BIO
Theresa Gooby holds a BFA from the University of New Mexico and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. In 2024 she received an Individual Artist Commission from NY Statewide Community Regrants Program. She is the 2020 recipient of a Dutchess County Executive Award for being an "Artivist". Her work has been exhibited nationally, including solo shows in Greenville SC and the Hudson Valley of NY. Her work has been included twice in the Every Woman Biennial in NYC. In 2017 she was commissioned by Artspace New Haven to create an installation at the New Haven CT armory. Her work has been seen at Bortolami Gallery in NYC, 111 Minna in San Francisco, the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, and at the Dorsky Museum in New Paltz NY. She is the founder and former Director of Beacon Open Studios. She served four terms on the board of BeaconArts, an organization that promotes arts and cultural events in the city of Beacon NY. She currently lives in Beacon NY with her family.
Theresa Gooby holds a BFA from the University of New Mexico and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. In 2024 she received an Individual Artist Commission from NY Statewide Community Regrants Program. She is the 2020 recipient of a Dutchess County Executive Award for being an "Artivist". Her work has been exhibited nationally, including solo shows in Greenville SC and the Hudson Valley of NY. Her work has been included twice in the Every Woman Biennial in NYC. In 2017 she was commissioned by Artspace New Haven to create an installation at the New Haven CT armory. Her work has been seen at Bortolami Gallery in NYC, 111 Minna in San Francisco, the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, and at the Dorsky Museum in New Paltz NY. She is the founder and former Director of Beacon Open Studios. She served four terms on the board of BeaconArts, an organization that promotes arts and cultural events in the city of Beacon NY. She currently lives in Beacon NY with her family.
STATEMENT
The focus of my work is how I remember and relate to the past and how that shapes my understanding of the present. Using found, salvaged and reclaimed materials that are signifiers of another era, whether it be a historic era or a personal era, this work creates a space for deeper reflection of identity, culture and society. With these materials I reframe old narratives to question the nostalgic, idealized stories we tell about history and gender. By creative reinterpretation of these materials, I am building a narrative that can shape my understanding of the present. I am deeply interested in nostalgia as a constructed fiction—the idea that we selectively remember parts of the past while overlooking contradictions, inequities and discomforts.
The materials I work with are delicate, requiring careful assembly while allowing for subtle movement once they become hanging artworks. Connecting common materials to ideas of repetitive labor is central to the works. By reassembling them in ways that lift them—often literally—from their original context, I invite you to reconsider them from a different perspective. The labor involved in making the work remains visible. By stringing these materials together, you come face to face with them. Hanging sculpture holds particular interest for me because its meaning is revealed through bodily engagement. The work is activated as a body moves through and occupies space, creating a physical relationship that extends beyond wall- or floor-based forms. As the body shifts within the room, the sculpture responds, coming alive through human presence.
The focus of my work is how I remember and relate to the past and how that shapes my understanding of the present. Using found, salvaged and reclaimed materials that are signifiers of another era, whether it be a historic era or a personal era, this work creates a space for deeper reflection of identity, culture and society. With these materials I reframe old narratives to question the nostalgic, idealized stories we tell about history and gender. By creative reinterpretation of these materials, I am building a narrative that can shape my understanding of the present. I am deeply interested in nostalgia as a constructed fiction—the idea that we selectively remember parts of the past while overlooking contradictions, inequities and discomforts.
The materials I work with are delicate, requiring careful assembly while allowing for subtle movement once they become hanging artworks. Connecting common materials to ideas of repetitive labor is central to the works. By reassembling them in ways that lift them—often literally—from their original context, I invite you to reconsider them from a different perspective. The labor involved in making the work remains visible. By stringing these materials together, you come face to face with them. Hanging sculpture holds particular interest for me because its meaning is revealed through bodily engagement. The work is activated as a body moves through and occupies space, creating a physical relationship that extends beyond wall- or floor-based forms. As the body shifts within the room, the sculpture responds, coming alive through human presence.
| theresa_goobycv.pdf |
EDUCATION
MFA in New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute
BFA in Photography, University of New Mexico
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Uncanny Garden Wallkill River Center for the Arts Montgomery NY
2024 Trigger Warning Convey/er/or Gallery Poughkeepsie NY
Herbaceous Heroines Big Mouth Gallery Beacon NY
2022 The Great Outdoors The Hoxton Hotel, Brooklyn NY
2017 NOstalgia Greenville Center for the Arts, Greenville SC
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Must See Hudson Valley Exhibits for March Chronogram Magazine March 2020
Women Under Fire TOWN Carolina Magazine January 2019
Keeping it Real Allison RooneyThe Highland Current July 27, 2018
GRANTS, AWARDS, RESIDENCIES
2021 Dutchess County Executive Award
2015 Winner, Rachel Carson Landmark Alliance’s Intergenerational Sense of Wonder/Sense of Wild contest
2003 Green Foundation Artist-in-Residence, Marfa TX
2003 Skowhegan School of Art, finalist
1999 Studios Midwest Artist-in-Residence, Galesburg, Il
1997 VSC Residency Artist-in-Residence Grant, Vermont Studio Center
1990 SPEOS Artist-in-Residence grant, Paris, France
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
Founder and Curator of Beacon Open Studios
Curator- Kickoff Exhibition BOS 2009-2012
Curator-The Big Draw 2010, 2012
Curator- Selections from Beacon Open Studios 2009
MFA in New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute
BFA in Photography, University of New Mexico
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Uncanny Garden Wallkill River Center for the Arts Montgomery NY
2024 Trigger Warning Convey/er/or Gallery Poughkeepsie NY
Herbaceous Heroines Big Mouth Gallery Beacon NY
2022 The Great Outdoors The Hoxton Hotel, Brooklyn NY
2017 NOstalgia Greenville Center for the Arts, Greenville SC
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
- Seriously Whimsical Gallery 40, Poughkeepsie NY
- Democracy 2024 Puffin Foundation Teaneck NY 2024
- Of A Feather Emerge Gallery, Saugerties NY
- Are We Home Yet? ArtPort Kingston, NY
- Unleashed AHA Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
- Best in Show Emerge Gallery, Saugerties NY
- Every Woman Biennale Superchief Gallery NYC
- Flora Gallery 263, Cambridge MA
- Tell Me A Story Emerge Gallery Saugerties NY
- I Am Woman Howland Art Center, Beacon NY
- 20/20 Vision Holland Tunnel Art, Newburgh NY
- Influenced By Nature Ann Street Gallery Newburgh NY
- Newark Arts Festival, Newark NJ
- Terrain Biennial Newburgh, Newburgh NY
- Every Woman Biennial New York, NY
- Postcards From The Edge Bortolami Gallery, New York NY
- Cycles Catalyst Gallery Beacon NY
- Still Still Moving Howland Cultural Center Beacon NY
- The Mystery of Nancy Drew Howland Library, Beacon NY
- NOstalgia Greenville Center for Creative Arts Greenville SC
- Art of Survival 111 Minna St. San Francisco CA
- Life's A Beach LITM Jersey City NJ
- Zoology Matteawan Gallery Beacon NY
- The Yellow Wallpaper Howland Library Beacon NY
- BOS Alumni Show Beacon NY
- fRact/fiction Artspace New Haven, CT
- Undercurrents Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz NY
- Postcards from the Edge Metro Pictures NY NY
- Pattern Recognition Woskob Family Gallery State College PA
- Where We Are Puffin Foundation Teaneck NJ
- A Common Thread Howland Library Beacon NY
- From Here to There Camaradas El Barrio, New York
- Nasty Women ABD Gallery Philadelphia PA
- Little Wonders LITM Jersey City NJ
- Sports in Art Maloney Gallery Morristown NJ
- The Language of Patterns Ann St Gallery Newburgh NY
- Beacon Open Studios Kickoff Show, Beacon NY
- CoMFY16 Howland Public Library, Beacon NY
- The Big Draw (curator) Beacon NY
- Beacon Open Studios Kickoff Show, Beacon NY
- The Big Draw (curator) Beacon NY
- Booksmart Mattewan Gallery Beacon NY
- Waterland Hudson Beach Glass Beacon NY
- Possible Ideas Catalyst Gallery Beacon NY
- Art Along the Hudson Saugerties Performing Art Center, Saugerties NY
- Flow Front Street Gallery Patterson NY
- Family Mad Dooley Gallery Beacon NY
- Alternating Current The Loft Beacon NY
- Small Works Catalyst Gallery Beacon NY
- The Big Draw (curator & artist) Beacon NY
- The Lightbulb Project Newburgh NY
- Blue Collar Blues Faith in Art Gallery Beacon NY
- Bound to Printed Matter (curator & artist) Howland Library Beacon NY
- Barbie Ann Street Gallery Newburgh NY
- Beekman Banners a public art project in Beacon NY
- Some Girls Howland Cultural Center Beacon NY
- Love & Lust Spire Studios Beacon NY
- Art Along the Hudson Kickoff Show Paramount Theatre Peekskill NY
- The Great Hudson River Show Riverside Arts Beacon NY
- Shine Mill Street Loft, Poughkeepsie NY
- Windows on Main St. Beacon NY
- Habitats for Artists artist in residence Garrison NY
- The Big Draw, Marion Royael Gallery Beacon NY
- Flora RiverWinds Gallery Rhinebeck NY
- Trees/Drawings RiverWinds Gallery Beacon NY
- Invitational BAU Beacon NY
- Selections from Open Studios Beacon NY
- Windows on Main St. Beacon NY
- Past and Present Amos Eno Gallery Brooklyn NY
- Small Works Zuzu, Beacon NY
- Windows on Main Street, a public art project in Beacon NY
- Art Along the Hudson Cunneen-Hacket Art Center Poughkeepsie NY
- Windows on Main Street, a public art project in Beacon NY
- on Site Kamp Maykr Beacon NY
- Pot Shots at Hot Shots 3rd Rail Studios, New Rochelle NY
- Tote Bag Open Space Gallery, Beacon NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Must See Hudson Valley Exhibits for March Chronogram Magazine March 2020
Women Under Fire TOWN Carolina Magazine January 2019
Keeping it Real Allison RooneyThe Highland Current July 27, 2018
GRANTS, AWARDS, RESIDENCIES
2021 Dutchess County Executive Award
2015 Winner, Rachel Carson Landmark Alliance’s Intergenerational Sense of Wonder/Sense of Wild contest
2003 Green Foundation Artist-in-Residence, Marfa TX
2003 Skowhegan School of Art, finalist
1999 Studios Midwest Artist-in-Residence, Galesburg, Il
1997 VSC Residency Artist-in-Residence Grant, Vermont Studio Center
1990 SPEOS Artist-in-Residence grant, Paris, France
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
Founder and Curator of Beacon Open Studios
Curator- Kickoff Exhibition BOS 2009-2012
Curator-The Big Draw 2010, 2012
Curator- Selections from Beacon Open Studios 2009