Moira Marti Geoffrion Biography

Moira Marti Geoffrion Biography

Moira Marti Geoffrion was born in Olney, MD, but soon after moved to southeastern Ohio. Growing up on a large farm in the area, she first developed a profound interest in the natural environment which has served as a reoccurring inspiration throughout her artistic career. Working in an interdisciplinary spectrum of the art-making process, she has been able to incorporate elements of sculpture, painting, fibers, and performance into her pieces. All of her artworks, whether they are sculptural or 2-dimensional, are deeply conscious of the natural environment and incorporate the artist’s own personal insights relating to the correlation between human physicality and its surrounding environment. 

Geoffrion interweaves ideas relating to her own family history into her work, but always leaves the subject matter of the pieces open enough to allow for a myriad of interpretations. Many of the works use surrealistic subject matter to allude to a sense of natural movement and the way in which a relationship between the human body and the cycles of mother earth is formed.

Throughout her expansive career, Moira Geoffrion has been exhibited in more than 200 museums and galleries found in the United States, various European countries, Australia, and Russia. She has had solo exhibitions in the Snite Museum of Art (catalogue 1987), the Tucson Museum of Art (catalogue 1989), the Cullity Gallery inPerth,Australia(1996), the Sonia Zaks Gallery in Chicago,IL(1998), the Gallery Centella i nTucson, AZ, and the U. KY Gallery (Visiting Artist 2010). She has also been involved over 190 group exhibitions including; the Warner Gallery in South Bend, IN (1987), Zaks Gallery in Chicago, IL (1987), Rousse Museum of Art in Rousse, Bulgaria (2005), the Northern Arizona University Museum of Art in Flagstaff, AZ (2005), Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, IN (catalogue 2006), the Municipal Museum of Art in Gyor, Hungary (catalogue 2007), and the BIS Altes Museum in Moenchengladbach, Germany (2007).

Her art can be found in 30 museum, private and corporate collections in the United States, Europe and Australia. Geoffrion has received many grants including Fulbright, Mellon, IAC, ACA, and TPAC grants. She has also had artist residencies in Switzerland, Bulgaria and Australia.

 Over the past two decades, Geoffrion has been commissioned to make over a dozen public artworks including a temporary site sculpture for the Connemara Conservancy in Dallas, TX(1990), the 1st Ave. Road and Bridge project in Oro Valley, AZ (2007), an 18-painting commission for the Neuro-Sciences Center of Southern AZ, Tucson (2008), and the Rancho Vista Park and Ride Station in Oro Valley, AZ (2009). Her public and private commissions can be seen throughout the Midwest, Oregon, Oro Valley and Tucson, AZ, and in Australia.

Moira Geoffrion became a MACAA Board member in 1994. She lectured at the International Sculpture Conference in London, England and served as Panel Chair at the South Eastern College Art Conference in Richmond, VA in 2010. She has been featured in over twenty publications throughout her career which include; Arts Magazine (1985), Sculpture Magazine (1995, 1999), and Architectural Review (2009).

Her parents founded the Marti College Prep School from which she graduated. She received her BFA degree from the Boston University School of Fine and Applied Arts after which she and her husband served in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa. They returned to the United States to attend Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.

It was there that Moira founded the Mandalla Pre-School where she taught Art, Theater, Music, English, Math and French. Moira and her husband returned to Africa with their daughter for 10 months for field research in East Africa in Malawi. They then settled in Edwardsville, IL and Moira completed her MFA in Sculpture at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. In 1974 they moved to South Bend, IN where Moira had their son and began teaching wood and metal fabrication, drawing, figure modeling and African Art History at Notre Dame University and built a foundry for the Art Department.

Moira’s art was represented by the Zaks Gallery in Chicago until 2005 and she exhibited in New York and throughout the United States. In 1986 the family moved toTucson, AZ where Moira was hired to be head of the Art Department at the University of Arizona, and she also taught sculpture. Geoffrion retired from teaching in 2011, and is presently living in Tucson, Arizona. The Mark Sublette Modern Gallery in Tucson, Arizona represents her work.

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Education
  • MFA, Sculpture, Department of Art & Design, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL.
  • BFA, Painting, Boston University School of Fine & Applied Art, Boston, MA

28 grants, awards and honors, including:

  • 2012-2013 - New Work Artist Grant, Catagenesis: Reclaiming/Redefining Place
  • 2006 - James B Anthony Outstanding Teaching Award, (one awarded each year), University of AZ
  • 2005 - Distinguished Faculty Fellow Award, (awarded for extra curricular programs and assistance of students at  all levels, especially freshman students) University of AZ, Tucson
  • 1993 - Earth Walls, Human and Geological Time Layerings, UA Small Grant
  • 1990 - ACA Grant awarded for Borders & Bridges Conference
  • 1990 - Connemara Invited Exhibitor Grant for site sculpture, Dallas, TX
  • 1988-89 - Exhibition Grant, Stonewall Foundation, Tucson Museum of Art
  • 1986 - Exxon Distinguished Scholars Grant, University of Notre Dame, IN
  • 1986 - Jesse Jones Travel and Research Grant, University of Notre Dame
  • 1984 - Indiana Arts Commission Grant
  • 1983 - Indiana Arts Commission Grant
  • 1983 - Mellon Foundation, Faculty Summer Research Program
  • 1982 - ICIP Fulbright Grant to India Research and Travel
  • 1981 - Indian Arts Commission Grant

Grant funded Artist Residencies in India, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Australia, Malawi, University of Oregon, UC Boulder, Brooklyn College, University of Kentucky, Chicago Art Institute, and 18 others. 

Invited Lecturer Yale Club, Tucson, AZ; UC Boulder, CO, OSU; Corvallis, Oregon; Snite Museum, South Bend, IN; South Bend Art Center, Evanston Art Center, IL; UK, Lexington KY; Altes Museum, Moenchengladbach, Germany; ISC conference in Dublin, Ireland; ISC Conference in London, UK; Zurich, Switzerland; Baltchik, Bulgaria; Oryahovo, Bulgaria and Rousse Museum in Bulgaria; UWA, Perth, Australia; Warnambul, Australia; Sydney, Australia; St Petersburg, Russia; St Louis, MO and Richmond, VA.

SOLO and TWO-ARTIST EXHIBITIONS

37 solo and 3 2-artist shows include:

  • 2019 - "Southwestern Summer Skies and Backroads" Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2014 - 4 Artists, (50 paintings, Desert and Cuban communities) Tucson, AZ
  • 2013 - Redefined Space: Environmental Layers, Tucson, AZ
  • 2013 - Catagenesis: Past to Present, Tucson, AZ
  • 2013 - Catagenesis: Redefining Spaces, Tucson, AZ
  • 2011  - Group Invitationals, Tucson and  Balchik Art Mauseum, Bulgaria      
  • 2010 - Tuska Center for Contemporary Art, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
  • 2007 - Been Around: Gonna Stay”, two sculptors 10 year retrospective, Gallery Centella, Tucson, AZ
  • 2002 - GOCAIA Gallery (web catalogue - gocaia.org) Tucson, AZ
  • 2002 - Northern Trust Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 1998 - Sonia Zaks Gallery, Chicago, IL
  • 1997 - University of Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
  • 1996 - Cullity Gallery, Perth, Australia; Joseph Gross Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 1995 - Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ (3 person show)
  • 1989 - Stonewall IV, Tucson Museum of Art (catalogue)   
  • 1989 - Northern AZ University Art Museum, Flagstaff, AZ
  • 1987 - Snite Museum of Art,(catalogue) Notre Dame, IN

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

200 exhibitions, include:

  • 2018 - Tucson Sculpture Festival, Copenhagen, Tucson, AZ
  • 2017 - "25th Anniversary Celebration" Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2016 - The Modern West, Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson AZ;
  • 2016 - In the Spirit, Viridian Gallery, New York, NY
  • 2015 -  Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2015 - Biennial Bash, Tucson Museum of Art
  • 2015 - Viridian Gallery, New York, NY
  • 2015 - Pop Up Happening, Old Borderlands Warehouse, Tucson, AZ 
  • 2015 - Steinfeld Warehouse show, Tucson, AZ
  • 2015 - Small Works (8 paintings), Tohono Chul, Tucson, AZ
  • 2015 and 2014 - Small things Considered, Tucson, AZ
  • 2014 - Shifting Ecologies, Painting Center, New York, NY
  • 2013 - Pop Up Art Happening, Southern AZ Community Foundation, TPAC, Tucson, AZ
  • 2013 - Mesa Arts Center, Ikeda Theater Lobby Installation, AZ
  • 2013 - Desert Grasslands Exhibition, Tucson Museum of Art, AZ
  • 2012 - Indiana Woman’s Caucus for Art Exhibition, Goshen, IN
  • 2010 - Sculpturefest, Woodstock, VT -  2 sculptures and 1 site installation 
  • 2009 - Tucson Museum of Art Biennial, JCC Sculpture Garden, Tucson, AZ year-long exhibition, 3 large bronzes                         
  • 2007  - Dialogue With Nature, (three artist show) BIS Altes Museum, Moenchengladbach, Germany
  • 2007 - iX International Biennial, Municipal Museum of Art, Gyor, Hungary (catalogue)
  • 2006 - New Art of the West 9, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN (catalogue)
  • 2005 - The Politics of Water, Northern AZ University Museum of Art, Flagstaff, AZ
  • 2005 - Rousse Museum of Art, Rousse, Bulgaria (two installations)
  • 2005 - Two exhibitions at Liz Hernandez Gallery, (23 works), Tucson AZ
  • 2005 - Sculpture by the Sea, site specific Public Art, large steel sculpture (catalogue) Bondi, Australia
  • 2004 - Tohono Chul Invitational:  Mount Lemmon Fires, Tucson, AZ
  • 2004 - Group Show, Liz Hernandez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2002 - University of Nebraska, Lincoln; JCC Gallery, Tucson, AZ; Kohler Art Center group show, WI
  • 2001 - International Masters of Graphic Arts, Municipal Museum of Art, GYOR, HUNGARY (catalogue)     
  • 2000 - Group exhibits at Elizabeth Cherry Gallery, Tucson AZ
  • 2000 - Group exhibit SOHO 20 Gallery, New York, NY
  • 1999 - Ready Set D’Art, Tucson Museum of Art, AZ
  • 1999 - Group Exhibit, GOCAIA Gallery, Tucson AZ (three sculptures)
  • 1999 - Pleasures of the Palettes, The Phoenician, Scottsdale, AZ, (catalogue)
  • 1999 - Group Invitational, Elizabeth Cherry, Contemporary Art, Tucson, AZ - three sculptures
  • 1999 - Art Works of Fallbrook, Fallbrook, CA
  • 1998 - Shemer Art Center, Phoenix, AZ
  • 1998 - Abject Lands, Joseph Gross Gallery, Tucson, AZ (catalogue)
  • 1998 - Low Lands Horizons, Cullity Gallery, UWA, Nedlands, Australia (catalogue) 
  • 1998 - 4-Person Show, International Sculpture Conference, Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
  • 1998 - Tucson Collection '98, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 1997 - Ready, Set, D’Art, Tucson Museum of Art
  • 1997 - International Triennial of Painting, Museum of Modern Art, Sofia, Bulgaria, (catalogue)
  • 1997 - View Points, Temple of Music & Art, Tucson, AZ
  • 1997 - Stocker Center Gallery, Lorain County Community College, Elyria, OH
  • 1997 - Southern Illinois University Art Gallery Invitational, Edwardsville, IL
  • 1997 - The Art & Cultural Center Invitational, Fallbrook, CA
  • 1997 - Smack Mellon Studios Invitational, Brooklyn, NY
  • 1995-1997 - Public Sculpture Project, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, (catalogue and CD)
  • 1996 - Two-Person Show, Cullity Gallery, University of Western Australia
  • 1996 - International Painting Biennial, Contemporary Artists’ Union, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • 1996 - Fibula, Traveling Invitational, Sofia, Baltchik, & Plovdiv, Bulgaria
  • 1995 - Southwest Artscapes, Artimiso Gallery, Scottsdale, A
  • 1995 - Tubac Center for the Arts Invitational, Tubac, AZ
  • 1995 - Redefining Legacies, Juried Exhibition, San Antonio, TX (catalogue)
  • 1995 - The Art of the Matter, Boston University Galleries, Invitational, Boston
  • 1995 - Women Artists '95, Matrix Gallery, Sacramento, CA
  • 1995 - International Invitational, Festival of Modern Art, Baltchik, Bulgaria
  • 1995 - Entirely Approachable Art, Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
  • 1995 - Tucson Collection '95, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 1995 - Life Through Art, PACT Auction, Loew's Ventana Resort, Tucson, AZ
  • 1995 - Invitational, World Heritage Rock Art, Northern AZ University Museum
  • 1994 - Positive/Negative, Slocumb Gallery, Johnson City, TX
  • 1994 - Invited Exhibitor, Museum of Modern Art, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • 1994 - Southwest Artscapes, Artimiso Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
  • 1994 - Tubac Center for the Arts Invitational, Tubac, AZ
  • 1994 - WCA Juried Exhibition, San Antonio, TX
  • 1994 - Group Invitational, Boston University Galleries, Boston, MA
  • 1994 - Barn Gallery, Rancho Linda Vista, Oracle, AZ
  • 1994 - Off the Walls, Greater South Bend Museum of Art, IN
  • 1994 - The Phoenix Center Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
  • 1994 - Davis Dominguez Summer Invitational, Tucson, AZ
  • 1992 - Northwest Coast Collage Traveling Exhibition, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA; Corbin Art Center; Governor's Gallery, Capitol Museum, Olympia, WA; Index Gallery, Vancouver, WA; North Light Gallery, Everett, WA

Moira Marti Geoffrion’s works are in 23 museum and corporate collections.

  • 2014- 2016: 45 Portrait paintings, including Glassers, Pickering and Andrew, Seinfeld, Baumrinds, Farbers, Gewurtzmans, Grusin. Other portraits: Gabby Gifford, Virginia Deal, Barbara Ornelas, Tomassa Rivas, Andy Polk, and Dextra Nampeyo
  • 2009 - Rancho Vistoso Park and Ride Station, Oro Valley, AZ, Midtown Sidewalks, Tucson, AZ                    
  • 2008 -  Sunrise Presidio Entryway Steel reliefs, Tucson, AZ; Lincoln Park Steel Gates, Tucson, AZ
  • 2007 - Commission of 18 paintings for Neuro-Sciences Center of Southern AZ, Tucson
  • 2007 - Commission of 16 paintings for Fogle Dental Office, Tucson, AZ
  • 2004-2007 - 1st Ave road and bridge project, Oro Valley, AZ   
  • 2001-2004 - Tangerine Road Widening Project with Mary Bates Neubauer, Oro Valley, AZ
  • 1999-2001 - River Road Public Art Enhancement Project with Mary Bates (three miles of new road)
  • 1998 - Collaborative project: life-sized, multi-figure sculpture commission, St. Joseph Hospital, Tucson, AZ
  • 1995–97 - Design Collaboration, with Medlin, for Terra Christa Foundation, Tucson, AZ
  • 1994–96 - Sculptural Band Shell, Veteran's Park, public art project, City of Sierra Vista, AZ
  • 1990 - Commission for temporary site sculpture, Connemara Conservancy, Dallas, TX, 8' x I6' x 16'
  • 1989 - Installation for private home of W. Treadwell, Tucson, AZ, 10' x 8' x 16'
  • 1985 - Bronze Sculpture, River Bend Branch, Commissioned for the City of South Bend, IN, 11’x 5’x3’
  • 1970 –1982 - 8 commissions in Indiana, Illinois and Washington State   

5 Arts magazines, 20 newspapers and 10 other regional magazines include:

  • 2010 - UK Reader article on my solo show in Kentucky
  • 2007 - Essay for BIS Altes Museum exhibition, Elaine King, curator and writer for Sculpture Magazine
  • 1999 - Sculpture Magazine, Essay- 4 AZ/ 4 New Mexico Artists by Kay Whitney, 
  • 1998 - Chicago Reader, July/ August issue, Review of Solo show at Sonia Zaks Gallery
  • 1998 - Review of solo show by Alan Artner, Chicago Tribune
  • 1995 - Sculpture Magazine, review of  solo exhibition, Zaks Gallery, Chicago,
  • 1985 - Arts Magazine, Robert Mahoney