Anna McNeary is an interdisciplinary artist working in printmaking and textiles. Through sculpture and works on paper, she explores the necessity of intimacy, pressures of social performance, implications of labor and repair, and the emotional underpinnings of material culture.
She holds an MFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design, and has exhibited at venues across the United States, including Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center’s {Re}HAPPENING Festival (Asheville, NC), The Compound Gallery (Oakland, CA), Newport Art Museum (RI), and Print Center New York. Selected residencies and awards include a Post-Graduate Apprenticeship at The Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia, PA), a Monson Arts residency (Monson, ME), and a Santa Fe Art Institute residency (NM). She serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of Drawing and Printmaking at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. She lives in Providence, RI, and maintains a studio at Providence artist cooperative Make Do Studios.
Anna McNeary
Education
2018 MFA, Printmaking, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2018 Collegiate Teaching Certificate, Rhode Island School of Design
2012 BA, Sociology, Smith College, Northampton, MA
Selected Grants, Awards and Residencies
2026 Make Do Studios Group Residency, Wedding Cake House, Providence, RI
2023 Make Art Grant, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
Artist in Residence, Wedding Cake House, Providence, RI
Honorable Mention, Uncommon Threads, San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center, Encino, CA
2022 Artist in Residence, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Nebraska City, NE
2021 Artist in Residence (Labor Residency),Santa Fe Art Institute, NM
2019 Artist in Residence, Monson Arts, Monson, ME
2018 Summer Post-Graduate Apprentice, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Honorable Mention, 4th Annual Student Artist Book Competition, Rhode Island School of Design
Graduate Studies Grant, Rhode Island School of Design
2017 Graduate Fellowship, Rhode Island School of Design
Presidential scholarship, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
2016 Graduate Fellowship, Rhode Island School of Design
2013 Arnold P. Gold Foundation Grant, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Ladies of Letterpress Student Grant, Asheville, NC
Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
2026 Hand Me Down, Extra Special With Cheese, Burlington, VT
2024 Fortress, Dirt Palace Window Gallery, Providence, RI
2020 Curtains, AS220 Reading Room Gallery, Providence, RI
2016 Seams & Cicatrices, with Chloe Bensahel, The Compound Gallery, Oakland, CA
2015 A Year in Rotation, with Jack Angiolillo, Catalyst Gallery, Beacon NY
A Year in Rotation, with Jack Angiolillo, Amherst College, MA
2014 Hiding in Plain Sight, with Mary Burger, The Compound Gallery
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 Impetus, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA
Alumni Pop-Up Exhibition, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2025 Wor[l]ds, Providence College Galleries, RI
Impressions: What’s Left Behind, Mary Dolphin Cosgrove Gallery, Worcester State University, MA
Faculty Invitational Exhibition, Providence Art Club, RI
Wardrobe, Krikorian Gallery, Worcester Center for Crafts, MA
Regeneration/Transformation, Imago Gallery, Warren, RI
Make Do Members Show, Make Do Gallery, Providence, RI
2024 TerraTextl, WhiteBox Gallery, New York, NY
Dreams of a Common Language, OVERLAP, Newport, RI
Second Time Around, Jamestown Arts Center, Jamestown, RI
2023 Women’s History Month Exhibition, Crossroads Administrative Offices, Providence, RI
2022 Uncommon Threads, San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center, CA
Layer on Layer, Art League of Rhode Island, Pawtucket, RI
Out of Bounds: Object, Material and Print, Worcester Center for Craft, MA
Wurks In Progress, The Wurks Gallery, Providence, RI
2021 Lost & Found, Dye House, Providence, RI
Tiny Showcase IRL, World’s Fair Gallery, Providence, RI
RISD Faculty Exhibition and Forum ’21, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
Prints for Protest, Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA
2020 Call & Response, Newport Art Museum, RI
ArtsSpeaks Group Show, The Wurks Gallery, Providence, RI
2019 Danseuses de Papier (costumes for performance created by Reza Farkondeh), Pace Prints, New York, NY
Woonasquatucket River Greenway Arts Group Exhibition, The Wurks Gallery
Umbra: New Prints for a Dark Age, juried by Alison Saar, Print Center New York, NY
Dead Ringer, Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, RI
Great Hope, Annex Gallery at Monterey Peninsula College, CA
Prints for Protest, Second State Press, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Great Hope, Tiny Town Gallery, Tucson, AZ
RISD Grad Show, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
{Re}HAPPENING, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Swannanoa, NC
You’re Invited, Gelman Gallery, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
Between Us, Not Gallery, Austin, TX
Printmaking Triennial Exhibition, Rhode Island School of Design
4th Annual Student Artist Book Exhibition, Rhode Island School of Design
Great Hope, Union Gallery, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
2017 Mutual Encounters, Gelman Gallery, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
Touchable, Granoff Center, Brown University, Providence, RI
Off the Wall, Exposé Gallery, Providence, RI
Performance: Object, Body, Narrative, Tap Room, Providence, RI
2016 Common Multiples: RISD Printmaking Biennial, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI
Sensorium, The Compound Gallery
2015 6th Annual CUMC Fine Art Exhibition, Columbia University, New York, NY
2014 Smoky’s Boutique: A Menagerie of Insanity, Blackball Universe, Oakland, CA
2013 Printocracy, Asheville BookWorks Gallery, Asheville, NC
Homegrown Alphabets, Asheville BookWorks Gallery
Bibliography
Moro, Simonetta. “Terratextl at White Box.” Whitehot Magazine. November 25, 2024.
Maynard, Liz. “Dreams of a Common Language: Elizabeth Duffy, Lu Heintz, and Anna McNeary In OVERLAP.” Art Spiel. May 29, 2024.
Ruelle, Nina. “Anna McNeary Interview with Nina Ruelle.” Dirt Palace Blog. September 29, 2004.
Olsen, Eleanor. “Dreams of a Common Language.” Art New England. March/April 2004.
“Liminal: Positions, Possibilities, and Pathways.” Mid America Print Council Journal. Volume 36. 2023.
Rose, Michael. “Artist to Know: Anna McNeary.” GoLocal Prov. November 30, 2022.
Thibodeaux, Julianna. “Ten Emerging New England Artists.” Art New England. Volume 42, Issue 2. March/April 2021.
Neville, Beth. “Call and Response: Newport’s Joyous Puzzle With Many Surprises.” Artscope. November/December 2020.
Chang, Alison W. “Prints in a Time of Political Madness.” Art in Print. Volume 7, Number 3.
Flanagan, Mollie. “RI Cultural Anchor: Anna McNeary.” RI State Council on the Arts Blog. August 30, 2019.
Rubin, Julia. “‘Dead Ringer’ Exhibit is a True Collaboration.” Roger Williams University News. July 10, 2019.
Maynard, Liz. “Unraveling Our Truths: Dead Ringer.” Art New England. Volume 40, Issue 3. May/June 2019.
Nadalin, Christy. “A Different Kind of Show.” Bristol Phoenix. Volume 183, Number 23. June 6, 2019.
Publications
The Shapes of Birds: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa. Edited by Francine Weiss (Newport Art Museum, 2018). Exhibition catalogue.
Institutional Collections
2022 Resident Artist Collection, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Art
2018 Special Collections Archive, Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of Design
2017 Prints, Drawings and Photographs Collection, RISD Museum
2011 Amherst College Print Collection, Amherst, MA
Curatorial Projects
2022 Out of Bounds: Object, Material and Print, Worcester Center for Craft, MA
2018- Curatorial Assistant, Newport Art Museum, RI
2019
2016 Our America, co-curated with Aaron Field Simmons. Gelman Gallery, RISD Museum
2014- Limited Edition Gallery, Creator, Co-Curator, and Project Manager, John McNeil Studio, Berkeley, CA
2016
2012- Gallery Coordinator, Asheville BookWorks, Asheville, NC
2013