Bio

Susan Joy Share is an Anchorage, Alaska-based visual artist, bookbinder and performer. Her passion for the book form, its structural variations, materials and potential for movement blends with her interest in sculpture, painting, sewing and collage. She creates kinetic forms, architectural spaces, costumes and experimental books that integrate visual depth, movement and sound.

Susan was born in Syracuse, NY. Her interest in clay brought her to the College of Ceramics at Alfred, NY, but soon, under the tutelage of printmaker and photographer, John C. Wood, she became fascinated with the book and its history. After receiving her BFA in 1977, she moved to New York City, studied traditional bookbinding and conservation and successfully pursued an art career. Her innovative, widely recognized, early performances with foldout sculpture connect the book with the human body. 

When she moved to Alaska in 1998, Susan and found a new and inspiring landscape. Her work is influenced by the grand scale, minute detail, subtle hues and interplay between light and dark in the far north. Other work investigates common symbols, family, ritual, and domesticity. In addition, she has created large-scale public artworks for Alaska’s State Percent and Anchorage’s Municipal 1% for Art programs and for private institutions. She is a 2018 Rasmuson Foundation Artist Fellowship recipient. Her work is in collections such as the Anchorage Museum, The Brooklyn Museum, the Jaffe Collection, the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Susan shares her knowledge, skills and creative approach with children, university students and adults at all levels. Over the past 40 years, she has traveled throughout the US and to England, Ireland and Hungary to exhibit, perform and teach. She also loves to garden, swim, hike, ski and cook.

CV

AWARDS/GRANTS/COMMISSIONS 

Rasmuson Foundation, AK, Individual Artist Fellowship, 2006 & 2018
Cook Inlet Housing Authority, Spenard Neighborhood History Mural, 2017
Cinewest Productions, CA, Film Poster Design, 2017
McKinley Chalet Resort, AK, Artist-in-Residence, 2016, 2017
Frontier Scientists, Children’s Book Consultant and Pop-up Engineer, 2015-17
AK Court System, Boney Courthouse, 1% for Art, 6 Ceramic Tile Murals, 2016
AK State Council, created Governor’s Arts Awards, 2003 and Writer Awards, 2016
Machetanz Elementary, Wasilla, AK, 1% for Art, 4 Ceramic Tile Murals, 2012
Touchstone Center for Children, NYC, Collaborated on poetry book & video, 2010
Providence Alaska Foundation, AK, Cancer Center Donor Wall, 2008
Alaska State Council on the Arts, Career Opportunity Grant, 1999 & 2008  
Center for Book Arts, NYC, Sally Bishop Fellow, 2007
S. Anchorage High, AK, 1% for Art, 15 Tile Murals & Handmade Book, 2004
Joan Mitchell Foundation, NYC, Grant Nominee, 2000
Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, NY, Project Grant, 1987, 1992
New York State Council on The Arts, collaborative Visual Art Performance grant, 1989
Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY, Artist-in-Residence, 1984
Cultural Council Foundation, NY, CETA Artists Project, 1978-79

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Bivy Gallery, Anchorage, AK, Doing Doing, 2019 Cyrano’s Theater Company, Anchorage, AK, Earnest Assemblages, 2019
International Gallery & Kenai Fine Arts Center, AK, InFormal Nature, 2018
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Animated Library (+performance) 2014
Kenai Peninsula College, AK, Susan Share Books (+workshops) 2012
Out North Contemporary Art House, Anchorage, AK, Animated Library, 2010
Bunnell Gallery, Homer, AK, Out of Bounds, 2001, Animated Library, 2010
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, AK, Attachments, 2006
Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle, WA, Unfoldings (+performance) 2003
Decker Morris Gallery, Anchorage, AK, Recent Work, 2002
Dana Room Gallery, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, 1998
Kimura Gallery, Univ. of AK Anchorage, Expanded Books (+performance) 1997
Holden Gallery, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC, Bookworks (+ teaching) 1997 
Ellipse Gallery, Arlington, VA, Retrospective (+performance) 1996
Center for Book Arts, NYC, Books, Props, Collages, (+performance) 1992
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Still Books (+performance) 1992
Fosdick Nelson Gallery, College of Ceramics at Alfred, NY, Unique Books, 1985

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, AK
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
National Museum of Women in the Arts, DC
Brooklyn Museum, NY
Arthur and Mata Jaffe Collection, FL
Center for Book Arts, NYC
Ruth & Marvin Sackner Archive, FL
Allan Chasanoff Collection, NYC
Wesleyan University, CT
Yale University, CT
Savannah College of Art and Design, GA
Otis College, CA
Telavi State, Republic of Georgia

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS and PERFORMANCES

Bunnell Gallery, AK, Fragile Domestic, 2020
Anchorage Museum Biennial, AK, 2018-19
International Gallery of Contemporary Art, AK, various shows, 2008-2017
Anchorage Museum, AK, Living Alaska, 2016
Georgia Blue Gallery, AK, various shows, 2013-2018
University of Iowa Center for the Book, IA, Micrographia, 2015
Center for Books Arts, NY, Redux: Selected Featured Artist Projects, 2015
ArtSpace, CT, Connecticut Unbound, 2015
St. Bride Foundation, London, UK, Contemporary Bindings, (traveling) 2014-2015 
Bear Gallery, Fairbanks, AK, Books as Art (+lecture) 2014
Guild of Bookworkers, themed & traveling shows, 2000-02, 2006, 2012-2014
King St. Stephen Museum, Hungary, International Artists’ Books, 2000 & 2013
Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT, Inventive Book Structures, 2010 & 2011 
Scripps College, CA, Performing the Book (+performance, lecture & workshop) 2008
Proteus Gowanus Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Play (+performance & workshop) 2007
Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Sculptural Books (+performance) 2006
Nat’l Museum of Women in the Arts, Wash, DC, Books as Art, 2002, 1996 & 2006 
Henry St. Arts Center, NYC, The Making of Worlds, 1995 & Unbound, 2001
Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY, Artists’ Books (+performance & lecture) 2000
International Sculpture Center, Washington, DC, Legible Forms, 1998-2000
Columbia College, Chicago, IL, Paper Dolls, 1999, Pedagogy, 2000
Sun Valley Center for the Arts, ID: The Uncommon Book, (+ performance) 1995
BookWorks Gallery, London, Three American Book Artists, (+ performance) 1985

ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES

Anchorage Museum Polar Nights, AK, 2016
Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, 2002 
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, AK, 2000
Beara Arts Festival, County Kerry, Ireland, 1996
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1995
Sibley Fine Arts Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1992
University of California at Riverside and Santa Barbara, 1986

RELATED EXPERIENCE 

Book Arts and Book Conservation

Anchorage, AK, private studio, 1998-Present
Brooklyn, NY, private studio, 1980-1998
The Brooklyn Museum, NY, Library Preservation Associate, 1990-1998
Queens Borough Public Library, Exhibit Design and Install, NY, 1998
Princeton University Rare Book Library, NJ, Exhibit Design and Install, 1990-96
Huntington Free Library, Bronx, NY, Library Preservation Consultant, 1991-1992
New York Historical Society, NYC, Senior Book Conservator, 1986-1990
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, Book Conservation Assistant, 1983-1987

Founder/Director of Book Gatherings, a 501(c)(3) that sponsored exhibitions of artists’ book and related performances.
Shows were hosted by these institutions: Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC; Atlantic Gallery, NYC; State University of NY at Purchase; Brooklyn Arts and Culture Assoc, NY; Gallery Assoc. of NYS, 1980-1987

SELECTED TEACHING

Alaska State Council on the Arts, Creative Forces Conference Presenter, 2018
Penland School of Crafts, NC, (for artists) 1992, 1993, 1996, 2008, 2017
Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Fairbanks AK, (artists, teachers) 2014-2017 
Special Events Workshops: Alaska State Council on the Arts, Foraker Group, Cook Inlet Housing Authority, International Gallery, 2014-15
Wrangell Mountains Center, McCarthy, AK, (artists) 2015
Center for Book Arts, NYC, (artists) 1991-2000, 2008, 2015
Anchorage Museum (families & adults) 2000, 2004, 2015, 2017
University of Alaska Anchorage, Adjunct Art Faculty, 1998-2002, 2014
Dillingham, AK, fish printing and bookbinding (children at fish camp) 2010 
University of Iowa, Iowa City (artists) 2009 
Wales, AK (bookmaking in collaboration with Alaska Native writing seminar) 2008
Anderson Ranch, Snowmass Village, CO (artists) 1994, 1996,1998, 2004, 2007
Artist in Schools, AK (k-12 in Kodiak, Northway, Kenai, Homer) 1999-2004
Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY (artists) 1999, 2002
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME (artists) 1992, 2001
Columbia College Center for Paper and Book, Chicago, IL (artists) 1996, 2000 
Henry Street Settlement House, NYC, Artist-in-Schools (k-6th grade) 1990-1998 
Franklin Furnace Art Education Program, NYC (k-6th grade) 1989-1996 
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC (artists, teachers) 1996 
National Design Museum, Cooper-Hewitt, NYC (artists, teachers) 1995,1996
Fieldston School, Riverdale, NY, Artist-in-Residence, (teachers, grades 7-10) 1994-95
Kent State University, OH, (artists) 1993 
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, (teachers, families) 1982-1992 
International Center of Photography, NYC, (artists) 1987, 1988, 1991
Touchstone Center for Children, (children, teachers) (+performance) 1982-2010

EDUCATION

Book Arts and Paper study, across the US, includes workshops with Collette Fu,
Shawn Sheehy, Hedi Kyle, Sally Alatalo, Margo Klass, Paula Kreig, 1985-present
Book and Conservation study with Mindell Dubansky, Laura S. Young and at Center for Book Arts, NYC, 1978-85
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Sculpture, College of Ceramics at Alfred, NY, 1977