Statement/Bio:

With Sayavong’s background in custom metal fabrication, her methods characteristically engage both languages of the working-class laborer and the consumer with aspirations of socioeconomic identities. Nancy Sayavong is a sculptor exploring the socioeconomic divide in America through objects associated with cultural capital. Sayavong is influenced by the urban renewal of domestic and public spaces that exists in many cities like Chicago, Oakland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Many cities like these have been re-purposed and re-presented through objects and materials chosen to activate built architectural spaces that strengthen the belief and ideology of gentrification and social cultural divide.

Born in Seattle, raised in Tennessee, and now resides in San Francisco, Sayavong received her BFA with an emphasis in Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She currently attends the University of California, Berkeley where she is pursuing her MFA in Art Practice.

 

EDUCATION

University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA MFA in Art Practice, (May 2018)

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL BFA in Sculpture & Arts Administration, 2014

Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN Studied Painting and Drawing, 2008

EXHIBITIONS

  • 2018   48th Annual UCB MFA Exhibition, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, (forthcoming) Berkeley, CA 
  • 2017   Gray Matter, PS8 at PLAySPACE Gallery, Oct, San Francisco, CA
  •            Let the Tool Do the Work, Worth Ryder Gallery, Oct, Berkeley, CA
  •            Murphy & Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition, SOMArts Cultural Center, Sept, San Francisco, CA
  •            Pride, Kaiser Permanente: Chemical Dependency Recovery Center, June, San Francisco, CA
  •            RELAY, CTRL+SHFT, May-June, Oakland, CA
  •            Intermediaries, Worth Ryder Gallery, Jan-Feb, Berkeley, CA
  • 2016   Artist-in-Residence, Jacobs Institute of Design Innovation, Dec, Berkeley, CA
  •            Here's the Thing, Tupper & Reed, Dec, Berkeley, CA
  •            Museum and the City: Shaping the Public Realm, Oakland Museum of California, Dec, Oakland, CA
  •            Rock Rock Around the Block, Market Street Prototyping Festival, Oct, San Francisco, CA
  •            Marking New Paths, Richmond Art Center, Sept-Nov, Richmond, CA
  •            Parking Lot Art Fair, Fort Mason Art Center, April, San Francisco, CA
  • 2015   New Sculptures, Fabrefaction Gallery, Sept-Nov, Oakland, CA
  •            Knockout: Boxing Art, Compound Gallery, Sept-Nov, Oakland, CA
  • 2014   Mother Mortar, Sullivan Galleries, March-April, Chicago, IL
  •            Private Viewing to Board of Trustees, Art Institute of Chicago, March, Chicago, IL
  •            Restoration of the Republic, Magnolia/Glenn, April-May, Chicago, IL
  • 2013   Constant Consumer, SUG Galleries, Dec., Chicago, IL
  •            Co-op Professional Project, Flaxman Library, Nov.-Dec., Chicago, IL
  • 2012   Looks Like Live Action, Pop Up Gallery, Oct., Chicago, IL
  •            1st Annual Sweatshop Summer Camp, Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL
  •            Clearing of the Throat, Etc. Collective, Chicago, IL

AWARDS

  • 2017   Cadogan Award, The San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco, CA
  •            Architectural Research Fellow for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Berkeley Center for New Media, Berkeley, CA
  • 2016   Artist-in-Residence, Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, College of Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA
  • 2016   Graduate Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley, CA
  • 2014   Private Viewing, Board of Trustees of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
  • 2012   Odyssey Travel Grant, Chicago, IL/London, UK
  • 2011    Barbra Hodges Young Artists Foundation Scholarship, Nashville, TN
  • 2010   School of the Art Institute of Chicago Merit Scholarship, Chicago, IL
  • 2008  Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts fellowship, Murfreesboro, TN

SELECTED EMPLOYMENT

  • 2017       Custom Cabinetmaker and Woodworker, San Francisco, CA
  •                Graduate Student Instructor, "Introduction to Visual Thinking", Department of Art Practice, University of California, Berkeley
  •                Faculty, "Woodworking I", The Crucible, Oakland, CA
  •                Faculty, "(Youth) Woodturning", The Crucible, Oakland, CA
  •                Exhibition Preparator, Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA
  • 2016       Wood and Metal Shop Specialist, California College of the Arts (CCA), San Francisco, CA
  •                Metal Fabricator, Planted Designs for Southwest Airlines, Berkeley, CA
  • 2014-15  Custom Metal Fabricator and Finisher, Nashville, TN
  • 2014       Teaching Assistant, "Sculpt: Concepts/Materials/Proc.", School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL
  • 2012-14   Metalsmith, Holden Metalsmithing Co., Chicago, IL
  • 2011        Teaching Assistant, "Governor's School for the Arts: Intro to Sculpture", Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), Murfreesboro, TN