Education

2018
Carnegie Mellon University MFA
2014
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
BFA (Photography, Conceptual Art, and Art History)
Graduated with Highest Honors
Minor in Women and Gender Studies
2012
University of New South Wales- Sydney, Australia
2010
University of North Carolina School of the Arts High School

Honors, Residencies, Grants

2017
Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon University
2016
Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon University
2015
Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon University
2014
Creative Quarterly 37 Runner Up
Fine Art Winner, Creative Quarterly 36
Penland School of Craft Residency
Honors Thesis - Blood Harmony
2013
Alexander Julian Prize
University of North Carolina Sculpture Garden Commission
UNC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Award
Creative Quarterly 32 Runner Up
Sarah Steele Danhoff Undergraduate Research Award
2011
Outstanding Project Group (Guerrilla Art Connected Learning Program)
2010
Guerrilla Art Connected Learning Program Membership
2009
Outstanding Performance in International Baccalaureate Visual Art Award
2008
Sarah Jones Art Scholarship
Order of the Arrow (Honor Society of Boy Scouts)
Eagle Scout Rank

Public Sculpture

2014
His and Hers (Perfect Lovers), Hanes Art Center Alumni Sculpture Garden, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Solo Exhibitions

2017
Mother Tongue No. II, Powder Room, Pittsburgh, PA
Mother Tongue No. I, Ellis Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
2016
Welcome To My Faith In You, The Frame, Pittsburgh, PA
2014
Blood Harmony, The Carrack Modern Art, Durham, NC

Group Exhibitions

2019
Great Lakes International Film Festival, Erie, Pennsylvania
Twist & Twine, Paradice Palase, Queens, NY
Alternative Film Festival, The Burroughes Building, Toronto, Canada
IRL: Investigating Reality, The Untitled Space, New York, NY
Five Continents International Film Festival, Osic Art Room, Anzoategui, Venezuela
Videolands, Experimental Center for the Arts, Thessaloniki, Greece
Director’s Choice, Viridian Artists, New York, NY
Straight Through the Wall, Urban Projection Mapping, New York, NY
2018
Weihnachtsfilmfestival, Moviemento, Berlin, Germany
Cutting Edge International Film Festival, Digital Cinema
Buffalo International Film Festival, North Park Theatre, Buffalo, NY
Mainframe (Curated into Exhibition), The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Short Shorts 2018, Whitespace Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
Cinema d'iDEA, CineLab of Tiber Island, Rome, Italy
Fuck the Narration, Pugnant Film Series, Chimeres Space, Athens, Greece
The Way it Looks Back At You, Video Art Miden, Archaeological Museum of Messenia, Kalamata, Greece
SURVEIL/SURVEILLED, Storytellers' Institute, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Blue Like Fortune, Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh, PA
Shot For Shot Film Festival, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
By Means of Play, Gallery One, Pittsburgh, PA
The House We Build, Imagebox, Pittsburgh, PA
Each/Other, The Frame, Pittsburgh, PA
Immutable Stage, The Miller Institute of Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Spark the Movement, Center for Diversity and Inclusion, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
The Art of the Remix, Hunt Library, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
2017
Just Say'n, Bottle Works, Pittsburgh, PA
Restructured, Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA
Color 2017, CICA Museum, Gimpo, South Korea
Contemporaneous, Alphabet City, Pittsburgh, PA
Highest Grossing Film: The Sequel, Powder Room, Pittsburgh, PA
Trans-Q Live!, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
The Highest Grossing Film of 1994, The Museum of Human Achievement, Austin, TX
Cabinet, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO
Power and the Soul, The Frame, Pittsburgh, PA
2016
Nightmare, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
Be Somebody with a Body, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
Songs You Know By Artists You Love, WRCT 88.3 FM
New Members Show, Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, The Mine Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
What’s at Steak?, The Frame, Pittsburgh, PA
2015
What’s a Steak, 5112 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
Loving Betrayal: A Dialogue with Mother, Neu Kirche Contemporary Art Center, Pittsburgh, PA
In the Flesh 5, Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA
Neo-Pre-Post-Contra-Para-Anti-Hyper-Pro-Trans-Ultra-Photography, Spectre Arts, Durham, NC
FOTOFLIC, Click! Triangle Photography Festival, The Cordoba Center for the Arts, Durham, NC
Shifting Identities, online group show, Photoreview.com
2014
FOTOflic, The Carrack Modern Art, Durham, NC
Fall Grand Salon Show, The Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
SOUTHERNS: Queer Identified Artists Finding Home and Family in the South , The Carrack Modern Art, Durham, NC
Habitual Action, Allcott Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
Proof: The 2013-14 Undergraduate Art Awards Exhibition, Allcott Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
Coming In: An Art Show on Queer Aesthetics, SAMple Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
2013
Nothing is the Same as Anything, Allcott Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
Letting Water Speak- A collaborative performance with Buster Simpson, Chapel Hill, NC
COMMON ICON, Allcott Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
Collaboration with Sumi Ink Club, Allcot Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
A Taste of Empathy, Graham Memorial, Chapel Hill, NC
2012
Love/Hate, Private/Public, Inside/Outside, Gay/Straight: An exhibit featuring the works of LGBTQIA artists living in North Carolina, Durham Arts Place, Durham, NC
The Non-Being of Having: An Art Show, Allcot Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
2011
On Hung, University of North Carolina Student Union, Chapel Hill, NC
Live Relic: In Honor of Kimowan Metchewais, Allcot Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
2010
Immersion, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston Salem, NC

Publications and Press

2018
Watch Out, The Featured Artists of "The House We Build" Are Just Getting Started, Chrisley, Emma. “Watch Out, The Featured Artists of ‘The House We Build’ Are Just Getting Started.” Moxie Magazine, 1 June 2018, www.moxiemagazinepgh.com/single-post/2018/06/01/Watch-Out-The-Featured-Artists-of-The-House-We-Build-Are-Just-Getting-Started.
2017
sentiment petit a, Gray Swartzel & Verónica Vega, Welcome To My Faith in You
2014
Creative Quarterly 36, Print and Online
Gilmore, Margaret. "UNC Student's Photographic Series "Blood Harmony" Represents Construction of Gender, Sexual Identity." The Daily Tar Heel. DTH, 20 Apr. 2014. Web.
Vitiello, Chris. "Blood Harmony." Rev. of Blood Harmony. INDY. 16 Apr. 2014. Blood Harmony. INDY. Web.
Swartzel, J. Gray. "Blood Harmony." Thesis. University of North Carolina, 2014. Print.
The Siren - Life Through a Feminist Lens: The Sexual Assault and Interpersonal Violence Issue. Spring 2014.
Cellar Door Online, The Undergraduate Literary Magazine of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Spring 2014
2013
Vitiello, Chris. "Empathy and Ritual in Art Cakes at UNC." INDY. INDY, 5 Dec. 2013. Web.
"ENCOUNTERS: With the Music of Our Time." Duke University Music. Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
Moorman, Karen E. "Encounters: World Premieres Featuring Wet Ink Ensemble and Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek." CVNC: An Online Arts Journal in North Carolina. CVNC, 3 Mar. 2013. Web.
Cover of the Cellar Door, The Undergraduate Literary Magazine of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Spring 2013
Carolina Global Photography Competition Calendar, Chapel Hill, NC
Creative Quarterly 32 Online
Vitiello, Chris. "Empathy and Ritual in Art Cakes at UNC.", INDY. INDY, 5 Dec. 2013. Web.
2012
"Love/Hate, Private/Public, Inside/Outside, Gay/Straight." Love/Hate, Private/Public, Inside/Outside, Gay/Straight: An Exhibit Featuring the Works of LGBTQ Artists Living in North Carolina. Durham Arts Place, Aug. 2012. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
Meyer, Deborah R. "'Love/Hate' and More at Durham Arts Place." News and Observer. N&O, 18 Aug. 2012. Web.
Cover of the Cellar Door, The Undergraduate Literary Magazine of the University of North Carolina, Fall 2012

Artist Participation and Talks

2017
Performance Workshop with Erin Markey. Pittsburgh, PA
OSHER Presentation. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Too Soon Two: MFA Lecture Series. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
2016
Too Soon: MFA Lecture Series. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
2015
MFA Lecture Series. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
NY Times Portfolio Review. CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, NY, NY
Participant in Dark Hour/Light Moment. Anthony Goicolea, NY, NY
2014
Presentation of Blood Harmony. UNC Art Department Honors Symposium
Artist Talk, Blood Harmony. Carrack Modern Art, Durham, NC
2013
Collaboration with Paul Swartzel’s Doctoral Dissertation, Barbeque Man Unleashed: The Greatest Professional Wrestling Work Of All Time. Duke University, Durham, NC
Photography Assistant for Gesche Wuerfel. MFA at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Presentation and Artist Lecture. ART 105, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Participant in MFA Performance, Anna Delgado. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

Work Experience

2018-
Gray Style & Photographic Solutions, Founder
2018-
Summer Intensive Studies Faculty, Photography: Analog and Digital, Parsons School of Design
2016-2017
Carnegie Mellon Pre-College Instructor, Digital Photography
2015-2018
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Carnegie Mellon University
2015-2015
Archival Assistant - Luhring Augustine
2014-2015
Studio Assistant - Anthony Goicolea
2014-2014
Personal Assistant - Joseph English - ncpottery.com
2014-2014
Personal Assistant - Diego Cortez
2010-2014
Freelance
2010-2011
Photographer Missy McLamb - Assistant
2006-2009
Eldridge & Woodall Weddings and Events - Assistant