BIO/CV

REFERENCES

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Sherri Cornett (www.sherricornett.com) is a welded steel, video and mixed media artist, curator and writer living in Billings, Montana. Her degrees in Political Science and Art, her advocacy for human rights and environmental issues and her passion for community building and dialogue frame her art and socially engaged projects. Viewers and participants are invited into her sculptures' woven layers of texture, material and thought and to ask questions of themselves and the world. She has exhibited and directed projects in China, South Korea, New York, California, Massachusetts, Chicago, Idaho and Montana. Her works can be found in both private and corporate collections. 

"My German immigrant roots are set deep into the homesteads around the small south Texas town of Cuero, where both of my parents grew up, met and married. By the time I settled in Billings, Montana in 1993 with my husband Steve, son Collin and soon-to-be-born Emma, I had lived in eleven cities and in some of those, several homes. Out of this came an enjoyment of discovering new places and taking on adventures - hiking, mountain & rock climbing, traveling, skiing, sailing, scuba diving, horseback riding - and a propensity for saying "yes" to interesting, but hitherto unknown or unconsidered, opportunities. In my art world, this has led me to immensely rewarding projects, such as co-directing "Woman + Body" in South Korea and directing "Half the Sky: Intersection in Social Practice Art" in China".  
 
CURATORIAL PARTNERSHIPS
  • Co-curator (with Dr. Aaron Rosen), "Undocumented: Difference in America Today", Kirk's Grocery, Billings, MT December 6, 2018 - January 6, 2019
  • Partner, Gutfreund Cornett Art, independent curators of activist-themed exhibitions, 2015-2018
  • Co-Curator (with Karen Gutfreund as Gutfreund Cornett Art), "RISE: Empower, Change, Action!," Whitney Modern Gallery, Los Gatos, CA,  July 18 – August 31, 2018
  • Co-Curator(with Karen Gutfreund as Gutfreund Cornett Art), "Beyond Borders: Stories of im/Migration", Santa Clara University, Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building Gallery, January 8 - April 6, 2018.
  • Co-Curator(with Karen Gutfreund as Gutfreund Cornett Art), "Social Justice: It Happens to One, It Happens to All", St. Mary's College Museum of Art, September 18 - December 11, 2016
  • Co-Curator(with Karen Gutfreund as Gutfreund Cornett Art), "Vision: An Artist's Perspective", Presented with UniteWomen.org, Kaleid Gallery, San Jose, CA, July 5 - 29, 2016
  • Co-Curator(with. Karen Gutfreund as Gutfreund Cornett Art), "What's Right, What's Left: Democracy in America", Phoenix Gallery, NYC, January 7 - 30, 2016
  • Co-Curator(with Karen Gutfreund as Gutfreund Cornett Art), "Visaural: Sight, Sound and Action", Nave Gallery Annex, Somerville, MA, October 9 -31, 2015
  • Co-Director (with Priscilla Otani), "Women Do It!" traveling postcard exhibition in support of UN initiatives for women, 2014-2016 ​
  • Co-Director (with Grace Frankforter, Jeanne Hutchinson, Theresa Nickoloff and Rachel Ritter), "Strong Intuitions: Five Women's Perspectives", The Shed Exhibition Space at Level 504, Billings, Montana
CURATOR/DIRECTOR/FACILITATOR
  • Director, UNITAS (art-based youth leadership program), Billings, MT 2021.
  • Partner/Director, The 2020 Awakening Billings for The For Freedoms 2020 Awakening, Billings, MT 2020
  • "East Helena Mural Project,"  Artist Facilitator, East Helena Food/Culture Hub (community-engaged project), East Helena, MT, 2020
  • Artist Facilitator, East Helena Food/Culture Hub (community-engaged project), funded by Art Place America's CreativePlacemaking Fund and Lead by The Myrna Loy, East Helena, MT, 2020.
  • Curator, MATRIXXMODULATION (solo exhibition by Jon Lodge), Northcutt Steele Gallery, MSU Billings, Billings, MT, January 28 - March 28, 2019. 
  • Gallery Director, Northcutt Steele Gallery, MSU Billings, Billings, MT January - May, 2019
  • Director, "For Freedoms 50 States Initiative Billings", Billings, MT, September-October, 2018
  • Facilitator, Native American Race Relations and Healing Series “For Freedoms,” (part of For Freedoms 50 States Initiative Billings,” September 13, 2018, Billings, MT
  • Facilitator, Free To Be Me: Diversity at MSUB, (part of For Freedoms 50 States Initiative Billings,” September 15, 2018, Billings, MT
  • Facilitator, The Dinners Project: Billings Creatives Potluck and Conversations, (part of For Freedoms 50 States Initiative Billings and in collaboration with Creative Capital), October 4, 2018
  • Director, "Flow" Interactive Exhibition and Community Project, Northcutt Steele Gallery and other venues, Montana State University Billings, Billings, MT, January 28 - March 18, 2016
  • Director, "Half the Sky: Intersections in Social Practice Art" exhibition and cultural exchange, LuXun Academy of Fine Arts, Shenyang, China, 2014 
  • Exhibition Co-Director, "Woman + Body", Seoul and Gwangju, South Korea,  2012
  • Director/Facilitator, "Conversations Among Women", Toucan Gallery and The Shed Exhibition Space at Level 504, Billings Montana, 2008
  • Director/Facilitator, "Conversations Among Women," Betty Feves Memorial Gallery, Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton, Oregon, 2010
  • Director/Facilitator, "Conversations Among Women," Custer County Art & Heritage Center, Miles City, Montana
  • Director/Facilitator, "Conversations Among Women," Hockaday Museum, Kalispell, Montana, 2011
PUBLIC ART
2020
  • "Community Grove," installed in the Intertribal Community Park, Billings First Church, October 12, 2020, Billings, MT
2019
  • "Unearthed," installed on the corner of Minnesota Avenue and 28th Street, July 30, 2019, Billings, MT
  • "Thicket," installed on corner of North Broadway and 2nd Avenue, under the Sky Point, June, 7, 2019, Billings, MT.
​EXHIBITIONS/EVENTS
2023 2021
  • "Inflamed," "Erupted," and "Cascades Grotto," Wind, Water and Fire: A Dialogue on Climate Change, Livingston Center for Arts and Culture, MT September 7 - October 9, 2021.  
  • "Yellowstone River  Grotto" and "Yearning," I5solation Portfolio Project, Livingston Center for Arts and Culture, MT, May 11 - June 12, 2021 
  • "What [(Is It) About My] Memory", (framework for the UNITAS youth leadership program), Billings First Church, Billings, MT
2020
  • "Ignited," Yellowstone Art Museum Annual Auction, Billings, MT
2019
  • "Thicket" and "What [(Is It) About My] Memory" installations, Sherri Cornett Art Open Studio, December 2019, Billings, MT
  • Multiple works, Kirk's Grocery October Group Show, October 2019, Kirk's Grocery, Billings, MT
  • Multiple works, Wood You Could You exhibition, October/November, 2019 Waterworks Art Museum, Miles City, MT 
  • "Home : Peace" sculptural demonstration and community engaged project, Back Alley Arts Festival, August 2019, Billings, MT
  • "Inflamed" and "Erupted," Kirk's Grocery, April - May 2019, Billings, MT
  • "Shelter 1: Respite," Yellowstone Art Museum Annual Auction, Billings, MT
2018
  • "What [(Is It) About My] Memory," ENTER>Action, ALTITUDE: 3123 Collective exhibition, 2905 Montana Avenue, Billings, MT
  • "Corporal Cognizance" Ka-POW! Heroic Women, Pacific Pinball Museum, Alameda, California
  • "Ruthless Self Honesty," Yellowstone Art Museum Annual Auction, Billings, MT
2017
  • "What [(Is It) About My] Memory Project." A Series of Fragments of Memory, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, California
2016
  • "Grottoes Series", Flow: Interactive Exhibition and Community Project, Northcutt Steele Gallery and other venues, Montana State University Billings, Billings, MT
2015
  • "Ancestresses & Wise Women and Conversations Among Women" documentary video, Voices: An Artist's Perspective, NAWA Gallery, NYC
  • "Ancestresses & Wise Women and Conversations Among Women" documentary video, Honoring Women's Rights, Brown University, Rhode Island
2014
  • "Judy", "Hidden Cities Chrysalis" and "Concavities to Convexities", The F Word: The Feminist Perspective", Billings Open Studio, Billings, MT
  • "Corporal Cognizance", Disconnect, Transmission Gallery, Oakland, California
  • "Yellowstone River Grotto", Water: A Universal Right, Robert Morris State Street Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
  • "Corporal Cognizance", MTV: Momentum Technology Videos Online Film Festival, Institute for Women and Art, Rutgers University
  • "Compages: Populus", Multiple Feeds, Los Angeles Art Association's Gallery 825, Los Angeles, Califiornia
2013
  • "Hidden Cities Chrysalis", Capturing the Wonder of Women, Women's Museum of California, San Diego, California
  • "Iridescence Grotto", Women of All Colors, Chicago Urban Retreat Center, Chicago, Illinois
  • "Skin Muscle Sinew", Stories We Tell, Phoenix Gallery, New York City, New York
2012
  • "Skin Muscle Sinew", Woman + Body, Kepco Center Gallery, Seoul, South Korea and MediaCube338, Gwangju, South Korea
  • The Exquisite Uterus Project
2011
  • Solo Exhibition/"Ancestresses & Wise Women", Hockaday Museum, Kalispell, Montana
  • "Ritual Chrysalis", Sanctuaries in Time, The Columbia/Barnard University Kraft Center, New York, New York
  • "Hidden Cities Chrysalis", Hidden Cities, New Centuries Artists Gallery, New York, New York
  • "Ripples Grotto", Montana Women in the Visual Arts, The Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture, Bozeman, Montana
  • "Judy", Honoring Women's Rights, National Steinbeck Center, Salinas, California
  • "Flowing Streams Chrysalis", Transformation, WCA San Diego Online Exhibition
2010
  • Solo Exhibition/Ancestresses & Wise Women,", Betty Feves Memorial Gallery, Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton, Oregon
  • Group Show/"Ancestresses & Wise Women", By Design: Threads, Custer County Art & Heritage Center, Miles City, Montana
  • "Songwriters", From Our Perspectives, Oakland Community College WomenCenter, Farmington Hills, Michigan
  • "Memories of Beach Combing", Small Works Auction, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana
2008
  • Solo Exhibition/"Ancestresses & Wise Women", Toucan Gallery, Billings, Montana
  • "Illuminated Sculpture," Yellowstone Art Museum Small Works Auction, Billiings, Montana
2007
  • "Small Canoe", Annual Auction, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana
  • "Small Mesh Lights", Small Works Auction, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana
  • "Small Mesh Lights", Ho Ho Holter Show, Holter Museum, Helena, Montana
2006
  • Solo Exhibition/"Chrysalis", Toucan Gallery, Billings, Montana
  • "Turkey Chrysalis", "Pheasant Chrysalis", "Flicker Chrysalis" in Small Works Auction, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana
  • "Under the Willow," Student Independent Show, Northcutt-Steele Gallery, MSU-Billings, Juror: Bently Spang
2005
  • "Holding the Spirit of RWK III", in Student Independent Show, Northcutt-Steele Gallery, Montana State University - Billings, Montana
  • "Bronze Texture Series", in Annual Postcard Show, Toucan Gallery, Billings, Montana
  • "Wren's Nest" and "Friends and Relations," Good Earth Invitational Show, Toucan Gallery, Billings, Montana
  • "Cradle," Annual Southeastern Montana Juried Exhibition, Custer County Art & Heritage Center, Miles City, Montana
2004
  • "Monument Valley God's Eye", Deaconess Billings Clinic Gallery, Billings, Montana
COLLABORATIONS
  • "<ENTER>Action" ALTITUDE 3123 Collective, 2905 Montana Avenue, Billings Art Walk, August, 2018.
  • "Points of Many Connections", Collaboration with Sandra Mueller, Half the Sky: Intersections in Social Practice Art, LuXun Academy of Fine Arts, Shenyang, China, 2014
AWARDS/GRANTS/FELLOWSHIPS
  • For Freedoms Stipend 2021 (to work with Marci McLean of Western Native Voice and Leadership Montana to create leadership projects for underrepresented youth, particularly indigenous ones).
  • Montana AARP Community Challenge grant through Big Sky Economic Development Agency 2020 (Community Grove sculptural installation in new Indigenous Community Park, Billings, MT)
  • For Freedoms Congress Stipend 2020 (to bring three indigenous women leaders from Montana with me to the congress in Los Angeles).
  • Montana Arts Council's Strategic Investment Grant 2018
RADIO/TELEVISION MEDIA PRINT/ONLINE MEDIA​ LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS/WORKSHOPS/TEACHING
  • Teacher, "Environment and Sculpture", 2019-2020, Billings Public Schools Quest program for gifted and talented, Billings, MT
  • Presenter/Facilitator, "Create and Chat About Community Engaged Art," Wednesdays w/ Sherri Cornett, October 2, 2019, Kirk's Grocery, Billings MT
  • Facilitator, "Framing the #HearMeToo Narrative: Community Engaged Art," Zonta Club of Billings #HearMeTooMontana ConverZations, April 28, 2019
  • Co-presenter, "The Toolbox Workshops: Online Artist's Submissions: Dos and Don'ts" with  Bryan W. Knicely, Executive Director, Yellowstone Art Museum, March 1, 2019, 6 pm, Yellowstone Art Museum
  • Part-Time Instructor, "Gallery Professional Practices," MSU Billings, Billings, MT, Spring 2019. 
  • Panelist, "Art, Immigration, and Memory: A Conversation with Visiting Artist Michael Takeo Magruder,"  Tuesday August 21, Art House Cinema, Billings  with Dr. Aaron Rosen and Sherri Cornett, and introduced by the Rev. Dr. Carolyn Rosen
  • ​Panelist, "Open Doors: Alternative Models for Engaging Communities", Montana Art Gallery Dealers Association Annual Conference, Chico Hot Springs, October 2017
  • Guest Lecturer, "Independent Curatorial Motivations and Practices", Gallery Professional Practices Class, Montana State University - Billings, April 2017
  • Speaker, "Using Art & Activism to Create Community", Billings Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, January 2017
  • Speaker, Artful Women of Montana event, Zonta Club of Billings, September 2016
  • Chair and Panelist, "Considerations and Challenges: Socially-Engaged Art in China", Open Engagement Conference, Carnegie Mellon University, April 2015
  • Lecturer, "Cultural Considerations: Socially-Engaged Art in China", Montana State University - Billings, Montana 2014
  • Speaker, "Relating to Local Government", Public Relations and Promotional Techniques Seminar, YMCA of the USA 
  • Speaker, "Communications Methods", YMCA Southwest Field Conference
AUTHOR/EDITOR BOARD/NON-PROFIT POSITIONS
  • Chair, Advisory Board, MSU Billings Art Department, 2019
  • Chair, International Caucus, Women's Caucus for Art 2012-2014 
  • President/Board Member, Alberta Bair Theater, Billings, MT
  • Member, Health Planning Advisory Committee, Houston-Galveston Area Council 
  • Member, Women's Advisory Board, New Directions Halfway House, Houston, TX 
  • Co- Chair, Entertainment Committee, National Conference, Public Relations Society of America
  • Chair, Professional Development, Fort Worth Public Relations Society
  • Action Ambassador, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Fort Worth, TX
  • Member, Adult Girl Scouts Network, Fort Worth, TX

MEMBER/AFFILIATIONS
  • Member, International Sculpture Center
  • Member, College Art Association (CAA)
  • United Nations Representative, Women's Caucus for Art
  • Member, UN Rio+ 20 Women's Major Group Steering Committee
  • Montana Women Vote 
  • Member, National Organization for Women  
  • Women's Media Center  
  • Member, Montana Wilderness Association
  • Member, Northern Plains Resource Council  
  • Member, The Nature Conservancy 
  • Member, Montana Human Rights Network  
  • Member, Yellowstone Art Museum
  • Planned Parenthood of Montana 
  • Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana 
  • Listed, Women Artists Archives National Directory at Rutgers University,
EDUCATION
  • BFA, Sculpture, Montana State University - Billings
  • BA, Political Science, University of Houston​
SELECTED OTHER EXPERIENCES
  • Founding Member, Beaux Arts Ball Committee, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT 
  • Legislative and Advocacy Chair, Boulder Elementary PTA, Billings, MT
  • Volunteer Art Instructor, Boulder Elementary School, Billings, Montana
  • Founder, The Dance Salon, Billings, MT
  • Member, Mazamas Mountaineering Club, Portland, Oregon
  • Public Relations and Marketing Director. Downtown Fort Worth YMCA 
  • Member, Public Relations Society of America
  • Member, Fort Worth Ad Club
  • Member, Communications Council, United Way of Tarrant County
  • Assistant to City Council Member Christin Hartung, Houston City Council
  • Summer Construction Worker, Appalachia Service Project