, Greenwich, CT
Wishing Well, Outdoor Sculpture Show, Field Projects Gallery and Mother-in-Law's Gallery, Germantown, NY
In An Instant, Pictorial Foundation, Newburgh, NY
Art in Bloom, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
2026 Small Works Juried Show, Mamaroneck Artists’ Guild, Mamaroneck, NY
Katonah Museum Artists’ Association All-Member Exhibition, Katonah, NY
Vol. #1: The Process, Beacon Photo Club, Photobook + exhibition at Super Secret Projects, Beacon, NY
2026 Member Show, Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY
6th Annual Juried Exhibition: In-Security, Hudson Valley MoCA, Peekskill, NY
2025
Paper Trail, Conversations with Artists, International Virtual Exhibition
Community Art Benefit, KinoSaito Arts Center, Verplank, NY
Members’ Show, Peekskill Arts Alliance, Field Library, Peekskill, NY
Encore Exhibition, Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY
Light and Shadow, International Virtual Exhibition, Open Call for Artists
Longest Night, Woman’s Work Art, Poughkeepsie, NY
Death/Renewal, Super Secret Projects, Beacon, NY
Small Works, Yellow Studio, New York, NY
Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY
Yonkers Arts Triennial Sculpture Review, Yonkers, NY
Autumn, Rowayton Arts Center, Rowayton, CT
Healing Hallways, Katonah Museum Artists’ Association in collaboration with
Northern Westchester Hospital, Katonah, NY
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, KinoSaito, Verplank, NY
Holiday, 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
Changing Perspectives, Peekskill Arts Alliance, Peekskill, NY
2023
Holiday, LABspace, Hillsdale, NY
KinoSaito Annual: Community Art Benefit, KinoSaito, Verplank, NY
MIXING IDENTITIES, London, England
LONDON CONTEMPORARY 8th Edition, London, England
CANVAS 2023 - BODYSPACES, Venice, Italy
2022
Holiday, 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
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
TEACHING
Educator and Workshops Various locations including NYU, KinoSaito, ArtsWestchester
1988-1991 Adjunct Professor of Photography, New York University