“The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up all the fragments, so that nothing be lost. I mean fragments of time, as well as materials.” 

Writer and social reformer Lydia Child The Frugal Housewife 1829

BIOGRAPHY

Venetia Dale (b. 1981) is an artist, mother and educator living and working in Boston, Massachusetts. Dale pieces together fragments of mundane objects into sculptural works; these range from food leftover from her children's meals to incomplete embroidery and hooked rugs she sources online. The material histories of embroidery, pewter, and rug hooking – as well as the anonymous stewards who keep things clean, fixed, and loved – are translated through her work as intimacies of domestic life that remind us of the generative potential of the everyday. 

Dale has participated in exhibitions at institutions including The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (forthcoming), National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Villa Terrace Museum, and the Racine Art Museum, amongst other museums and galleries. Her work has been shown at 92nd Street Y Tribeca Gallery, Proof Gallery, and SOIL Gallery and others. 

Dale was the 2019 Polly Starr Thayer Visiting Artist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Prior, she was a resident artist at the Kohler Factory in 2013 and at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in 2010. Dale exhibits nationally and her work is included in the permanent collections of the Metal Museum in Tennessee and John Michael Kohler Art Center in Wisconsin. Her most recent acquisition was by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2022.
 



     
Photo Credit: Adam Krauth
 
 

 
 

CV

SOLO AND TWO/ THREE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2023 Foster Prize Exhibition ICA/ Boston - Boston, MA
2018 Next after the first in order, place and time The Metal Museum – Memphis, TN 
2015 Welcome Home Works by Venetia Dale and Stacey Webber - Find and Form Space - Boston, MA 
2014 Venetia Dale: New Works, Room 68 - Provincetown, MA
2013 Two Generations, One Dialogue show with Lisa Gralnick, James Watrous Gallery - Madison, WI  
2012 Ball chain, shower caddies and other observed things with Kristi Sword, 92nd Street Y Tribeca Gallery - New York, NY            
2011 Itinerant Goods, The Soapbox Gallery - Brooklyn, NY                                  
Objects for Objects, Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum - Milwaukee, WI
2009 same, same but different, Fiskum Gallery University of Wisconsin- Whitewater - Whitewater, WI
2004 sight...seen, Studio Quest - Madison, WI

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Tender Loving Care Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, MA
Space Within Metal Museum - Memphis, TN
2021 Forbidden Fruit Piano Craft Gallery - Boston, MA
2020 AMEND (Oniine Exhibition)
2019 Reliant Objects II- Illington Kerr Gallery - Alberta Canada
Masters in Metal- Lauren Rogers Museum - Laurel, Mississippi
2018 Women to Watch 2018 National Museum for Women in the Arts - Washington D.C.
Reliant Objects Oregon College of Art And Craft- Portland, OR
Boston does Boston Proof Galery - Boston, MA
2017 Constructed Realities Lincoln Art Projects - Waltham, MA
Making Our Mark Bellevue Arts Museum - Bellevue WA
Directions Brant Gallery MassArt- Boston, MA
2016 Facsimile room 83 Spring Watertown, MA 
Micki Lippe: Mentoring as Art Waterworks, Friday Harbor, WA
2015 M3 making material matter Gallery 224 Cambridge, MA 
Trade Routes Proteus Gowanus - Brooklyn, NY  
2014 It is a door and a window that makes a room useful SOIL Gallery - Seattle
2013 Telephone Satellite Collective - New York, New York 
Heirlooms, Racine Art Museum - Racine, WI 
2012 Urbanity, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art - Grand Rapids, MI            
2011  Beyond Useful and Beautiful: Rethinking Domestic Craft, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft – Houston, TX        
Relatives, Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h - Montreal, Quebec                              
Miami University Young Sculptors Competition, Hiestand Galleries - Oxford,OH    
Ethnographic Terminalia, Eastern Bloc Centre for New Media and Interdisciplinary Art – Montreal, Quebec       Common, Georgetown Community Arts Center – Seattle, WA                  
“Dear Japan” Project, Art Connects New York Gallery – New York, NY    
2010 Here and Now and Then, UW Alumni Show, Artists Lofts - Madison, WI        
OCAC Artist in Residence Exhibition, Hoffman Gallery – Portland, OR          
Borders, Roots Division – San Francisco, CA    
REFINED VI: Back to Basics, Reavley Gallery at The Cole Art Center- Nacogdoches,TX            
Extreme Beauty Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston - Houston, TX   
2009  to be: (determined), Hatton Gallery, Colorado State University - Fort Collins, CO  
500 Enameled Objects Show Velvet Da Vinci Gallery - San Francisco, CA
Surfacing: 8th International Juried Student Enamel Exhibition Oakland Art Gallery - Oakland, CA
Touchmarks: The Social Life of Plastic Baskets, MFA Exhibition Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art - New Paltz, NY

AWARDS, GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES
2023 Foster Prize Award ICA/ Boston - Boston, MA
2019 Polly Thayer Starr Artist Series Visiting Artist - Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum - Boston, MA
2015 Emerging Artist Platform Award - Sienna Gallery
2013 Kohler Company Art/Industry Residency – Kohler, WI 
2011 Wisconsin Artists Biennial Merit Award, Anderson Art Center – Kenosha, WI Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows Award, UW-Milwaukee, WI
2010 Oregon College of Art and Craft Residency - Portland, OR
Collins Foundation Grant - Portland, OR
2009 Metal Arts Guild Grant, Bay Area Metals Guild – San Francisco, CA
Outstanding Graduate Honor, SUNY New Paltz – New Paltz, NY
2008 Research and Creative Projects Award, SUNY New Paltz– New Paltz, NY Student International Travel Grant, SUNY New Paltz – New Paltz, NY
Barbara McFadyen Merit Scholarship, SUNY New Paltz – New Paltz, NY
2007 Barbara McFadyen Merit Scholarship, SUNY New Paltz – New Paltz, NY
2003 Betty J. Frazier Scholarship, University of Wisconsin – Madison, WI
2002 Elizabeth Sewell Scholarship, University of Wisconsin – Madison, WI

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE                           
2023 Visiting Reviewer, Rhode Island School of Design - Providence, RI (forthcoming)
2013- present Adjunct Faculty, MassArt - Boston, MA
2014/2013 Visiting Reviewer, Rhode Island School of Design - Providence, RI  
2012 Visiting Critic, MassArt Spring Review Boards – Boston, MA                  
2010 Faculty Reviewer, UW-Milwaukee Fall Graduate Review, Milwaukee, WI
Guest Critic, University of Oregon- Eugene, Eugene, OR
2009 Guest Critic, University of Wisconsin- Whitewater, Whitewater, WI
2008 Travel and Research Lima and Urubamba Valley, Peru
2006 Travel and Research Shanghai, China and Various Areas of Southeast Asia
2004 Apprentice Gracia’s Batik Shop - Accra, Ghana

PUBLIC LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS
2023 Artist Voice Series ICA/ Boston (forthcoming)
2016 Workshop Instructor Penland School of Crafts - Penland, NC
2014 Emerging Artist Talk SNAG conference Minneapolis, MN
2013 Visiting Artist and Critic Maine College of Art - Portland, Maine
2012 Artist Talk and Demonstration MassArt Metals program – Boston, MA
2011 Panel Presenter The Arts: Catalyst for Caribbean Development
Edna Manley College Rex Nettleford Arts Conference – Kingston, Jamaica
Curatorial Talk Montreal School of Jewelry – Montreal, Quebec
Gallery Talk Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum – Milwaukee, WI
Workshop Instructor Penland School of Crafts- Penland, NC
Visiting Artist and Workshop Instructor Edna Manley College - Kingston,      Jamaica
Artist Talk University of Wisconsin-Madison - Madison, WI
2010 Workshop Assistant Penland School of Crafts - Penland, NC
Form/ Fab (Instructor: Myra Mimlitsch-Gray)
Visiting Artist and Critic University of Oregon-Eugene - Eugene, OR
Artist Talk Oregon College of Art and Craft - Portland, OR
2009 Gallery Talk University of Wisconsin-Whitewater - Whitewater, WI
Workshop Assistant Penland School of Crafts - Penland, NC
Upcycling (Instructor: Arthur Hash)

REVIEWS, CATALOGS, MEDIA    
2020 Michelman, Elizabeth. "Dale's State of Becoming: Balancing Sculpture and Embroideries in Groton" Artscope Magazine 2018 Arginteanu, Judy. “Metal Meets its Match at The National Museum of Women in the Arts” American Craft Council Blog July 24, 2018
Dingfelder, Sadie. “In ‘Heavy Metal’, female sculptors take on traditional masculine materials” The Washington Post Express July 12, 2018
2014  Graves, Jen. "The Empty, Locked Buildings on Magnolia Bluff" The Stranger Blog Aug. 29, 2014
Houton, Jacqueline. "P-Town Bound" Improper Bostonian May 14-27, 2014
2011 American Craft Zoom Oct/Nov 2011 p. 29 Malcolm, Dervan. “Both Sides of the Story” (radio interview) Power 106 FM October 14, 2011, Kingston, Jamaica.         
Deliso, Meredith. “The Most—and Least—Useful Items in “Beyond Useful” at Center For Contemporary Craft” Houston Press Blog, October 11, 2011.   
Moriarty, Judith Ann. “Summer Scenes: Transformative” Third Coast Digest.com, Arts and Culture section, September 9, 2011.           Murrell, Kat. “Objets D’Art” Wisconsin Gazette: Art Gaze July 28, 2011.    
Art Talk. “Venetia Dale @Villa” Express Milwaukee.com: Blog July 13, 2011 Clearwater, Cynthia. “Focus on the Future” (interview) Metal Arts Guild Guildletter April 2011, San Francisco.                               
Editor. “China, US and Jamaica connect through art” Jamaica Sunday Herald Newspaper: Pure Class, February 13, 2011.        2010 “Borders” (exhibition catalog) published by Roots Division, San Francisco,  
2009 Gardiner, Matt. “Metal work featured at Fiskum Art Gallery” The Royal Purple UW Whitewater, October 14, 2009  

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, MA
Metal Museum - Memphis, TN
Kohler Company - Sheboygan, WI
John Michael Kohler Arts Center - Sheboygan, WI

EDUCATION
2009 Master of Fine Arts - State University of New York at New Paltz, NY
2004 Bachelor of Fine Arts - University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI
Fall 2004 Study Abroad - University of Legon, Ghana, West Africa