Seana Reilly was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and now resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. Reilly’s artwork is informed by her years working as an architectural planner. Her paintings and drawings are directly influenced by this professional history, as well as by an interest in philosophy and the earth sciences.

Professional experience:
1987-2007 Architect/Planner
2009-2011 Green Building Research Consultant

Education:
2010 Savannah College of Art & Design-Atlanta - BFA, Painting
1985 Virginia Tech - Architecture

Awards, Registries, & Residencies:
2013
Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2012
The Drawing Center Viewing Program
Fellowship, The Hambidge Center, Rabun Gap, GA
City of Atlanta Public Art Program National Registry
Fulton County Public Art Program Artist Registry
2011
Studio Artist Program, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
Forward Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award, Finalist

Collections: High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Recent Media:
2012
The Science of Letting Go: Interview with Seana Reilly – Drain
Magazine
New American Paintings, Issue #100
INDA7: International Drawing Annual Vol.7 - catalog
2011
Ann Stewart, Seana Reilly plumb the limits of knowledge at
whitespace – review|ArtsATL

Selected Exhibitions:
2012
From Neurology to Cosmology and Back Again, Whitespace,
Atlanta, GA
Selections from the 7th Internat’l Drawing Annual, Manifest
Gallery & Drawing Ctr, Cincinnati, OH
Hunter Underground 2012, Hunter Museum of American Art,
Chattanooga, TN
Drawing Discourse - 3rd Annual Contemporary Drawing
Exhibition, UNC-A, Asheville, NC
Architects as Artists, Swan Coach House, Atlanta, GA
2011
aqua11, Aqua Art Miami Contemporary Art Fair, Miami, FL
Gendered Images: The Feminine Divine, Doug Adams Gallery,
Badè Museum, Berkeley, CA
nuit blanche (content for Nocturnal Encounters installation by
M. Vaitsman), Toronto, Canada
Perpetual Assembly, Whitespace, Atlanta, GA (two-person)
Material Deposits, Atlanta Contemporary Art Ctr., Atlanta, GA
33rd Bradley Internat’l Print + Drawing Exhibition, Peoria
Contemporary Arts Center, Peoria, IL
2010
Drawing in the Expanded Field, Clara Hatton Gallery, Colorado
State University, Fort Collins, CO
Surface Mining: new works by Seana Reilly, GA Perimeter
College, Clarkston, GA (solo)
Salon de Refuses - Sights Unseen, Americans for the Arts
Half-Century Summit Confeence, Baltimore, MD

ARTIST STATEMENT:

I make this work because I am intrigued by the play between
the loose organic line and the tight architectonic line,
the natural world and the intellectualized account of the natural world,
the fact and the symbol for the fact,
the life of the body and the life of the mind.

In my current body of work I am pouring a graphite preparation onto a non-porous surface, then using the same forces that shaped the earth to shape my imagery - gravity, fluid dynamics, sedimentation, and erosion. My use of graphite in these works speaks to both the arts and the sciences; it simultaneously references the artistic practice of drawing, vast geologic processes, and the carbon-base of all life forms.

While pouring the liquid graphite, I restrain parts of the organic flow through architectural interventions or impediments. These constraints draw attention to the discrepancy between the natural physical properties of the earth-based material and the forms of control, both physical and mental, that humans attempt to superimpose over nature. The creation of the graphite ground is an exercise in giving up control, letting nature take its course. My interventions allude to human efforts to understand, classify, and mentally subdue those acts of nature.

Semiotics, science, and Buddhist philosophy are all source materials for my work, which is a further exploration into insights gained during my years practicing Vipassana meditation. Through this practice I became aware of a break between the physical world and my mental perceptions of that world. I was able to experience the physical without attaching emotional or mental constructs to it - to separate the sensation of an itch from the urge to scratch it.

The making of these works also allows me to experience vast geologic processes on a more intimate scale. It is my way of participating in this humbling immensity, a way to hold a small piece in my hand. It is the Tao’s world in a blade of grass. It is Joan Didion’s sense of belonging and purpose in an earthquake.