Tresa Varner
I am an artist and educator living in Pittsburgh, PA. My work examines the American ideal of individualism through a contemporary feminist lens. Drawing from essays, journals, and printed materials produced by 17th- and 18th-century writers, poets, and artists, I investigate how early ideological frameworks continue to shape the present.
I primarily work in photographic silkscreen and relief printing, approaching printmaking as a painter rather than a producer of editions. In my most recent work, I see each print is a singular object, built through layering in which no two works are alike. This process operates as a form of ground truthing: a deliberate return to material and site-based ways of knowing that challenge abstracted systems of representation. Through layering and revision, I disrupt the authority of inherited visual structures, allowing color and form to shift and reassert themselves across the surface of the work.
EXHIBITIONS:
2024 Magical Realism in Print Media Bottom Feeder Books, Pittsburgh, PA
2024 Myth Pullproof Studios, Pittsburgh, PA
2024 Currents PennWest University, California, PA
2023 The Grandeur of Power AAP, Pittsburgh, PA
2022 Sustain, Innovate, Transform Morgan Conservatory, Cleveland, OH
2022 Dehaze Pullproof Studio, Pittsburgh, PA
2021 Forging Ahead, Brew House, Pittsburgh, PA
2020 AAP New Member Exhibition, Pittsburgh, PA
2018 Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
2018 Artists Image Resource, Pittsburgh, PA
2017 Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile
2016 Resident Artist Exhibition Taller 99, Santiago, Chile
2016 Clarion University, Clarion, PA
2012 Artist Image Resource, Pittsburgh, PA
2006 Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, Pittsburgh, PA
2005 Three Rivers Art Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
2003 “Continuing the Dialogue” Pittsburgh, PA
2003 Pittsburgh’s Center for the Arts Biennial, PA
2003 Allegheny College, Meadville, PA
2002 Foreland Street Studio, Pittsburgh, PA
2001 The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY
2001 911 Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2000 The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY
2000 Layette College, Easton PA
2000 Three Rivers Art Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
2000 The College of Saint Rose Art Gallery, Albany, NY
1999 Banana Factory, Bethlehem, PA
1999 Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
1997 Lawndale Art and Performance Center, Houston, Texas
1998 ArtScan Gallery, Houston, Texas
1998 Foreland Street Studios, Pittsburgh, PA
1998 Garfield Art Works, Pittsburgh, PA
1997 East End Event, Pittsburgh, PA
1995 The Blaffer Gallery, Houston, Texas
1995 McMurtrey Gallery, Houston, Texas
1995 College Art Association, San Antonio, Texas
1995 Texas Art Celebration, Houston, Texas
1994 Contemporary Arts Center, Dallas, Texas
1994 Texas Gallery, Houston, Texas
1990 Vermont Artist's Colony, Johnson, Vermont
LECTURES/CURATORIAL:
2017 Active Voice, curator, Artists Image Resource
2016 Activist Print, curator of public art exhibition The Andy Warhol Museum
2015 Andy’s Toy Box Exhibition, curator, The Andy Warhol Museum
2015 Glycerine and Rose Water, curator of site-specific exhibition by Stefan
Hoffmann, The Andy Warhol Museum
2012-13 Co-teach Art in Education courses, West Liberty University
2013 American Alliance of Museums’ Conference Panelist
“Embracing Access For All”
2012 About Face Exhibition, curator
The Andy Warhol Museum
2011 The Word of God Exhibition series, co-curator
The Andy Warhol Museum
2011 National Art Educators Association panelist “Art and Autism”
2010 National Art Educators Association and AAM panelist “Contemporary
Approaches to Youth Exhibitions on Museums”
2003 American Association of Museums’ Conference
Panelist, “Learning from Successes and Failures in Teen Programs”
2000 American Association of Museums’ Conference
Panelist, “Museums of Tolerance: Using Exhibitions to Teach Tolerance”
1999 University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA
“Andy Warhol: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Art Education”,
Distance Learning Course
1999 Seton Hill College, Greensburg, PA
Lecture, “Andy Warhol and Commercial Art in the 1950s”
1998 Whitfield Lovell: Collection Inspiration Exhibition, curator
The Andy Warhol Museum
EDUCATION:
1994 MFA - University of Houston, Houston, Texas
1993 Royal College of Art, London, England - Fellowship
1989 BFA - Kansas City Art Institute
1987 Studio Arts Center International, Florence, Italy
FELLOWSHIPS/GRANTS:
2019 Remake Learning Grant for Youth Curatorial Project
2017 Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Artist Opportunity Award
2016 Arts Midwest and PA Council on the Arts Chile Cultural Exchange
2011 Pittsburgh Foundation, Artist Project with Artist Image Resource
1999 American Association of Museums/IPAM Partnership with Museu de Contemporanea, Brazil
1993 The Royal College of Art, London, England
1990 Vermont Artist Colony, Johnson, Vermont
1987 Studio Arts Center International, Florence, Italy