CV

EDUCATION

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts, 2006
Iowa State University, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking (with honors), fall 2002
Iowa State University, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design (with honors), spring 2002

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS / SCREENINGS

2012

VIDEO 2012, Momenta Art, Brooklyn (including a panel discussion: Janet Biggs, Jayson Musson, & Leslie Thornton moderated by Ed Winkleman)
Solo Exhibition (Title TBD), BOLT Residency, Chicago (Aug., 2012)
She Got Game, Arlington Arts Center, Virginia (including solo performance in conjunction with group show)
Narrative Ability, Camel Art Space, Brooklyn
Amber Doll > Tilikum solo performance, BOLT Residency, Chicago

2011

Aftermath, BOLT Gallery, Chicago (including solo performance Online Comments in conjunction with group show)
Do Me, Spectacle Theatre, Brooklyn,
BOLT Residents, BOLT Gallery, Chicago
Do Me, Invisible Dog, Brooklyn

2010

Dug (a drawn installation), Reception Gallery, Chicago (solo project)
Losing Yourself in the 21st Century, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore (traveling exhibition that began at Welch School Gallery, Georgia State University, Atlanta, 2009)
Peer2Peer / Cheek2Cheek, Cherry Blast, Washington, DC (traveling program that also screened at DC Digital Capital Week: 10 days of Creative Technology Events)
Cheat Codes: Lessons in Love, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (traveling to Open Lots Gallery, Nashville and Antena Gallery, Chicago)

2009

Urban Art Projects Performance Art Festival, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Last Stop for Love, Rosslyn Cultural Center, Rosslyn, Virginia
Re:Figure, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago
Artist Run Chicago, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago

2008

To Have, To Hold, and To Violate: Amber and Doll, (solo exhibition) Locust Projects Gallery, Miami
Out of Order, MonkeyTown (collaborative performance for Sam Stalling’s, Into the Woods), Brooklyn
CHICAGO WORKS video programme in conjunction with Fideofest, Non Grata Art Container, Tallinn, Estonia
Girlish Ways: The Next Generation of Female Artists,Bobby Fisher Memorial Building, Washington D.C.
Bedtime Stories, The Redhouse, Syracuse, New York
Henbane: Dialectics of the Feminine Sublime, Medicine Park Gallery, Chicago
her shorts: 2008 International Women’s Video Festival, Dinnerware ArtSpace, Tucson, Arizona with subsequent touring to multiple venues / festivals

2007

Rubber Doll World Rendezvous (screening at the convention) Minneapolis
Threat Level: An Evening of Queer Shorts, Chicago
Queer Territories, Latitude 53 Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
The Cowboy and The Pegasus, Queer Fest Midwest, Chicago
To Have, To Hold, and To Violate, (live performance/screening) Chicago
Diamonds at Dusk, (an outdoor screening of Chicago-based Queer filmmakers) Chicago

2006

Film Video New Media DVD, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Soup, Nova Gallery, Chicago
Reeling: The 25th Annual Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival, Chicago
Sanza: Carnival of the Moon, presented by RATIO, High Concept Laboratories, Chicago
Conversations At The Edge, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago
Nine Videos from the Feminism? Project, Gallery 2 / Project Space, Chicago
Re-Do It? Re-presenting Bodies in Performance, a two day symposium,Performance Space, Chicago
Nippon USA, Nippon, Chicago

2005

One Pull, One Yank, Three Jerks, Gallery X, Chicago
6th Student International Art Biennial, Museum of Skopje, Macedonia
Macerate, Up the Stairs Gallery, Chicago
Selfish, Gallery 2 / Project Space, Chicago
Experiment 400/5, Gallery 400, Chicago
Nippon USA, Nippon, Chicago

RESIDENCIES

Bolt Residency, Chicago, 2011-2012
Byrdcliffe Artist in Residence Program, Woodstock Byrdcliffe (NY), 2011
Residency for NYC Arts Workers, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA), New York City, 2010-2011
Fountainhead Residency in conjunction with Locust Projects Gallery, Miami, 2008
Vermont Studio Center (on scholarship), 2007

GRANTS AND HONORS

Art Advisory Council, Integrated Studio Arts Program, Iowa State University
City of Chicago Community Arts Assistanceship Program Grant ’07&’08
MFA Fellowship Award, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Beresford/Seeds Full Tuition Scholarship
Howard & Ruth Schumacher Tuition Scholarship

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2012

“Like a Girl’s Name: The Adolescent Drag of Amber Hawk Swanson, Kate Gilmore, & Ann Liv Young,” The Drama Review (TDR), by Anna Watkins Fisher, editor Richard Schechner and associate editor Mariellen Sandford (Forthcoming)

2011

"Early Webcam Project by Petra Cortright Censored on YouTube" by Paddy Johnson for Art Fag City, December 15, 2011
"YouTube Art Project 'VVEBCAM' Censored Because Of Its Tags" by Priscilla Frank for Huffington Post, December 15, 2011
"A Girl and Her Love Doll Clone: A Performance Art Misadventure [NSFW]" by Marina Galperina for Flavorwire, December 13, 2011
"Ustreaming Of Sex-Doll-Turned-Orca-Whale Censored" Huffington Post, December 13, 2011
"Ustream Censors Sex Doll Performance Art" by Marina Galperina for ANIMAL, December 13, 2011
"Performance Artist Censored and Banned on Ustream Because of Doll Nudity" by Hrag Vartanian for Hyperallergic, December 12, 2011
"'Aftermath' group show," a review by Lori Waxman for the Chicago Tribune, November 17, 2011

2010

‘Beyond Fake’: Real Dolls™ and the Posthuman Troubling of Femininity and Desire by Jennifer Dawn Whitney, Cardiff University
“Art Workers of the World Unite” Abbe Schriber for artcritical, December 12, 2010
“Women In Art: Conversation with Amber Hawk Swanson” by J. Rosel Kim for kickaction.ca, November 7, 2010
“Defining Women: Group show one element in a broader cultural discussion about gender” by Alex Ebstein for Balitmore City Paper, March 17, 2010
Artist Profile for Closer Magazine (UK) by Andrew Woods, February 2010
“The Art of Losing Yourself in the 21st Century, by Naomi Gassel for Radar Redux: Baltimore Arts and Culture,” February 22, 2010
“Decoding the Cheat Codes: ‘Lessons in Love’ at antena” by Tobi Haslett for Chicago Weekly, January 22, 2010

2008

“An Interview with Amber Hawk Swanson” by Nicole Pasulka for Diet Newsletter in conjunction with Diet Gallery, Miami, June 2008
“Pleased to Meet Me” by Daria Brit Shapiro for Map Magazine Issue 05, June 2008 pg 70-71
“Amber Hawk Swanson” review by Daria Brit Shapiro for Flavorpill Miami June 17, 2008
“Scanner Nicole Interviews Artist and Real Doll Owner Amber Hawk Swanson” Q&A by Nicole Pasulka for Nerve.com, June 11, 2008
“The Sex Doll Diaries: Artist brings her silicone twin to town for one last romp.” by Janine Zeitlin for Miami New Times, May 22, 2008
“Interview between Lori Waxman and Amber Hawk Swanson” by Lori Waxman for Locust Projects (on the occasion of solo exhibition)
“Locust Projects: Amber Hawk Swanson and Matthew Sutton” MAG:Miami Art Guide, May 2008
“Henbane: Dialectics of the Feminine Sublime” by Alicia Eler for Time Out Chicago, Issue 163 : April 10–16, 2008*
“Screening is believing: Two ambitious film events add artistic diversity to the community” by Alicia Eler for Time Out Chicago, Issue 163 : April 10–16, 2008
“Art Break: The Stinking Nightshade” by Kelly McClure for Newcity Chicago, March 25, 2008
Artist Profile television segment, SexTV, (a Toronto-based magazine documentary series featuring stories that relate to sexuality and gender) produced and directed by Tanya Spreckley, February 2008

2007

“Artist sees lines between genders blurred in new piece” by Gilbert Bouchard for The Edmonton Journal, November 09, 2007
“Lars movie shines light on RealDolls,” by Sandy Cohen for the Associated Press, multiple publications including Yahoo News and The Washington Post,
October 17, 2007
“Doll Life” television segment, CurrentTV, produced and directed by Joseph Varisco and Ian Slarsky, October 2007
Artist Profile, live interview by Robin Amer, Vocalo.org, August 31, 2007
“When Amber Met Amber: An artist’s complicated relationship with her look-alike sex doll,” by Kelly McClure, Chicago Reader, August 3, 2007
“Anatomy of a Punch,” The Obscure News podcast, issue 13, March 2007 re-aired on Chicago Public Radio’s Re:Sound program, April 14, 2007
“Doll for Adults,” by Zeynep Guven, SABAH, March 18, 2007

2006

“Guys and Dolls,” by Kelly McClure, Chill Magazine, December 2006
Metromix television program, aired November 1, 2006
“School of the Art Institute 2006 MFA Graduate Exhibition,” by Terri Foster, Urban Pollution, May 2006

2005

6th Student International Art Biennial Catalogue, published on the event of the exhibition by the Museum of Skopje, Macedonia, 2005
Macerate Catalogue, published on the event of the exhibition curated by Currency Exchange, Up the Stairs Gallery, Chicago, 2005

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Museum of Contemporary Photography, Permanent Collection, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Photography, MPP collection, Chicago, 2006-present
The Broido Family Collection, Chicago
The Mikesell Family Collection, Miami
Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

LECTURES / PANELS

2011

Keynote Address (Dis)embodied Feminisms: New Perspectives on Gender, Sexuality and Identity Conference, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Noontime Lecture, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Photography Department
Artist Talk, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Maud Lavin's Lust and Aggression in Contemporary Art and Visual Culture Course
New York City Arts Workers Residency Artist Talks, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, NYC

2010

Living Dualities: Artists as Workers, Panel Appointment, For the Artist of the 21st Century series hosted by CUE Art Foundation and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, NYC
CUE Art Foundation, Artist Talk in conjunction with Making Five Minutes Last lecture, NYC
Mistresses and Dolls: New Performance Art, Artist Talk and Panel Appointment at the Performing Feminism(s): Gender and Sexuality on Display Conference, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
East Carolina University Visiting Artist Series, Greenville, North Carolina
Hunter College MFA Visiting Artist Series, NYC (two lectures, one in Studio Arts Department and another in Film & Media Department)

2009

Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation Fall 2009 Board of Directors Meeting, Yale University
Society for Photographic Education (Mid Atlantic/Northeast Regions) Conference, Montclair, New Jersey
Video Symposium, School of Visual Arts Photography Department, NYC
Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Photography Department, NYC

2008

Private Opening Lecture Event, Locust Projects Gallery, Miami
The Problematic, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Photography Department

2007

Visiting Emerging Artist Program, Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin
Exploratory Media, SAIC Photography Department, Chicago
”Do I Dare?” Law and Ethics for Artists, SAIC Photography Department, Chicago

2006

Feminism and Gender Identity Panel, Columbia College, sponsored by Reeling Festival and The Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media, Chicago