BIO

Kayleigh Nelson is an visual/performing artist, clothing designer/maker, model and curator from the Bay Area, living in Portland, OR. With familiar household items and materials often discarded she creates installations and performances that isolate everyday sounds, gestures, and images. Nelson's performances often work with translating written language into movement forms, examining the trace of time on the body and constructing circuits for repetitive, generative motion. As a curator she is interested in bringing together unlikely combinations of art forms to create a necessary dialogue between contemporary practices. Nelson has exhibited and performed at numerous galleries and spaces in the Pacific Northwest. She is the director and curator at composition gallery in Portland, OR and has her BFA from Portland State University.

 

 

CURRICULUM VITAE

 

EDUCATION

2014  

BFA Portland State University. Portland, OR

        minor in sculpture

        gpa 3.8-cum laude

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS/PERFORMANCES

2014

Muscle Memories for 25 Really Tiny Dances. LIGHTBOX Kulturhaus. Portland, OR

Pure Surface at Design Week Portland. Portland, OR

Alchemy :: Alembic Artists Showcase. Performance Works Northwest (PWNW). Portland, OR

SQUART! by Larry/Laura Arrington. PICA's TBA:14 Festival. Portland, OR

Trace for Yellow Fish // Epic Durational Performance Festival XIV. Hedreen Gallery. Seattle, WA

‘Movement Scores for the Museum’ at Shine A Light, choreography by Grace Hwang, Portland Art Museum. Portland, OR

Human Noise for Loose Associations BFA THESIS, Portland State University. Portland, OR

Time Arts Performance Festival. Portland, OR

can i sleep in your arms? for Experimental Film Festival (EFF) Portland. Portland, OR

Stranger Danger for Women Filmmakers, Whitsell Auditorium at Portland Art Museum. Portland, OR

particle memory for Together is the New Alone, SoHiTek Gallery. Portland, OR

Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, by Kathryn Andrews, Disjecta Contemporary Arts Center. Portland, OR- performer

gestures toward convergence for Film Lab, 5th Avenue Cinema. Portland, OR

Bedroom Choreography, East End Bar. Portland, OR

CLAIM, by William Pope.L, Littman Gallery. Portland, OR- performer

 

2013  

____loves me, ____loves me not, Place Gallery. Portland, OR

Elle Est: A Different Kind of Woman, Lane Gallery. Portland, OR

Open, Littman Gallery. Portland, OR

 

 

SELECTED EXPERIENCE

Current

Reif Haus Fashion Design. Portland, OR- studio intern

Savage Models and Management. Portland, OR- model

composition. Portland, OR- director/curator

Pacific Northwest College of the Arts (PNCA). Portland, OR- life drawing model 

Thread&Roses Vintage. Portland, OR- stylist and assistant

 

2014

Portland State University (PSU). Portland, OR- teaching assistant for Dance Improvisation (Tere Mathern)

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA). Portland, OR- TBA:14 Visual Art Team

Surplus Space. Portland, OR- guest curator

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA). Portland, OR- curatorial intern/gallery manager

Time Arts Club. Portland, OR- ambassador

in progress:gallery space- founder/curator

Place Gallery. Portland, OR- gallery intern

 

2013            

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Portland, OR- resource room intern

Yale Union. Portland, OR- gallery attendant

 

2011    

Anthropologie. Portland, OR- visual display intern

 

 

GRANTS/SCHOLARSHIPS

2015  

Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC), Portland, OR

 

2014  

Precipice Fund. Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) via Andy Warhol Foundation and The Calligram Foundation. Portland, OR. 

 

2013  

School of Art+Design Scholarship. Portland State University, Portland, OR

 

 

ARTIST TALKS

2014 

Yellow Fish // Epic Durational Performance Festival XIV. Hedreen Gallery. Seattle, WA

Brunch. Research Club. Portland, OR

 

2013  

____loves me, ____loves me not, Place Gallery. Portland, OR

WhatAreYouTryingToTellMe? in progress:gallery space. Portland, OR

Void, Place Gallery. Portland, OR

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

2015

Contemporary Performance Almanac 2015

 

2014

Willamette Week: 'Alchemy, Performance Works Northwest'

Seattle Vanguard: ‘Surviving Durational Performance’

365 Artists/365 Days: 'June 18-Kayleigh Nelson'

Portland State Vanguard: ‘Loose Associations’ 

 

 

SELECTED CLASSES/WORKSHOPS

2015

Form and Function of a Garment. Oregon College of Arts and Crafts. 

 

2014

Larry/Laura Arrington*

Luke George and Hillary Clark*

Body Cartography*

Mamela Nyamza*

Dawn Stoppiello Object Oriented Choreography*

Jennifer Locke and Lucas Murigda C.O.P.S. (Conceptual Oregon Performance School)*

Larry Arrington and Jesse Hewit Freedom Practice*

 

2013

Miguel Gutierrez Sensewalk*

Keith Hennessy Rigorous Play*

K.J. Holmes The Athletics of Intimacy*

Luke George Everything All The Time*

Nacera Belaza* 

Advanced Sewing. PDX Seamsters.

Flash Fiction. Attic Institute. 

Lighting. Northwest Film Center.

Bronze Casting. Portland State University.

 

2012  

Glass Blowing. Live Love Glass. 

Mold Making. Portland State University

 

*performance workshops