EMMA DUEHR – CV
b. Dubuque, IA, 1995. Lives and works in Portland, OR
EDUCATION
2021 Masters of Fine Arts, Art and Social Practice, Portland State University – Portland, OR
One year in the MFA Studio Practice Program
2017 Bachelors of Fine Arts, Studio Arts, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
Emphasis in Sculpture and Painting
Minor in Art History
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2024 Bronze Casting Specialist, Socially Engaged Object (Spring)
Reed College – Portland, OR
Bronze Casting Specialist, Digital Media/Architecture
Portland State University – Portland, OR
2023 Bronze Casting Specialist, Socially Engaged Object (Spring)
Reed College – Portland, OR
Instructor, Bronze Casting Workshop (Summer)
Portland State University – Portland, OR
Bronze Casting,3D Scanning, and Printing Specialist
Vanport Mosaic – Portland, OR
Bronze Casting Specialist, Enchanted Technology Festival
Creative and Emergent Technology Institute – Portland, OR
3D Scanning, Printing, and Bronze Casting Specialist,
Jefferson High School – Portland, OR
Instructor, Bronze Casting Workshop (Winter)
Portland State University – Portland, OR
Bronze Casting Specialist, Digital Media/Architecture
Portland State University – Portland, OR
2022 Bronze Casting Specialist, Digital Media/Architecture
Portland State University – Portland, OR
Instructor, Bronze Casting Workshop (Summer)
Portland State University – Portland, OR
Instructor, Bronze Casting Workshop (Winter)
Portland State University – Portland, OR
2021 Co-Instructor with Erik Geschke, Introduction to Sculpture (Spring Term)
Portland State University – Portland, OR (remote learning)
Adjunct Professor, Introduction to Sculpture (Winter Term)
Portland State University – Portland, OR (remote learning)
Artist Mentor, King School Museum of Contemporary Art
Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School – Portland, OR
2020 Adjunct Professor, Introduction to Sculpture (Spring Term)
Portland State University – Portland, OR (remote learning)
Artist Mentor, King School Museum of Contemporary Art
Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School – Portland, OR
2019 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Sculpture
Portland State University – Portland, OR (Fall Term)
Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Sculpture
Portland State University – Portland, OR (Spring Term)
Artist Mentor, King School Museum of Contemporary Art
Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School – Portland, OR
2018 Teaching Assistant, Intermediate Sculpture
Portland State University – Portland, OR (Winter Term)
PROFESSIONAL OCCUPATIONS
Sept 2021– Present COTA Workshop Instructor and Manager
Portland State University – Portland, OR
My responsibilities include managing the woodshop, metal shop, casting lab, laser cutters, 3d printers, and CNC routers for the College of the Arts. The spaces are primarily used by students and faculty in The School of Architecture and School of Art and Design. My roles include: leading project-based workshops and safety training on all equipment for students and faculty; hiring, training, and supervising a staff of 22 students; maintaining inventory and tool, equipment, and space upkeep; developing an online representation and accessibility for students. The Workshops staff also works as a team to create customized projects for the University including: pedestals, drawing boards, tables, carts, bookshelves, signage, and more.
Sept 2021 – June 2022 Program Assistant – PSU MFA Art and Social Practice Program
Portland State University – Portland, OR
My responsibilities include: coordinating visiting artist lectures; organizing the application and interview process; facilitating program gatherings such as graduation, program trip, and beginning of the year retreat; maintaining online presence and creating advertisements and social media posts.
Aug 2018 - June 2019 Promotion and Tenure Committee Member – Student Evaluations
Portland State University – Portland, OR
My responsibilities included reviewing student evaluations for two professors applying for tenure in the School of Art and Design. I read through an archive of five years of student evaluations and wrote summaries of the student’s feedback and presented their experiences during the assessment.
July 2017 - Present Front of House Manager
Baird’s on B Bar & Grill – Lake Oswego, OR
My responsibilities include managing the front of house operations including: scheduling, hiring, training, and supervising a staff of 10 people.
Aug 2015 – June 2016 Design Intern
McGraw-Hill Higher Education – Dubuque, IA
My responsibilities included: designing book covers and interior page layouts, sourcing images and content, and facilitating agreements between freelance artists and McGraw Hill.
2014 – Present. Commission Artist
Self-Employed
My roles have included: designing and painting murals on public and private buildings on interior and exterior walls; designing logos for individuals self-initiating projects and businesses; creating customized paintings, drawings, and embroidery rings including portraits, landscapes, still life arrangements, tattoo designs, and more.
Dec 2015 - June 2017 Woodshop Supervisor
Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
My responsibilities included supervising students using the woodshop and welding equipment during night hours and assisting with any project needs.
FACILITATED EVENTS AND PROJECTS
2021 Project – Community Nature Mandala Build
Artist and Facilitator
Oregon City, OR
I gathered a group of 15 women for a day to celebrate feminine bodies, existence, and creativity. Every woman was asked to bring a type of floral they connected to and then collaboratively scavenge for pieces of nature to create a nature mandala out of. The gathering focused on spiritual connection, rest, and therapeutic creative releases.
2020 - 2023 Project – People’s Plant Museum
Founder and Curator
Portland, OR
PPM celebrates the relationships between plants and people. I established the Museum as a living collection of plants, a public archive of plant stories, and a resource for plant exchange and care. Our programs initiate conversations that support and examine the cohabitation of humans and the plants they cultivate.
2019 - 2023 Project – Home Value Inventory
Artist and Facilitator
The Home Value Inventory is an archive of objects that hold value and sentiment within people’s lives. It is an exercise for people to explore their connections to the objects they collect and to share the stories that bring the objects additional value. The project explores everyday curation, collections, and preservation.
2018 - 2022 Project – Talking Tushies
Artist and Facilitator
Africa, Canada, Italy, Germany, Spain, USA, UK
Talking Tushies embroiders sexual violence statistics on patches for clothing items and invites survivors around the world to share their experiences with sexual misconduct. These accounts are shared and archived on the project website and in sculptural installations. People are invited to wear the Talking Tushies patches on locations of the body associated with unsolicited sexual objectification to confront the male gaze in public places. Participants can purchase the patches or follow a do-it-yourself template for the project; the project also hosts workshops for participants to create their own patches. Individuals around the world wear the patches and collectively transform everyday public spaces into a collaborative protest against disrespectful sexual behaviors.
2018 Project and Event – Student Art Fair on Montgomery Street Pop-Up Plaza
Curator and Event Coordinator
Portland State University – Portland, OR
As a part of the Portland Green Loop initiative to turn a section of SW Montgomery Street in Portland, Oregon into a pedestrian-only zone, I organized a Student Art Fair to assist students enrolled at Portland State University sell and market their artwork at a market on campus. The art fair showcased the work of 13 undergraduate students every Wednesday afternoon for the month of May. The initiative was successful and the street is officially a pedestrian zone.
2017 - Present Project – Homes for Homes Project
Artist and Facilitator
The Homes for Homes Project creates customized drawings of places of residence that people have once lived to archive, celebrate, and preserve moments of personal history and growth. I ask individuals to send me: a photograph or address of the home to reference while creating the perspective drawing, the geographic location, and a testimonial of the memories created within the residential structure.
AUTHORED PUBLICATIONS
2021 “The Inaugural Set of People’s Plant Stories”
Author and Publisher
The Inaugural Set of People’s Plant Stories is a series of seven individual publications from People’s Plant Museum. It contains “An Introduction” and six individual plant stories. The plants included in the set had a direct impact on the development of the People’s Plant Museum by starting different conversations related to plant histories. The individual narratives provide an example for people considering their own plant stories. The individual publications are produced with the hope they will be exchanged with the accompanying plant, as a device for sharing the history, care, and relationships embodied in the plant.
“The Candy Project: Emma Duehr Mitchell with Carter Collins”
SoFA Journal, Conversations on Everything Spring 2021, Portland State University
“What Qualifies You to Do What You Do?: Emma Duehr Mitchell with Brianna Ortega”
SoFA Journal, Conversations on Everything Winter 2021, Portland State University
2020 “Research is Constant: Emma Duehr Mitchell with Roz Crews”
SoFA Journal, Conversations on Everything Fall 2020, Portland State University
“The Portland Conservatory”
The Assembly Catalog, Portland State University
“Pedagogy and Praxis with Michelle Illuminato”
The SoFA Journal, Issue 5: Pedagogy, Portland State University
2019 “Remote Learning Amongst Covid-19”
The SoFA Journal, Issue 5: Pedagogy, Portland State University
“Rooted in Relationship”
The SoFA Journal, Issue 4: Exchange, Portland State University
COLLABORATIVE ADMINISTERED PROJECTS
2022 – Publication – Co-Editor of SoFA Journal
Winter 2022 Issue
In collaboration with Becca Kauffman, Lisa Jarret, and 15 students in PSU Art and Social Practice MFA Program
The Social Forms of Art (SoFA) Journal is a publication dedicated to supporting, documenting and contextualising social forms of art and its related fields and disciplines. Each issue of the Journal takes an eclectic look at the ways in which artists are engaging with communities, institutions and the public. The Journal supports and discusses projects that offer critique, commentary and context for a field that is active and expanding.
2021 – Project Series – Project Coordinator and Host
Assembly 2020
In collaboration with Harrell Fletcher and the 14 students in PSU Art and Social Practice MFA Program
The program’s annual Spring co-authored social practice conference with workshops, lectures, graduate project talks, and participatory projects. Each year the PSU Art + Social Practice MFA cohort organizes “Assembly” to present socially engaged art and to offer a forum for discussion around the field of Social Practice. Students select various site(s) in which to make projects, either through existing relationships, curiosity, or chance encounters.
Publication – Editor and Web Designer
SoFA Journal – Conversations on Everything, Fall 2021
In collaboration with Becca Kauffman, Lisa Jarret, and 15 students in PSU Art and Social Practice MFA Program
Publication – Copy Editor and Web Designer
SoFA Journal – Conversations on Everything, Spring 2021
In collaboration with Salty Xi Jie Ng, Rebecca Copper, and Harrell Fletcher, and 14 students in PSU Art and Social Practice MFA Program
Publication – Copy Editor and Web Designer for SoFA Journal
SoFA Journal – Conversations on Everything, Winter 2021
In collaboration with Salty Xi Jie Ng and Harrell Fletcher, and 14 students in PSU Art and Social Practice MFA Program
2020 – Project Series – Project Coordinator and Host
Assembly 2020
In collaboration with Harrell Fletcher and the 14 students in PSU Art and Social Practice MFA Program
Publication – Copy Editor and Web Designer
SoFA Journal – Conversations on Everything, Fall 2020
In collaboration with Salty Xi Jie Ng and Harrell Fletcher, and 14 students in PSU Art and Social Practice MFA Program
Publication – Cover Designer, Copy Editor, and Committee Member
SoFA Journal – Issue 5: Exchange
In collaboration with Eric Olsen, Spencer Brynes, Rebecca Copper, Harrell Fletcher, and 13 students in PSU Art and Social Practice MFA Program
2019 – Publication – Cover Designer, Copy Editor, and Committee Member
SoFA Journal – Issue 4: Exchange
In collaboration with Eric Olsen, Spencer Brynes, Rebecca Copper, Harrell Fletcher, and 13 students in PSU Art and Social Practice MFA Program
Project – Artist and Organizer
House Kindling Party 2
In collaboration with Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.
House Kindling Party 2 was organized when I bought a home in Fall 2019 and invited friends and family to celebrate the new chapter in the house before material possessions we moved over. Michael and I co-facilitated the event featuring a meal prepared by Grandmother’s(s) Kitchen, a plant exchange, and a collaboratively built House Kindling Mobile with all the attendees.
EXHIBITIONS
2024 Constellations, 2024 Technoluminescene
Winter Lights Festival, Lloyd Center – Portland, OR
2023 Soul Meets Animal
MoonMountain Highway Gallery – Bingen, WA
2022
2021 People’s Plant Museum Presents
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art – Portland, Oregon
2019 (solo) Talking Tushies, Traveling Exhibition
Africa, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and USA (solo)
Triple
MK Gallery – Portland, Oregon
2017 (solo) Evolution Industry
Quigley Gallery – Dubuque, IA
(solo) Mandelbrot Sets
Carryer – Dubuque, IA
Little Monsters
Fe Gallery – Sacramento, CA
Figures
Quigley Gallery – Dubuque, IA
Emerging Artists Exhibition
ArtHaus – Decorah, IA
Order and Chaos
Giles Gallery – Richmond, KY
Emerging Artists
Limner Gallery – Hudson, NY
2016 Living Mark 3
Verum Ultimum – Portland, OR
Fall Into Art
The Kirby Building – Dubuque, IA
Skate Show
Dubuque Area Arts Collective Gallery – Dubuque, IA
2015 (solo) Meet the Artist
Pence – Dubuque, IA
Fall Into Art
The Kirby Building – Dubuque, IA
Sophomore/Junior Exhibition
Quigley Gallery – Dubuque, IA
Skate Show
Dubuque Area Arts Collective Gallery – Dubuque, IA
2014 Fall Into Art
The Kirby Building – Dubuque, IA
CURATORIAL WORK
2021 “The Collection”
People’s Plant Museum – Portland, OR
2019 “Portland State University Art Fair
MK Gallery, Portland State University – Portland, OR
LECTURES, WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS
2021 – Graduate Lecture – “A Studio and Social Practice”
Zoom and Youtube, Portland State University – Portland, OR
Presentation – “About People’s Plant Museum”
Introduction to Art and Social Practice, Portland State University – Portland, OR
Workshop – “Plant Show and Tell”
People’s Plant Museum and Portland State University – Portland, OR
2020 – Presentation – “Tour the People’s Plant Museum”
People’s Plant Museum – Portland, OR
2019 – Workshop – “Create your own Talking Tushies patch,”
Library, Revere High School – Revere, MA
2017 Workshop – “High School Student Workshop,”
Woodshop, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
Artist Talk – “Evolution Industry”
Quigley Gallery, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
Artist Talk – “Evolution Industry”
Quigley Gallery, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
VOLUNTEER
2019 — May 2021 Artist Mentor – King School Museum of Contemporary Art
Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School – Portland, OR
2017 Volunteer – Hills and Dales
Dubuque, IA
AWARDS AND GRANTS
2019 International Sculpture Center, Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture (Nominee)
School of Art and Design Scholarship, Portland State University – Portland, OR
2017 Dean’s List, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
The Art and Design Gloria Weir Melgard Award, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
The Fine Arts Division Meneve Dunham Award, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
2016 Dean’s List, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
The Art History Award, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
The Walter & Kathryn Dunham Fine Art Award, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
2015 & 2014 Honours List, Clarke University – Dubuque, IA
PRESS
2019 “PSU’s Car-Free May” - May 8th, 2019
Business Tribune, by Joseph Gallivan
“Talking Tushies” – February 15th, 2019
Written and interviewed by Fiore Avvelenato in San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy,
2018 “Craft with Conscience with Emma Duehr” – November 7th, 2018
Written and interviewed by Sarah Benning
2017 “Unearthed,” – March 2017
The Tenth Muse Magazine: Volume VII, Clarke University
2016 “Student Spotlight” – November 1st, 2016
November Sustainability Newsletter, Clarke University
“A Dubuque Artist” – October 27th, 2016
Loras College Television, Loras College
“Living Mark” – May 1st, 2016
Verum Ultimum: Third Edition
“The View” – March 8th, 2016
The Tenth Muse: Volume VI
“Drain” – March 8th, 2016
The Tenth Muse: Volume V
2015 “Game of Chance” – March 8th, 2015
The Tenth Muse: Volume IV
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Welding: oxy-acetylene, MIG, TIG
Plasma Cutting
Wood Fabrication: joinery, hand carving, and construction
Laser Cutting
3D Printing
CNC Routing
Clay Manipulation: wheel throwing, hand modeling, and slab building
Kiln Firing: bronze and aluminum and ceramics
Mold Making: rigid, rubber, & body casting
Casting: chocolate, densite, foam, plastic, plaster, rubber, silicone, & wax
Painting: oil, acrylic, watercolor, mural
Sewing, Embroidery, and Weaving
DIGITAL PROGRAMS
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Premier
Rhino
Sketch Up