Studio Acknowledgement
This work is sustained through the invaluable support of family, friends, studio assistants, artistic collaborators, grants, fellowships, and residencies. I am deeply grateful for the many hands, voices, and communities whose contributions make this practice possible.
Land Acknowledgement
I live and create on the ancestral lands of the Pokanoket, Narragansett, and Wampanoag Peoples. I acknowledge the long and violent legacy of my forebears in the colonization of this land and accept the responsibility to confront that history—its occupation, its enduring harm, and its ongoing impact on Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color.
Bio
Shelby Head (pronouns fluid) is recognized for embedding urgent social narratives within a refined and evolving visual language. Their multidisciplinary practice blends experimentation with material exploration, pushing the boundaries of form while expanding the scope of political and cultural critique.
Head’s work spans public art, gallery exhibitions, alternative spaces, and art fairs, earning them numerous awards, residencies, and fellowships, including the Tulsa Artist Fellowship Integrated Arts Award (2022–23), Tulsa Artist Fellowship (2020–22), THRIVE Powerhouse Grant in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (2022), and multiple OVAC Grants (2020–22). Additional honors include the Connecticut Artist Fellowship Grant (2019), SLV Social Practice Residency with the National Endowment for the Arts (2019), Artist’s Resource Trust Grant (2017), Vermont Studio Center Residency (2019), and Jentel Residency (2018).
Recent exhibitions include Dirt Palace Storefront Window Gallery, Providence, RI (2024); Living Arts of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK (2023); Melton Gallery, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK (2022); Window Front Installation, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Tulsa, OK (2021); El Pueblo History Museum, Pueblo, CO (2020); and Cloyde Snook Gallery, Alamosa, CO (2020).
Head lives and creates in Providence, Rhode Island.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 AS220 Aborn Gallery, Providence, RI
2024 Dirt Palace, Providence, RI
2023 Living Arts of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK
2022 Melton Gallery, Oklahoma Central University, Edmond, OK
2021 Window Front Installation, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Tulsa, OK
2020 El Pueblo History Museum, Pueblo, CO
2020 Cloyde Snook Gallery, Alamosa, CO
2018 Alvarez Gallery, Stamford, CT
2017 Alvarez Gallery, Stamford, CT
2015 Alvarez Gallery, Stamford, CT
2014 Paul Mellon Arts Center, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT
2014 Hilles Gallery, New Haven, CT
2014 A- Space Gallery, West Haven, CT
2013 Cloyde Snook Gallery, Alamosa, CO
2013 City Gallery, New Haven, CT
2011 City Gallery, New Haven, CT
2011 The New Haven Lawn Club, New Haven, CT
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 MAPSpace, Port Chester, NY
2021 108 Contemporary, Tulsa, OK
2020 Alvarez Gallery, Virtual
2019 Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT
2018 Alvarez Gallery, Stamford, CT
2018 Lamont Gallery, Exeter, NH
2017 Queens College, New York, NY
2015 Sacred Heart University, Stamford, CT
2014 Alvarez Gallery, Stamford, CT
2014 Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT
2013 Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT
2013 Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT
2013 Silvermine Guild of Artists, New Canaan, CT
2012 Alvarez Gallery, Stamford, CT
2012 Rockwell Gallery, Ridgefield, CT
2012 West Cove A-Space Gallery, West Haven, CT
ART FAIRS
2016 CONTEXT, New York, NY
2016 Art Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, FL
SELECTED AWARDS
2022 Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, THRIVE! Powerhouse Grant in partnership with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
2022 Tulsa Artist Fellowship Arts Integration Award, 2022-23
2021 Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition Grant: Creative Projects
2020 Professional Basics Grant, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition
2020 Tulsa Artist Fellowship, 2022-23
2019 Connecticut Artist Fellowship Grant
2019 National Endowment for the Arts SLV Social Practice Residency
2019 VSC Merit Grant, Vermont Studio Center
2019 VSC Community Service Exchange Award, Vermont Studio Center
2018 Fellowship Award, Jentel Artist Residency Program
2017 The Artist's Resource Trust Grant, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation
SELECTED PRESS
2024 Dirt Palace Interview (pdf, top of the page)
2022 University of Central Oklahoma Press, https://www3.uco.edu/press/prdetail.asp?NewsID=30934
2022 Mariia Shevchenko, Genderqueer Sculptures of Shelby Head on display at the Open Studios at Archer Studios, The TCC Connection, http://tccconnection.com/genderqueer-sculptures-of-shelby-head-on-display-at-the-open-studios-at-archer-studios/, July 28, 2022
2020 KRZA National Public Radio-affiliated station in Alamosa, Colorado Interview: Listen to the interview under the news tab
2019 Lucy Gellman, Nasty Women Prove Sublime, Arts Paper, March 11, 2019,
2019 Brian Slattery, Nasty Women Get Divine, New Haven Independent, March 5 2019
2018 Laguarda, Ignacio, Artist confronts 'shameful' slavery history,
Stamford Advocate, October 12, 2018
2017 Rowen Gray, "Paper And Light," Take, July 17, 2017
RESIDENCY PROGRAMS
2024 Artcroft, Paris/Millersburg, KY
2020-22 Tulsa Artist Fellow, Tulsa, OK
2020 Sculpture Space, Utica, NY - Canceled
2019 San Luis Valley Social Practice Arts Residency, Alamosa, CO
2019 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2018 Jentel Artist Residency Program, Banner, WY
2006 Red Cinder Creativity Center, Na'alehu, HI
2005 Artcroft, Carlisle, KY
2004 KHN Center for the Arts, Nebraska City, NE
LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS
2023 OVAC THRIVE! Grants project
2022 Melton Gallery, Oklahoma Central University, Edmond, OK
2020 Cloyde Snook Gallery, Adams State University, Alamosa, CO
2015 Alvarez Gallery, Stamford, CT
2014 Paul Mellon Arts Center, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT
PAST AFFILIATIONS
2020-23 Tulsa Artist Fellowship
2022-23 OVAC Grants Committee:
Educational and Travel Assistant and Professional Basics