EXHIBITION HISTORY & RESUME


Photo taken during Artist Talk at Wallspace LA art gallery

EDUCATION

• MFA, Otis College of Art & Design, CA
• UCLA Graduate School of Film & Television, CA
• BFA, Howard University, Washington, DC
• Upward Bound, Hampton University, Hampton, VA


AWARDS

• 2023 Inglewood Open Studios Artist Grant

• 2021 ArtCenter Pasadena ACX Scholarship, California
• 2021 Vibrant Cities Artist Grant, Los Angeles CA
• 2016 California Community Foundation Grant for Public Art Project Commission, "We Are Los Angeles"
• 2016 Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA) Emergency Grant, Los Angeles CA
• 2008 Certificate of Recognition from Mayor Villaraigosa for Cultural Contributions, Los Angeles CA
• 2007 Anderson Ranch Art Scholarship Recipient, Snowmass CO
• 1999 Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship, Literary Management, Arena Stage Theater, Washington DC


RESIDENCIES

• 2020 Artist in Residence, Arts Alive, San Diego State University CA
• 2017 Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation Mana Wynwood Artist Residency, Miami FL

• 2016 Artist-in-Residence, Camera Obscura Art Lab, Santa Monica CA


SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

• California African American Museum

• CCH Pounder Kone


SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016, "Home Remedies for Driving While Black" at Los Angeles Art Association, Gallery 825, West Hollywood, CA.

2014, "Not Where They're Supposed to Be" solo exhibit, Wallspace LA Art Gallery, Los Angeles

2007, "Ecstasy of Living" solo exhibit curated by Justin Serebrin, Gallery Viento y Agua, Long Beach, CA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023

• "Moments & Memories" curated by Dominque Clayton for Destination Crenshaw at LA City Councilmember Dawson's Office, Los Angeles

• "Some Trees" curated by Ben Weissman at The Floating Gallery, Los Angeles 

• "Golden Bird" with Inglewood Open Studios artists at Edward Cella Art + Architecture Gallery, Inglewood


2022

• "Inglewood Open Studios & Artwalk + Residency Art Gallery" group exhibit, Inglewood, CA
• "Body+Text: Selections from the Permanent Collection" group exhibit, California African American Museum, Los Angeles
• "Phoenix Project: Continuing the Dialogue from 1992 (LA Riots)" group exhibit at the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles
• "Products of Empire" Art Share L.A. group exhibit curated by Badir McCleary, Los Angeles
• "Peace Together: Black & Korean Artists" group exhibit at Gallery Western and Do Arte Gallery, Koreatown, LA, CA
• "New Black City" group exhibit, Museum of Social Justice, Los Angeles

2019-2021

• "Curating the End of the World: Red Spring" online Afrofuturism themed exhibit, Google Arts & Culture
• "Skin Deep: Then & Now" group exhibit, The Loft at Liz's, Los Angeles
• "Curating the End of the World" a New York Live Arts online group exhibit
• "Black Lives Matter" group exhibit, El Camino College Art Gallery, Torrance, CA
• "De Colores, Sur: Bienniel" group exhibit curated by Claudia Huiza and including works by Patrice Khan-Cullors, Lavialle Campbell, and Cole Jupiter James, Los Angeles, CA
• "Some Blakkity Black Stuff" a pop-up group exhibit curated by Zeal Harris and featuring June Edmonds, Duane Paul, Jamaal Tolbert, Ronda Brown, Kimberly Morris, Lili Bernard, Lorenzo Baker, Rosalyn Miles, Lisa Diane Wedgeworth, and Johanne Rahaman for the 10th Annual Kamikaze Festival hosted by Post at Mim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
• "Personal Truth" group exhibit also featuring Lezley Saar, Umar Rashid, and Mark Steven Greenfield at El Camino College Gallery. Torrance, CA.
• "Images of Black Life, Culture, and History" (group exhibit) curated by Charles Bibbs at San Bernardino County Museum, CA

2017 - 2018

• "One Peace Art & Film Festival" sponsored by Leonardo DiCaprio," (group exhibit) at The Mayfair Hotel Gallery, Los Angeles.
• "Pembroke Taparelli Film & Art Festival" (group exhibit) at Band of Vices Gallery, Los Angeles.
• "Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall, Juried Exhibition 2018" curated by Jamillah James, Steven Nelson, and Jonathan Griffin, Los Angeles.
• "Prizm Art Fair" group exhibit at Mana Contemporary Downtown. Miami, FL.
• "Satellite Art Fair" Miami Beach, FL.
• "What's Your Elephant?" group exhibit at 1310 Gallery at Sailboat Bend Artist Lofts, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• "Sweet Sticky Things" three-person exhibit with Lili Bernard and Loren Holland. Launch Gallery, Los Angeles.
• "Iconic: Black Panther" group exhibit at Gregorio Escalante and Zack De La Rocha Galleries. Chinatown, Los Angeles.
Participating artist, "Debtfair, a project of Occupy Museums, Whitney Biennial 2017" Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York.
• "Echo Location" group exhibit at Eastside International (ESXLA) at The Brewery curated by Lisa Soto. Los Angeles, CA
• "Personal Matters" group exhibit, El Camino College, Torrance, CA.
• "2nd Annual 60 Americans" group exhibit, Makeshift Museum, Los Angeles.

2016

• Lead Artist for a Black Lives Matter commissioned altar installation for the "Annual Day of the Dead Festival (Dia de los Muertos)" in Hollywood, CA.
• "Reflections on the Self, Selections from the Permanent Collection" California African American Museum, Los Angeles.
• "43: From Ayotzinapa to Ferguson" group exhibit curated by Jimmy O'Balles at Self-Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA.
• "Viral: 25 Years From Rodney King" group exhibit, Sparc Gallery, Venice, CA and Betti Ono Gallery, Oakland, CA.
• "Skin" group exhibit, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Hollywood, CA.

2015

• "The 4th Ghetto Biennale 2015" hosted by Atis Rezistans, Port Au Prince, Haiti
• LA Family Housing Art Benefit participating artist, Room and Board, Culver City, CA
"10 pick 10" group exhibit with artists collected by Cheech Marin. Mesa Arts Center Museum, Mesa, AZ
"The Colored Girls" group exhibit, Autonomie Gallery Projects, Los Angeles, CA
• "LA Female Artists" group exhibit, Jose Drudis-Biada Gallery, Brentwood, CA
"Happening Benefit Art Auction" Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Hollywood, CA
"Midnight@Vertigo: New Visual Afrofuturisms and Speculative Migrations" group exhibit, Clark Humanities Museum, Pomona, CA

2013 - 2014

• “Myth & Archetype” group exhibit, El Camino College Gallery, Torrance, CA
• “Personal Tales” group exhibit, El Camino College Gallery, Torrance, CA
“Black Box” Native Thinghood art collective exhibit curated by Erin Christovale at Lacen Project, Los Angeles, CA
"Go Tell it on the Mountain" group exhibit, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
• "The Love Show" group exhibit at Avenue 50 Studio, Highland Park, CA
• "The Pulse of a Nation" group exhibit at Fernando Pullum’s Performance Art Center, Los Angeles, CA

2012

• “Inglewood Open Studios” event, Inglewood, CA
• “Que Te Vaya Bien” Avenue 50, group exhibit, Highland Park, CA
“Neo-Americana: Faux Naive in Los Angeles" group show at Hudson Link at Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA
• “"BAILA con Duende" group show curated by Lili Bernard at Watts Towers Art Center, Watts, CA
• "Los Angeles Art Association – Critique Group Show" Los Angeles, CA
• “Her” magazine launch & exhibition group exhibit, Soho House, West Hollywood, CA
• “H(A)UNTED” group show curated by Shantrelle Patrice Lewis at Caribbean Cultural Center of the African Diaspora, New York, NY
• “The Politics of Imagery” Group Show at William Grant Still Arts Center, Los Angeles, CA.

2011

• "Colonialism: The Collective Unconscious" curated by Lili Bernard at William Grant Still Arts Center, Los Angeles, CA
• "Open Call" Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Hollywood, CA
• "Blue Canvas - Issue 8, Downtown Artwalk Group Show" Spring Arts Tower, Los Angeles, CA
• "Artists Showcase at Assemblymember Holly Mitchell's Office" Culver City, CA
• “Skin Deep” group exhibit, The Loft at Liz’s and Le Florence Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2008

• “The Future of Nations: Patriot Acts II” group exhibit, 18th St Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA
• “Colors to Life Beautiful” group exhibit, 626 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
• “Pillow Talk Erotic Art” group exhibit curated by Numa Perrier, “The Castle” 2062 Ivar Ave, Hollywood, CA

2007

• “Circumnavigate the Soul” group exhibit at CCH Pounder-Kone Art Space, Atwater, CA
• “The Pyramid Show” group exhibit, Monte Vista Art Space, Highland Park, CA
• “Pink Boxes and Public Secrets” graduate thesis exhibit, Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
• “Women’s Stories of Work & Survival” MOCA GEFFEN, artist-organizer for Suzanne Lacy, Los Angeles, CA
• “Sisters In Spirit: The Power of Seven” group exhibit curated by artist Synthia Saint James, Charles Bibb's Gallery 626, Los Angeles, CA
• “Restricted Access: The Performing Archive, A Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz Starus Project” ("performer") 18th St. Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA

2005 - 2006

• “Stomping Ground” group exhibit, Le Florence Gallery, Leimert Park, CA
• Greater LA MFA Group Exhibition California State University, Long Beach, CA
• “Making Room” group exhibit, Kerckhoff Gallery, UCLA
• “Annual Juried Southern California Art Exhibit“ Laguna Beach Museum, Laguna, CA

• Cannibal Flower (Monthly) Group Show, Los Angeles, CA

• "Eve" two-person show with Peggy McKeever curated by Angela & SJ Hardy at Le Florence Gallery, Leimert Park, CA

PUBLIC ART

2016

"We Are Los Angeles", Grand Park group exhibition of 30 sculptural angels painted by 30 artists commissioned by the California Community Foundation, (Downtown L.A.)
• Artistic altar installation commissioned by Black Lives Matter for "Tree of Life", Hollywood Forever Cemetery's Annual Dia de Los Muertos Festival, Hollywood, CA

TELEVISION & MOVIE PLACEMENT

• 2021 Sydney to the Max, Disney Channel Television Series
• 2018 Insecure, HBO Television Series,Season 3


PUBLIC SPEAKING, ARTIST TALKS, & APPEARANCES

• 2021 Tea & Sex : Zeal Harris Artist Talk, Wilzig Erotic Art Museum
• 2020 Panelist, "Orishas and Saints Through Afro-Cuban American Eyes" with Lili Bernard and Caroline Heldman, stARTup Art Fair LA, Venice Beach, CA
• 2019 Panel creator and moderator of "Black Artist's & Creatives: Experiences in Accra, Ghana", Black Speculative Arts Movement Symposium. Featuring Jamaal Hasef Tolbert, Eagle Nebula, and Dominque Clayton, Los Angeles, CA
• 2019 Artist Talk (guest of Professor/Artist Shizu Saldamando) Occidental College Art Department, CA
• 2019 - 2017 Panelist, "Black Speculative Arts Movement Conference", Los Angeles, CA
• 2017 Guest Artist Lecturer, Otis College of Art & Design Graduate School, Los Angeles, CA
• 2017 Panelist, "Speculative Futures of Race", California State University Northridge, CA
• 2016 Guest Artist Talk, University of California at Santa Barbara, CA
• 2016 Artist Talk with Zeal Harris & Duane Paul, Soto Studio, Inglewood, CA
• 2015 Panelist, "Ethnosurrealism and Visual Art", “Astroblackness 2: The Surreal, The Speculative, The Spooky Conference: at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
• 2014 Panelist, "Afrofuturism, Diasporic Vertigo & Hurricane Katrina", Cielo Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
• 2014 Guest Artist Lecture, West Los Angeles College, Los Angeles, CA
• 2014 Panelist Moderator, “Microaggressions of Racism in Academia”, Los Angeles, CA
• 2013 Interviewer of Visual Artist, June Edmonds, at the California African-American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
• 2013 Artist Talk, February 20th, El Camino College
• 2012 Guest Artist Lecture, Otis College of Art & Design
• 2008 Guest Artist Panelist (with Charles Bibbs & Artis Lane), Jim Gilliam Recreation Center, Los Angeles

TEACHING


• California State University at Fullerton, Lecturer/Adjunct, Spring 2020 - Present

• Otis College of Art & Design, Lecturer/Adjunct Fall 2018 – Present

• Cypress College, Lecturer/Adjunct Fall 2023 - Present
• Art Workshop Instructor, California African-American Museum, 2019 - 2013
• Camera Obscura, Artist-in-Residence/Instructor, Santa Monica, CA Fall 2016
• LA Commons, Workshop Artist/Instructor, Winter 2016
• Narrative Painting Instructor, Otis College of Art & Design Extension Program, 2014
• Art Workshop Instructor, ArtWorxLA, Hollywood, CA, 2013
• Teaching Assistant, Painting, Drawing, & Art History Classes, Otis College of Art & Design, 2006 – 2011

AFFILIATIONS

• Black Speculative Arts Movement

• The Gathering Spot Los Angeles Membership Club

• Shared Harvest Organization
• Black Lives Matter
• BAILA Core 33 (Black Artists in Los Angeles)
• Los Angeles Art Association, Gallery 825
• Association of Hysteric Curators
• Black Artist Retreat, Chicago


PRESS, PUBLICATIONS, ETCETERA

2020

• Interview, "The Festival of Curious Minds" produced by the Laboratory Arts Collective
• Autobiographical article in "Hue," a magazine produced by the Laboratory Arts Collective
• "Art is also highly contagious!" article in Easy Reader News by Bondo Wyszpolski

2018 - 2019

"Meet Zeal Harris of Art Studio Zeal in Baldwin Hills/Inglewood/Leimert Park", interview feature in VoyageLA magazine.
"Narrative Works by Five Artists...", art review by Bondo Wyszpolski for Easy Reader News.
"Habitat", Art News Magazine article by Katherine McMahon.

2016 - 2017

"Creative Souls: African-American Artists of Greater Los Angeles", featured artist in book written by Dr. Paul Von Blum
"Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora," essay and visual art contributor to Spring 2017 journal issue.
"A Gypsi's Library: The Zine", visual artist contributor to "Joy", 2nd edition.
Huffington Post, “Sweet Sticky Things - Narrative Painting as the Voice of Black Women” review by Mat Gleason.
"Echo Location at Eastside International’", review by Lorraine Heitzman for Art & Cake Magazine.
• Los Angeles Times Arts, Culture & Entertainment Datebook written by Carolina A. Miranda.
"Artist Suggests ‘Home Remedies For Driving While Black’", Interview on "Rising Up With Sonali"
"Skin is an Art Exhibition for Our Times", art review in The Culture Trip by Kate Santos
"Zeal Harris, Following Miss Hurston to Haiti", Clocktower Radyo Shak Interview
• Featured in the BAILA Zine, Issue #2, 2016. Edited by Kathie Foley-Meyer.

2012 - 2015

"Zeal Harris Sheds Unexpected Insight...", art review in Life in LA by Anise Stevens
"Zeal Harris: Tell Me Something Good", article by Phil Tarley in Fabrik Art Magazine Issue #2
• ""The Blk Grrl Show"", feature interview by Teka Lark
"ArtVoices Magazine", August issue, article by Amir Bey
• “Her” a magazine of The Laboratory Collective
"Inglewoodland" (online magazine) Issue 2
"Requited Journal", (online magazine) Issue 6
"Art Beat Podcast #26", January interview with Kinte Ferguson and other artists
• The Los Angeles Cultural Affairs African American-Heritage Month Cultural Guide

2008 - 2011

"Coagula Art Journal", May 9th
• “Our Weekly” newspaper, Arts & Entertainment section, November
• “African Americans Doing Feminism: Putting Theory into Everyday Practice,” book cover art
"Palisadian Post", Lifestyle section article by Micheal Aushenker, Pacific Palisades, CA, 1/31/2008
• “Los Angeles Times ”, January art review by Lea Lion
• “LA Weekly” January art review by Peter Frank
• The Los Angeles Cultural Affairs African American-Heritage Month Cultural Guide, cover artist

2005 - 2007

• WBAI, 99.5 Pacifica Radio, interview airdate New York, NY, 9/6/07
• Channel 4, KNBC., Los Angeles, CA, 4/07
• “Top Design”, BRAVO, Reality Television Program, Los Angeles, CA, 2/07
• The Sentinel Newspaper , Los Angeles, CA, 12/21/06
• KPFK 90.7 FM interview by Sonali Kolhatkar, Los Angeles, CA, 9/06
• Downtown LA Life Online Magazine,”Women’s Edition II”, 7/15/06
• “Pacesetters”, KTLA Channel 5, Los Angeles, CA, 1/06
• Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Emporia, CA, 10/27/05
• 87.7 Oran-Z Liberation Radio interview, Los Angeles, CA, 3/05

Installation of Zeal Harris's artwork, Fish & Syrup at Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles.