Michel Varisco

Education
1995        Masters of Fine Arts- Tulane University
1990        Bachelors of Arts- Loyola University
1989        UGA Studies abroad in Cortona, Italy
1991        LaCoste School of Art, through the Cleveland Art Institute, LaCoste, France

Solo Exhibitions
2010        "Shifting," Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA
2009        "Shifting," Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2007        Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2005        Southeastern Contemporary Art Gallery, Hammond, LA
2004      Sylvia Schmidt Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2003        Sylvia Schmidt Gallery, New Orleans, LA

Group Exhibitions

2011
"What the Modern Era has gained in Civility it has lost in Poetic Inspiration," Gallery 1646, Den Hague, The Hague, Netherelands
"Catalyst," Space 301, Mobile, AL
"Southern Gothic," 1646, Den Hague, The Hague, Netherlands
"The Machine in the Garden," Prospect 1.5, New Orleans, LA

2010
"Louisiana Trees," Sibley Gallery, New Orleans, LA
"Hope in a Blasted Landscape," The Ironworks, New Orleans, LA
"The Bento Box," Isaac Delgado Galliery, New Orleans, LA
Prospect 1.5, Octavia Gallery, New Orleans, LA
"The Gulf," New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery, New Orleans, LA
"Trees," Sibley, New Orleans, LA
"Shoot’n Southern, Women Photographers Past and Present," Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama
"Transitive Geographies: Contemporary Visions of an Evolving South, Georgia College and State University’s GCSU Museum, Milledgeville, GA

2009
"The Vestiges Projects Presents: LAND MARKS," The Opal Gallery, Atlanta, GA
"Southern Open", Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA
"Land Marks", Opal Gallery, Atlanta, GA
"Muses" Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2008
“Loss. Ritual. Relic. Residue: The Archive”, Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, New Orleans, LA
“Odd Works” juror David Rubin,The New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery, New Orleans, LA
"Sanctuary" SohoPhoto Gallery, New York, NY

2007
Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Sarratt Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
The New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery, New Orleans, LA.
Gallery RFD, Swainsboro, GA.
Carroll Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Ken Kirchman Artspace, NOCCA|Riverfront, New Orleans, LA.

2006
The Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA
David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN.
Diboll Gallery, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
Barristers Gallery, New Orleans, LA
New Orleans African American Museum
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Carroll Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Bassetti Gallery of Photography, New Orleans, LA
Shaw Center for the Arts, Baton Rouge, LA
The Warehouse, Washington, D.C.
Southeastern Contemporary Gallery, Hammond, LA
The Darkroom, New Orleans, LA
“Sustained Winds” Acadiana Center For the Arts, Lafayette, LA, New York, New Jersey, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Houston, Pheonix, AZ.
Ken Kirchman Artspace, NOCCA|Riverfront, New Orleans, LA

2005
Oculus Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA
Southeastern Contemporary Gallery, Hammond, LA

2004
Duque Art Center, New Orleans, LA
Barrister’s Gallery, N.O., LA
Ken Kirchman Artspace, New Orleans, LA

Selected Bibliography

“The Future of the South” The Oxford American Magazine, September 2010

“Memorial Day, 2010” Anne Gisleson, The Believer Magazine, September/October 2010

"National preserve status urged-Intellectual gathering looks at," Molly Reid, The New Orleans Times Picayune-States Item, June12, 2010 p.B1-2

“Muses: Recent Work by Female Artists” D. Eric Bookhardt, New Orleans Gambit Weekly, January 20, 2009/volume 30/ number 3

"21 Public Art Projects" Dan Tague, Art Voices, June 2008

"Highwater Mark for Arts" Forecast Public Art, Dec 2008

“Art in the Ruins” D. Eric Bookhardt, New Orleans Gambit Weekly, September 27, 2007

“On Course” Doug MacCash, The New Orleans Times Picayune-States Item, September 28, 2007

“People to Watch 2007,” New Orleans Magazine, September 23, 2007

“Vanishing Horizons: The fifth Annual Grande Isle Juried Exhibition”, Eric Bookhardt, The New Orleans Times Picayune-States Item, Lagniappe, April 10, 2007

“PhotoNola hopes to draw attention to city’s photo scene,” by Doug MacCash , The New Orleans Times Picayune-States Item, Lagniappe, December 8, 2006

“Femmes Fatales: Photo shows celebrates the work of some of the city’s finest” Doug MacCash, The New Orleans Times Picayune-States Item, March 24, 2006

“The Shapes of Things to come from Varisco” by Doug MacCash, The New Orleans Times Picayune-States Item, April 16, 2004.
“Brassy Color, Sacred Moments,” by Thomasine Bartlett, The New Orleans Art Review: A journal of analysis, Vol XX (02-03), No 5 May/June 2003,
p. 40.

“Between and Betwixt” D.Eric Bookhardt, New Orleans Gambit Weekly, March 4, 2003/volume 24/ number 10.

“Best of New Orleans Arts Listings,” D.Eric Bookhardt, New Orleans Gambit Weekly, Feb 25, 2003

“Hot Seven” by D. Eric Bookhardt, New Orleans Gambit Weekly, July 9, 2002.

“Neighborhood Project”, by Doug MacCash, The New Orleans Times Picayune-States Item, June 28, 2002.

“Images show life before demolition” Sheila Stroup, The New Orleans Times Picayune-States Item, New Orleans section, Thursday, July 11, 2002.

“Art at a glance” Mary Tuwiler , 24/7, Lafayette, La., Sept 7 2001.

A Note on Michel Varisco’s Cotton Mill Series,” essay by Tom Whalen, The New Orleans Review, Volume 27 Number 1, Spring/Summer 2001, cover
photograph, pgs 96-107.

“Building Blocks: Architectural-photo show pieces together heart of the city, ” Doug MacCash, The New Orleans Times Picayune-States Item,
December 15, 2000.

“Dog Stars and cat skills” by Faith Dawson, New Orleans Magazine, July 2000 p 22-23.

Catalogues, Books and Journals

Sustained Winds Exhibition Catalogue- the Acadiana Center for the Arts 2006

“Jeff Davis and Earhart, The Mayonnaise Triangle,” Jill Marquis, Intersection|New Orleans, Copyright 2006 Press St., New Orleans, LA, p.15.

“The return of Gilgamesh” by Brad Richard, Meena-A bilingual journal of Arts and Letters, New Orleans, LA, 2005, p.11, 102, 117, 119, 122.

“Are you in denial?” Refqa Abu Remaileh, Adbusters: Journal of the Mental Environment, March/Apr 2003 No 46, p. 114.

Habitations, Portels Press, Brad Richard 1st edition, Nov 2000, cover

“Anatomy of a Fever” by Anne Gisleson, Desire, summer 1999, p 4-5.

“Native Voices” by Penny Jessel, Common Ground Archeology Magazine, Volume 1, number 1/ Spring 1996, p 27-29

Public collections
The SURDNA Foundation
Historic Restorations Corporation
Gulf Coast Bank
Kimberly-Clarke Corporation
Southeastern Louisiana University
St Joseph Catholic Church
Loyola University, New Orleans
Bibliothèque nationale de France

Publications
Adbusters
The New Orleans Art Review
The New Orleans Review
The Gambit
Habitations
Cultural Vistas
New Orleans River Region Renaissance
New Orleans Magazine
Meena-a bilingual journal of Arts and Letters
Intersection|New Orleans

Honors

2011
Parrallels lecture - Design within Reach and AIA, AIGA
Wesleyan University - guest speaker
Joan Mitchell Foundation Center, panelist

2010
SURDNA sponsorship for Shifting Exhibition, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette
The Acadiana Center for the Arts “Leading experts discuss the Louisiana Wetlands” panelist
The Front Gallery “The role of the artist in times of crisis” Guest panelist
The Icehouse “Pecha Kucha Night-Gulf Restoration” Guest presenter

2009
Publishing Initiative Grant awarded by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities

2008
Public Art Commission from the Joan Mitchell Foundation and Arts Council of N.O.
Fellowship Award from Louisiana Division of the Arts
Cultural Economy Foundation Grant
Loyola University, New Orleans, “The Artist Entrepreneur” Panel Discussion guest speaker

2007
SURDNA Foundation Grant
Honorable Mention, “Vanishing Horizons” exhibition curated by Raine Bedsole

2006
Cultural Economy Foundation Grant

2004
Loyola University, “Urban Explorers: Photographers in the American City” Guest Lecturer

2003
SURDNA Foundation Fellowship

2002
Grant from Active Element Foundation

2000
Distinguished Recognition Award- Juror Janet Koplos,Fresh Arts Festival, N.O. LA
Best of show -New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

_________________________