Will Sears   

B. 1987, Philadelphia, PA

Lives & works in South Portland, ME

 

Education:

Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, May 2010

BFA, School of Art and Design, College of Visual and Performing Arts  

 

Solo & Two Person Exhibitions: 

2024 Intervals, Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, ME

2023 In & Around, Over Here Gallery, Portland, ME

2022 Splitting the Difference, Dowling & Walsh Gallery, Rockland, ME

2020 Sun Showers & Moonbeams, (Jenna Pirello & Will Sears) Buoy Gallery, Kittery, ME

2018            Side by Side, (Cassie Jones & Will Sears) Common Street Arts, Waterville, ME

                     Notice & Consent, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington DC 

2016            Coalesce, Lot F Gallery, Boston, MA 

2015            Building Blocks, Montserrat College Of Art, Beverly, MA 

2014            Erstwhile, (Tessa Greene O’Brien & Will Sears) Lot F Gallery, Boston, MA 

2010           Solo Exhibition, Shaffer Drawing Room, Syracuse, NY 

 

Select Group Exhibitions

2024 The House Support Itself, Forthall Gallery, Brunswick, ME

2023. A Room With a View, Vardan Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Euphoria, Alice Gauvin Gallery, Portland, ME

2022 The More the Merrier, Grant Wahlquist Gallery, Portland ME

You’re Invited, Alice Gauvin Gallery, Portland, ME

Between the Lines, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME

Small Works, Soft Times Gallery, San Fransisco, CA

2020 As Inside, So Outside, Digital exhibition with Young Space, curated by David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO

Laundry Day 2, New Systems Exhibitions, Portland, ME

[ON] Now | Simulacrush, Digital exhibition curated by Sistered, CMCA, Rockland, ME

2019              Flat Files 2020 Group Show, Tiger Strikes Astroid, New York, NY

The Missing Second Half,  Able Baker Contemporary, Portland, ME 

Boston Key Party, Curated by Jaws Group, Stove Factory Gallery, Charlestown, MA

                      Art Pm, BuoyGallery, Kittery, ME

2018              Artist Directions, Gallery 49, Portland, ME 

2017              MidToast, Elizabeth Moss Galleries, Falmouth, ME 

                      The Art of Watching: Privacy and the Public Eye,3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH 

2016              Supergems,Carole Calo Gallery; Stone Hill College, Easton, MA 

                      New England Village: Rethinking Regional Identity, Sarah Orne Jewett Museum 

                      Hole History, Asymmetrick Arts, Rockland, ME 

2015             Ode to Letters, Engine Gallery, Biddeford, ME 

                      Shapeshifters & Sharpshooters, 886 Geary Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

                      10 x 10 show, June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, ME 

2014              Lot F Miami, Lot F Gallery Wynwood, Miami, FL 

                      Ready to Die, One Grand Gallery, Portland, OR  

                      Space // Squared,  White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

                      Its’ Virtue is Immense, Lot F Gallery, Boston, MA 

2013             Steady Work, Space Gallery, Portland, ME               

2011             Salt Water Camp: Quimby Colony Collective, Coleman Burke Gallery, Portland, ME 

                     Salt Water Farm: Quimby Colony Collective, Coleman Burke Gallery, Brunswick, ME

2010             Juried Undergraduate Exhibition, XL Projects, Syracuse, NY, Juried by Linda Erf, 

                     Syracuse University BFA Exhibition 2010,XL Projects, Syracuse, NY

               

Residencies, Awards, Public Art

2021 Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Residency, Rockland, ME

2020 Recipient of Fellowship Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

2018           Artist in Residence, IAPP, Washington, DC­­

2016           Hewnoaks: Residency in Lovell, ME 

2015           Recipient of Maine Arts Commission ‘Individual Project Grant’

                    Recipient of ‘Kindling Fund’ Grant via Space Gallery / Andy Warhol Foundation

2014          Hewnoaks: Residency in Lovell Maine, 

2010           Quimby Colony Salt Water Farm Residency              

2006          Rhode Island School of Design Award given for excellence in the Creative Arts

 

Public Art

2021 Untitled Public Mural in collaboration with Tessa G. O’Brien, Biddeford, ME

2019           Public Mural; 80 Exchange St., Portland, ME

2018           Untitled Public Mural, Augusta, ME

2015           Untitled Public Mural, Portland, ME

 

Publications

David Harry, Portland Historic Preservation Panel Endorses Tommy’s Park Mural, December 10, 2018

Art Maze Magazine: Issue 9, Autumn, 2018

Jaed Coffin, Paint the Town, Downeast Magazine, June 2018

Katie Kelleher, Sensory Delights; Libations and Their Labels, Art New England Jan/Feb 2017

Jamie Thompson, Ones to Watch, Maine Home & Design, The Art Issue, April 2016

Ian Carlsen, Personal Graphemics, The Chart, Sept 2015

Best Of Maine: Mural Startup, Downeast Magazine, July 2015

Jenna Crowder, Talking to The Walls, Dispatch Magazine, Sept 2015

John Adamian, It’s a Sign, Take Magazine, Feb/Mar 2016

 

Related Experience:                   

Art Director, Oxbow Brewing Company 

Founder/ Co- Owner Better Letter Hand Painted Signs

Co-Creator/ Curator of the Portland Mural Initiative

Production Assistant, Philadelphia Mural Arts Program

Co- Creator/ Manager of Base Camp Studios

Gallery Assistant, Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, Maine 

Art Production for music festivals such as Bonnaroo, Coachella, Life is Good, Moogfest, Outside Lands, & Phish