About Cari Freno
Cari Freno (b. Cleveland, Ohio) is an artist working in video, sculpture, drawing, and sound installation. She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally including venues in Chongqing, China and Berlin, Germany.
She has also spent time as a Landscape Experience Fellow at Mildred's Lane in Beach Lake, Pennsylvania and at Millay Arts. Most recently she was nominated for the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award. Freno draws inspiration from the fields of psychology and education because of their focus on the human condition.
The emotional landscape of childhood development remains charged with a force that she uses to expose and express unconscious themes, which impact anyone who tries to make sense of themselves and their past. Freno is currently an Associate Professor of Drawing and Sculpture at Ursinus College. She lives and works in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.
Cari Freno CV
carifreno@gmail.com / www.carifreno.com
EDUCATION
2009 Master of Fine Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, VA
2004 Bachelor of Fine Arts, The University of the Arts, PA
SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2022 Unsettled, Automat Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, two-person
2017 Lessness, Crawford Campus Center Gallery at Episcopal Academy, Newtown Square, PA, solo
2017 Sum Certain, The Alber Gallery at Allens Lane, Philadelphia, PA, solo
2017 A Dubious Procedure, Bowdoin College (dual channel video installation), Brunswick, ME, solo
2016 A Dubious Procedure (dual channel video installation with live sound), High Tide Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, solo
2015 What Was I?, Little Berlin Annex Space, Philadelphia, PA, solo
2010 I Am Two With Nature, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC, two-person
2009 The Pocahontas State Park Series, Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA , solo
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Hot August Nights, Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia, PA
2025 New Neighbors, The Berman Museum of Art, Collegeville, PA
2020 Groundwork, Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA (canceled due to pandemic)
2019 Video Snack 7: Video Object, Grace Street Theater, VCU, VA
2019 SCREEN 2019:Climates, Studio Arts Building, UMASS Amherst, MA
2019 Internal/External, juried by Sarah Martin, Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, Cape Girardeau, MO
2018 Electron Salon , Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA
2018 The Woodmere Annual: 77th Juried Exhibition, The Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2018 X +1 Vox Accelerated , Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Temporal and Corporeal: A Broad Scope of Performance Art, Ohio University Galleries, Athens, OH
2017 Artist Statement #2, CICA Museum, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
2017 This Is Now Video Series, Gateway Film Center, Columbus, OH
2017 20/92 Video Screening, Icebox, Philadelphia, PA
2016 ImageOHIO, Roy G Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH
2016 Performing Self, Peripheral Forms, virtual exhibit
2015 The Woodmere Annual: 74th Juried Exhibition, The Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2014 Good Neighbors, The Berman Museum of Art, Collegeville, PA
2011 Public Art Academy Artist in Residence Exhibition , The Pajama Factory, Williamsport, PA
2011 Performance Post Appropriation, Nightengale Theatre, Chicago, IL
2011 Cold Open, Possible Projects, Philadelphia, PA
2011 Greener on the Other Side, Organhaus, Chongqing, PRC
2011 Tacit, Visual Arts Center, Richmond, VA
2010 Your Swimming Brain, Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2010 Show VI, MMX, Berlin, DEU
2010 Freedom Sparks, Visual Voice Gallery, Montreal, BC
2010 The Shifting Face: Portraiture and the Art of the Moving Image, Cornell University, Ithica, NY
2009 I Don’t Watch the Internet, Fleisher/Ollman Gallery,Philadelphia, PA
2009 Words on Paper, Words on Screen, Cabell Library, Richmond, VA
2009 FEED Biennial, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA
2009 HAPPY TREE FRIENDS (Or Standing: (Tree as Agent, Index, And Object of Desire), La Esquina, Kansas City,MO
2009 Blend- FAB Gallery, Richmond, VA
2008 The Candidates, Central Fidelity Bank Building, Richmond, VA
2008 VCU/Arizona State University exchange show- Step Gallery, Tempe, AZ
2008 Tangents, Slaughterhouse Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
2008 VCU/Pratt exchange show- Steuben Galleries, Brooklyn, NY
2007 A Domestic Separation- FAB Gallery, Richmond, VA
2006 A Conversation at the Table- event created by Lonnie Graham, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2005 The Beautiful Show- The Padlock Gallery-Philadelphia, PA
2004 Identifying Now- Nexus Gallery-Philadelphia, PA
PUBLIC ART INSTALLATIONS
2017 Scene/Unseen, Ursinus College Campus, Collegeville, PA, collaboration with Dr. Julin Everett
AWARDS
2024 -2016 Faculty Research Grant (Ursinus College)
2015 Maybelle Longstreet Prize (Woodmere Art Museum)
2009 FEED Biennial Prize (1708 Gallery)
2009 Travel Grant (Kansas City, MO), (VCU)
2009 SCHEV Merit Award (VCU)
2008 William B Clopton Scholarship (VCU)
2008 Barbara Ellen Powers Memorial Scholarship (VCU)
2008 Graduate Assistantship –(VCU)
2008 Travel Grant (Pittsburgh, PA), (VCU)
PUBLIC TALKS
2024 Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
2020 Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
2017 Allen’s Lane Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
2017 Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2015 Mildred’s Lane, Beach Lake, PA
2014 The Berman Museum of Art, Collegeville, PA
2014 Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA
2011 Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA
2011 The Visual Art Center, Richmond, VA
2010 Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC
PROFESSIONAL/TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2021-2025 Art and Art History Department Chair, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
2014-present Associate Professor of Art, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
2013-2014 Assistant Director of Museum Education, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2012 Adjunct Professor in 4D Foundation, Delaware College of Art and Design, Wilmington, DE
2009-2013 Manager of Family Programs, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2008-2009 Instructor of Record in Ceramics, VCU Department of Craft/Material Studies
2009-2018 Teaching Artist, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
2011 Teaching Artist , Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
2010-2011 Teaching Artist, The Print Center, Artists in Schools Program, South Philadelphia High School, Philadelphia, PA
2009 Guest Critic, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA,
2006-2011 Artist Production Assistant to Virgil Marti, Philadelphia, PA, Assist with large print/wallpaper projects
PRESS
2019 Art Uncovered. Interview by Kimberly Ruth. Jan , 2019
2017 Marks, Jon. The Jewish Exponent . “Ursinus Jewish Star Exhibit A Portrait of Life Then and Now”, Sept. 6, 2017
2015 365 Artists, 365 Days, “Cari Freno-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania”
2015 Newhall, Edith. The Inquirer, “Annual Juried Exhibition a display of Quirky Aesthetics”, July 13, 2015
2014 Videofocus, Stigmart 10 Art Review pgs. 16-23, 2014
2014 Newhall, Edith. The Inquirer “Ursinus Show a Strong Statement”, December 28, 2014
2010 Smith, Nick. Charleston City Paper. “Nature Lovers“, August 10, 2010
2009 Fallon, Roberta. The Artblog “Postmodernist Flurries in Fleisher Ollman’s Emerging Artist Show“, December 23, 2009
2009 Kozlowski, Andrew. Art Papers. “FEED 2009, Richmond, VA”. September/October 2009. P. 64
2009 Newhall, Edith. “Shhhh!”. www.philly.com. December 27th, 2009.
2009 Self, Dana. The Pitch. “La Esquinaʼs Happy Tree Friends is smarter and subtler than its title”. March 17th, 2009.
GROUP EXHIBITION CATALOGS
2017 20/92 Video Screening, 2017, Icebox, Philadelphia, PA,
2017 Artist Statement #2, CICA Museum, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
2015 The Woodmere Annual 74th Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA
2011 One Year One Book, MMX Open Art Venue, Berlin, DEU
2011 Tacit, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, VA
2009 Happytreefriends, 2009, Charlotte Street Foundation, Kansas City, MO
COLLECTIONS
James Branch Cabell Library, Richmond, VA
RESIDENCIES AND FELLOWSHIPS
2020 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT (cancelled due to pandemic), Artist in Residence
2015 Mildred’s Lane, Beach Lake, PA, Fellow
2011 Public Art Academy Residency Program, Williamsport, PA, Artist in Residence