Vaughn Sills' biography and resume
Bio
Vaughn Sills has exhibited her work in galleries and museums on the East Coast and in the South. Her work is in a number of collections, including DeCordova Museum, Polaroid, Eaton Vance, and Fidelity Investments Collections. Vaughn has received a number of grants – most recently, in 2009, she received an Artist’s Fellowship in Photography by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and in 2007, she received a grant from Artadia Dialogue for Art and Culture.
Places for the Spirit, Traditional African American Gardens has just been published by Trinity University Press. Her book, One Family, was published in 2001 by the University of Georgia Press.
Vaughn is a professor of photography at Simmons College, Boston MA.
Honors and Awards
- 2009
- Artist Fellowship in Photography from Massachusetts Cultural Council
- 2009
- President’s Fund for Faculty Excellence, Simmons College
- 2008
- Polaroid Foundation Grant awarded to Trinity University press to support publication of Places for the Spirit
- 2007
- Grant, awarded by Artadia, The Fund for Art and Dialogue
- 2005
- Gold, Best Photography for Vaughn Sills’ “Beyond Words,” awarded to Georgia Review, by The Magazine Association of the Southeast
- 2002-2006, 1999, 1989, 1986
- Polaroid Grant to Artists
- 2001
- One of Ten Best Local Photographic Exhibitions 2001 (American Univ. Watkins Gallery), Louis Jacobson, Washington City Paper, Dec. 21, 2001
- Southern Library Association 2000 Awards for Book Design “Award of Excellence” for One Family
- 1993
- Polaroid Foundation Domestic Life Interpreted, awarded by the New England
- Foundation for the Arts/National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship Panel
- 1985
- Fellowship awarded by The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Council on the Arts and
- Humanities, Artists Fellowship Program
- 1983, 1980
- Finalist, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities,
- Artists Fellowship Program
Gallery Representation
- Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA
- Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY
Education
- Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, M.F.A., 1982 (Photography)
- The American University, Washington, D.C., B.A., 1968 (English Literature)
Exhibitions 2000-present
Solo and Featured Artist
- 2012
- Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC
- 2011
- Trustman Gallery, Simmons College, Boston, MA
- 2010
- Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY
- 2009
- US Botanic Garden, West Orangerie Gallery, Washington DC, February 2009
- Weeks Gallery, Jamestown Community College, Jamestown, NY, February 2009
- Gamill Gallery, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, University of Mississippi, Fall, 2009
- Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA, Spring 2009
- 2008
- Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA, November 21 - December 13, 2008
- 2006
- Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA
- 2005
- Baldwin Photographic Gallery, Middle TN State Univ., Nashville, TN
- 2004
- Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Portland, ME
- Georgia State Botanical Gardens, Athens, GA
- Lenore Gray Gallery, Providence, RI (two person show)
- 2003
- The Columbus Museum Uptown, Columbus, GA
- Nesto Gallery at Milton Academy, Milton, MA (two person show)
- The Photographic Resource Center at Boston University (two person show)
- Flatfile Photography Gallery, Chicago, IL (three person show)
- 2002
- The Carroll Reece Museum/Center for Appalachian Studies and Services, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
- The Center for the Study of Southern Culture, Barnard Observatory, Univ. Mississippi, Oxford, MS
- The Cushing-Martin Gallery, Stonehill College, Easton, MA
- 2001
- The Watkins Gallery, American University, Washington, DC
- Red Eye Gallery, RISD, Providence, RI
- Trustman Art Gallery, Simmons College, Boston, MA
- Viridian Gallery, New York, NY
- The Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Group Exhibitions
- 2010
- Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile AL, “Shoot’n Southern: Past and Present”
- MCC Artist Grants Photography, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown MA
- 2008
- Artadia Boston 2007, Mills Gallery, Boston, MA
- “Photographs of Children from the DeCordova Permanent Collection,” DeCordova Museum, Lincoln MA
- 2005
- Small Works Show 05, Sacramento Street Gallery, Cambridge, MA
- 2004
- Trustman Gallery, Simmons College, Boston, MA
- Northlight Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
- 2003
- Rice/Polack Gallery, Provincetown, MA
- “New England Photographers 03,” Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA
- 2002
- Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta, GA
- Cate Fraser Gallery, Bethesda, MD
- Flatfile Photography Gallery, Chicago, IL
- 2000
- Sakai City Museum, Sakai, Japan
- DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA, “Photography in Boston: 1955-1985”
Publications
- Brown, Jane Roy, “Vaughn Sills: Capturing the Spirit of African American Gardens” Conversations, June 2009, www.cogdesign.org, COGdesign, MA
- Sills, Vaughn, “Places for the Spirit,” Entelechy International, A Journal of Contemporary Ideas, Number 4, 2006
- Sills, Vaughn, “Beyond Words,” The Georgia Review, “Poetry and Poiesis,” Vol. LVIII, No. 2, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, Summer, 2004
- Brown, Leslie, “Vaughn Sills and Pelle Cass,” In the Loupe, Photographic Resource Center, Boston University, Vol 27, No. 6, Nov.-Dec. 2003
- Lafo, Rachel Rosenfield, Photography in Boston, MIT Press, 2000, Cambridge, MA
- Sills, Vaughn, One Family, University of Georgia Press, Athens & London, 2001
- Sills, Vaughn, “One Family, in Words and Pictures,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 26, 2001, Washington, D.C.
- Greenberg, Lisa Weber and Mayes, Catherine, Immortalized, November 1998, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA
- Sills, Vaughn, “A Family I Know in Georgia,” Nieman Reports, Spring 1997, Vol. 51 No. 1, Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
- Whitney Museum of American Art, Dirt & Domesticity, June 1992, ISP Papers No. 2, Whitney Museum of American Art at Equitable Center, NY, NY
- Jussim, Estelle, The Psychological Portrait, Karsh, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 1989, pp. 87-110
- Jussim, Estelle, “The Eternal Moment,” Aperture, New York, NY, 1989, pp. 49-60
Collections
- Baldwin Photographic Archive, MTSU, Murfreesboro, TN
- The Carpenter Center for the Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
- DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
- Eaton Vance
- Fidelity Corporation
- Donald Keyes
- Millennium Hotels
- The Polaroid Collection, Bedford, MA
Lectures/Presentations
- 2009
- United States Botanic Garden, Washington, DC
- 2007
- Royall House, Medford, MA
- 2005
- Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
- Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
- New England Women in Photography, Simmons College, Boston, MA
- 2004
- Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Portland, ME
- 2003
- The Columbus Museum Uptown, Columbus, GA
- Nesto Gallery at Milton Academy, Milton, MA
- The Photographic Resource Center, Boston University, MA
- Flatfile Photography Gallery, Chicago, IL
- The Photography Institute, Columbia University, NY
- 2002
- The Carroll Reece Museum/Center for Appalachian Studies and Services,
- East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
- Frazier Gallery, Bethesda, MD
- University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
- 2001
- Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
- Stonehill College, Easton, MA
- Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA
- Simmons Alumnae: Washington DC Regional Conference, Simmons College
- 1995
- Buckingham Browne and Nichols School, Cambridge, MA
- Greenfield Community College, Greenfield, MA
- 1991
- Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
- Montserrat College of Art (1991)
- 1989
- Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
Current Professional Positions
- 1993-Present
- Simmons College, Associate Professor of Photography
- 1997-Present
- Leadership Council of New England Women in Photography