Camryn Maher is a mixed media and installation artist, creating work about emotional connection and navigating nature, others and herself as a chronically ill disabled person.
I create artwork exploring my emotional connections with myself, others, and the world around me. I maintain a process-based, research-focused, multi-disciplinary art practice grounded in collective and individual connections. I am motivated by memories, feelings, and experiences, my existence as a part of nature, and my reality navigating these as a chronically ill disabled person. I focus on processes such as time-based collecting, conscious and subconscious ritual, and personal research in service of data collection. In my artwork, themes of vulnerability, recognition, and repetition demonstrate a need for increased awareness and empathy in movements throughout the world around us.
Originally from the Great Basin, Maher graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Visual Art. Maher’s work and curatorial projects have been featured in group and solo exhibitions at venues including Sheppard Contemporary, Holland Project, Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, Sierra Arts Depot Gallery, Studio 540, and the Winchester Dondero Cultural Center. In collaboration with research groups, her work has been published in practical interdisciplinary research projects internationally. Maher is a founding member of the Reno-based art collective ART PARK Reno. Currently, she serves on faculties at the University of Nevada, Reno and Great Basin College.
Camryn Maher curriculum vitae
Education
2024 MFA in Interdisciplinary Visual Art, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, USA
Thesis Title: “Compassionate Being as a Treatment Tool for Ecological Distress: What Art Can Do.” Grounded in the understanding of humans as Ecological, Social, and Personal beings, this Thesis examines the unique positionality of artists in facilitating action in the face of the climate crisis. Thesis Committee Chair: Scott Hinton, Department of Art, UNR
2018 BA in Art: Painting, Brigham Young University - Idaho, Rexburg, ID, USA
Teaching Experience
2024 - Present Professor - Part-Time, Great Basin College, Remote
2023 - Present Teaching Faculty - Letter of Appointment, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV
2021 - 2023 Graduate Teaching Assistant and Instructor, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV
Research and Collaboration
2023 Publication Feature, “Assessing Risk for Butterflies in the Context of Climate Change, Demographic Uncertainty, and Heterogeneous Data Sources,” Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, BioRxiv
2022 - 2023 Visiting Artist, Great Basin Bug Lab, Reno, NV
2021 - 2022 Community Service Volunteer, Great Basin Bug Lab, Reno, NV
2021 - 2022 Volunteer Researcher, The Center for Art + Environment - Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
Awards
2023 August and Emma Frisch Holmes Art Memorial Endowment, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
2023 Egger Graduate Art Scholarship, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
2023 Philosopher’s Choice Award. SAS 2023. Reno, NV
2022 August and Emma Frisch Holmes Art Memorial Endowment, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
2022 Lucy Nieder Endowment, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
2021 August and Emma Frisch Holmes Art Memorial Endowment, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
2021 Lucy Nieder Endowment, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
Exhibitions
2025 Group Exhibition, Torn by Light: Triennial Faculty Art Exhibition, Sheppard Contemporary, Reno, NV
2025 Group Exhibition, LAVA, Holland Project, Reno, NV
2025 Curator, Ten Past Midnight, Pitch Black Gallery, Reno, NV
2025 Curator, House of Fools, Holland Project, Reno, NV
2025 Group Exhibition, A Scientific Approach: Visual Documents and Creative Investigation Methods, Millepiani, Rome, IT
2025 Group Exhibition, Desert Biennial Project, Jean Dry Lakebed, NV
2025 Curator, Please Don’t Feed the Ghosts, Pitch Black Gallery, Reno, NV
2025 Group Exhibition, All In, Holland Project, Reno, NV
2025 Curator, CEREALISM, Pitch Black Gallery, Reno, NV
2025 Group Exhibition, Big Softy (with Guest Juror Adriana Chavez), Winchester Dondero Cultural Center, Las Vegas, NV
2024 Group Exhibition, Clothesline- Hearts and Hands, McNamara Gallery, Reno, NV
2024 Curator, Hand Wash Only, Holland Project, Reno, NV
2024 Solo Exhibition, love you to death, Sheppard Contemporary, Reno, NV
2024 Solo Exhibition, Every Time I Thought of You (or: every moon since the day we met), Erik Lauritzen Gallery, Reno, NV
2024 Group Exhibition, Mixed, Matched, Made Whole, Depot Gallery, Reno, NV
2024 Group Exhibition, Chromascapes, Donna Beam Fine Arts Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2023 Solo Exhibition, Wait., HP Window Gallery - Holland Project, Reno, NV
2023 Group Exhibition, Continuum, Student Galleries South - University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
2023 Curator, Clothesline (satellite), Reno Tahoe International Art Show, Reno, NV
2023 Group Exhibition, Clothesline, McNamara Gallery, Reno, NV
2023 Group Exhibition, Art Now, Studio 540, Cedarville, CA
2023 Group Exhibition, Transitional Atmospheres, E. L. Cord Museum School - Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
2022 Solo Exhibition, 7 Shades of Longing (one for every letter in your name.), Student Galleries South - University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
2022 Group Exhibition, Portals, Student Galleries South - University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
2022 Group Exhibition, VERACITY, Sheppard Contemporary, Reno, NV
2022 Group Exhibition, Us., E. L. Cord Museum School - Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
2021 Group Exhibition, Space, Place and Environment, Student Galleries South - University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
2021 Group Exhibition, 430 Apart, 11 Together, Grant Hall Gallery, Las Vegas, NV