BIO and CV:
Nancy Cohen’s work in handmade paper and glass examines resiliency in relation to the environment and the human body. Recent exhibitions include Nancy Cohen: The State We’re In at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts in NYC: New Acquisitions at The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ; Legacies in Paper: Nancy Cohen, Sara Garden Armstrong and Helen Heibert at the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking in Atlanta, GA, Sculpting with Paper: Hand Papermaking at Dieu Donne at The Turchin Center for Visual Arts, Boone, NC; Yvette Molina: A Promise to the Leaves at the Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs, NY and Transgressing Lands: Eleven Contemporary Artist Reimagine a Horizon at The Boiler in Brooklyn, NY. In September 2026 Nancy Cohen and Anna Boothe will have a collaborative exhibition at Urban Glass in Brooklyn, NY.
Awards include six fellowships from the NJ State Council on the Arts, four from MacDowell, two from the Jersey City Arts and Culture Trust Fund, two from the Brodsky Center, two from the Tides Institute, The Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award and a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant. Other residencies include Yaddo, Millay Arts, Dieu Donne, Wheaton Arts, Pyramid Atlantic, Women’s Studio Workshop and Bullseye Glass.
Cohen’s work has been reviewed in books and periodicals, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Sun, ArtNews, Hand Papermaking and Sculpture Magazine. Current work has been featured in the blogs Romanov Grave, Artists and Climate Change, Art Spiel, Hot Coffee Conversations and Less than Half. Her work has recently been featured in Radical Paper: Art and Invention with Colored Pulp published by Legacy Press, 2024. Her work was featured in NJ PBS State of the Arts: https://www.stateoftheartsnj.com/video/nancy-cohens-atlas-of-impermanence/.
Museum collections include Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC; Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA; Tang Teaching Museum of Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Ct and Jane Voorhees Zimmerli, Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, among others.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
"The State We're In," Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY
2022
“Walking a Line,” Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY
2021
"Nancy Cohen: Atlas of Impermanence", Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ catalog
2019
“Force: Observations from the Interior,” Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY
2018
“Colloquy,” Collaborative Exhibition with Anna Boothe, Taplin Gallery, Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, Princeton, NJ catalog
2017
"Liasons," Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY
2017
"Permutations," Collaborative exhibition with Anna Boothe, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
2013
"A Condition of Light," Accola Griefen Gallery, NYC installation photos
"Beyond the Surface", Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY
2012
Accola Giefen Gallery, New York, NY (catalog essay by Jill Conner) (installation photos)
"Nancy Cohen: Precarious Exchange", Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ
2010
"Permeable Matter", Kean University, Union, NJ catalog
2009
"Perspectives on Salinity: River From Within", Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY (brochure)
2007
"Water Ways", Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, NJ (brochure)
2006
Heidi Cho Gallery, New York, NY (catalog)
2004
Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ (brochure)
Kouros Gallery, New York, NY
1996
New Jersey State Museum - Trenton, NJ
1990
Susan Schreiber Gallery, New York, NY
1989
Schreiber/Cutler Gallery, New York, NY
COMMISSIONS AND LARGE SCALE INSTALLATIONS
2023-24 "Once She Dries" Experimental Opera and Multidisciplinary Installation at Smush Gallery, Jersey City, NJ, travelled as a part of "Earth Speak: Giving Voice to Paper", Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, Taipei & NTCRI Museum of Craft Design, Caotun Township, Taiwan
2022 “Your Water, My Sky” Summit Public Art, Summit, NJ
2013-2023 "Between Seeing and Knowing," collaboration with Anna Boothe, Bergstrom Mahler Museum of Glass, Neenah, Wisconsin (2022-23), Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia PA (2018), Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadlephia, PA (2017) and Accola Griefen Gallery, NY, NY (2013)
2015 -2016 “Hackensack Dreaming,” New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ traveled to Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA, The Power Point Gallery, Duke University, Durham, NC and UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY(catalog)
2011 "Estuary: Moods & Modes IV", The Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library, Howard University, Washington DC
"Perspectives on Salinity 2011", Richard Stockton College of NJ, Pomona, NJ video interview
2009 "Perspectives on Salinity: River from Within", Katonah Museum, Katonah, NY (brochure)
2008 "Elements of a General Theory of Hydrodynamics" CODA Museum, Appeldoorn, NL
2007 "Estuary: Moods & Modes", The Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ
2006 "Sensation: Interior View", Collaboration with Shirly Tilghman, Jim Sturm and A.R. Willey, Quark Park Sculpture Garden, Princeton, NJ
2005 "Going Places: Skyway to Wow!", Percent for Art Commission, Ross-Woodward School, New Haven, CT
1996 "Only Connect", Staten Island Botanical Garden, Staten Island, NY
1992 "Community of Shelter", Thomas Paine Park, New York, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
"Sculpting with Paper: Hand Papermaking at Dieu Donne." The Turchin Center for Visual Arts, Boone, NC
2025-2026
"Legacies in Paper: Nancy Cohen, Sara Garden Armstrong & Helen Hiebert." Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking, Atlanta, GA catalog
2025
"Yvette Molina: A Promise to the Leaves," Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
"Beyond the Surface: The Art of Handmade Paper (Part II)," Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN
"New Acquisitions," The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ
"A Degree of Uncertainty II," Stand 4 Gallery, Brooklyn
"Beyond the Thread," Ria X Gallery, Montclair, NJ
2024
"Transgressing Lands: Eleven Contemporary Artists Reimagine the Horizon," The Boiler, Brooklyn, NY
"Water's Way" part of "Light Art Exhibition," Kyu Sukoda, Ige, Japan
"We are the River," Stockton University Art Gallery, Galloway, NJ
2023
"Pulp Potential," Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC
"Library," Tappeto Volante, Brooklyn, NY
"Earth Speak: Giving Voice to Paper," International Biennial of Fiber and Paper Art, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, Taipei and NTCRI Museum of Craft Design, Caotun Township, Taiwan
2022
“The Embankment on My Mind,” New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ
“Formed/Re-Formed,” STAND4, Brooklyn, NY
“Fragmentary Blue,” The Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, CT
"Climate Conversations: All We Can Save, The Nature Nurture Center, Easton, PA
2021
“New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond,” The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
“Mother Water,” Accola Griefen Fine art, Brooklyn, NY
2019
“Kin,” Accola Griefen Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
“Summation & Absence,” BioBAT Art Space, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Brooklyn, NY
“Trace Elements,” Paul Robeson Galleries, Newark, NJ
“New World Water,” Walsh Gallery at Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ
“The Other Glass: An Alternative History,” Heller Gallery, New York, NY
“New Directions in Fiber Art,” The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
2018
"Wake" Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Projects, Long Island City, NY
“Mike Childs and Nancy Cohen,” Robert Henry Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY2017
“Bete Noire,” Five Myles, Brooklyn, NY
“River Woman,” ODETTA Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2016
“Of an Urban Nature,” 1+1 Collective, Brooklyn, NY
"TFAP@TEN" Exhibition in Honor of The Feminist Art Project’s 10th Anniversary, Douglass Library, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (catalog)
“The Nature of Things”, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ
2014
“Water & Earth: A Call to Protect Fragile Ecosystems”, MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams, MA
"Jersey Women Artists Now: Contemporary Visions 2013" · George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ (catalog)
"Pulp Culture: Paper is the Medium" · The Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
2013
"Structure and Flow: An Exploration of Contrasts in Abstraction", Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, Princeton, NJ
"The Land Before and After Time", Accola Griefen Gallery, NYC
"Shattered: Contemporary Sculpture in Glass", Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, MI
2012
"50 Years of Studio Glass", Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft, Lexington, KY
2011
"An Uncommon Thread", The Front Room, Brooklyn, NY
Kamikaze, POST Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Green: the Color & the Cause", The Textile Museum, Washington D.C. catalog
2009
"Mark of the Hand", Spanierman Modern, New York, NY
"Global Warning: Artists and Climate Change", Zilhka Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
"Yarn Theory", PS122 Gallery, New York, NY
2008
"The Innerworld or the Outerworld of the Innerworld" - Von Lintel Gallery - New York, NY
"Holland Paper Biennale 2008" - Museum Rijswijk - Rijswijk, NL - CODA Museum - Apeldoorn, NL
2007
"The Outdoor Gallery: 40 Years of Public Art in NYC Parks" - The Arsenal Gallery - New York, NY
"Per Square Foot" - The Gallery at Dieu Donne - New York, NY
2006
"Out There" - 2006 New Jersey Arts Annual - The Newark Museum - Newark, NJ (catalog)
2004
"Material Witness" - Heidi Cho Gallery - New York, NY
"Music in Art" - Anchorage Museum of History and Art - Anchorage, AK (catalog)
2003
"Correspondences: Poetry and Contemporary
Art" - Hunterdon Museum of Art - Clinton, NJ (catalog)
2002
"Material Passage" - JP Morgan Chase Project Space - Jersey City, NJ
"500 Drawings" - Gary Snyder Fine Art - New York, NY
"Magnitude" - An exhibition of poet/artist collaborations - The Educational Alliance - NY, NY
2001
"Rags to Riches: 25 Years of Paper Art from Dieu Done Papermill" - Kresge Art Museum, Michigan State
University, East Lansing, MI. Traveled to: Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, KS, Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY ,Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI and Fort Wayne Museum of Art - Fort Wayne, IN (catalog)
"Nancy Cohen and Robert Gutierrez" - PS122 Gallery, New York, NY
2000
"The End: An Independent Vision of Contemporary Culture" - Exit Art - NY, NY
1999
"A Common Thread" - New Art Center - Newton, MA (catalog)
"Three Artists - Three Stories" - NJ Center for Visual Arts - Summit, NJ (catalog)
1998
"Wild" - Exit Art - New York, NY
"Objects and Delusion" - Smack Mellon Studios - Brooklyn, NY
1996
"Innovations and Explorations in Handmade Paper" - Dieu Donne Papermill - New York, NY (catalog)
1994
"Fabricated Nature" - Boise Art Museum - Boise, ID (catalog) Travelled to University of Wyoming Art Museum, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts
"Small Works" - The Sculpture Center - New York, NY
"Passages in Sculpture: Six Sculptors" - Jersey City Museum - Jersey City, NJ
1993
"93NY50" - Socrates Sculpture Park - Long Island City, NY
"Object Lessons" - Police Building - New York, NY
1991
"Six East Coast Sculptors" - University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
"Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood" - Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA (catalog)
1990
"Sculptors' Drawings" - East Hampton Center For Contemporary Art, East Hampton, NY (catalog)
1989
"Material Forms" - NJ Center For Visual Art, Summit, NJ (catalog)
1988
"The Life Force" - Robeson Gallery - Rutgers University, Newark, NJ (catalog)
"Sculpture 1988" - White Columns, New York, NY
1987
"Three Sculptors" - A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
"Biomorphic Sculpture" - Art In General, New York, NY
1986
"The Figure Abstracted: Intimated Presences" - Robeson Center Gallery, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ (catalog)
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Art Museum of the University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, North Carolina
Bergstrom Mahler Museum of Glass, Neenah, WI
Hillwood Art Museum, C. W. Post College, Brookville, NY (catalog)
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ
Newark Public Library, Newark, NJ
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ
Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, NJ
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Tides Institute Museum of Art, Eastport, ME
Turchin Center for the Arts at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, NJ
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Bank of America, New York, NY
Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia, PA
Citibank, New York, NY
DHR International, Newark, NJ
Dieu Donne Papermill, New York, NY
Einstein Montefiore Department of Medicine, New York, NY
Howard University, Washington DC
Hudson County Community College, Jersey City, NJ
Johnson and Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NY, NY and Middletown, NJ
New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Trenton, NJ
New York University, New York, NY
Park Ha Galil, Karmiel, Israel
Pilchuck Print Collection, Seattle, WA
Richard Stockton College of NJ, Pomona, NJ
TIAA/CREF, New York, NY
Westin Hotel, Jersey City, NJ
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2026
StudioWorks Residency, Tides Institue and Museum of Art, Easport, ME (also 2018)
2025
Fellow, MacDowell, Peterborough, New Hampshire (also 2023-Patrica Brown Specter Fellowship,1986 & 1981)
2024
Creative Glass Fellowship, Wheaton Arts, Millville, NJ
Individual Artist Fellowship Award, Jersey City Arts + Culture Trust Fund, Jersey City, NJ
2023
Puffin Foundation Artist Grant in support of "Once She Dries"
2022
Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award, NYFA
Studio Residency Grant, Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY
New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Works on Paper Fellowship (also 2006 & 2016)
The Jersey City Arts & Culture Trust Fund, Programming Grant for “Once She Dries”
Denbo Fellowship, Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center, Hyattsville, MD
2018
Pratt Institute Faculty Development Fund Award, Brooklyn, NY
2016
Artist in Residence, Bullseye Glass, Mamaroneck, NY
New Jersey Glass Residency, Wheaton Arts, Millville, NJ
2015
ISE Cultural Foundation, award in support of "Hackensack Dreaming"
2012
Collaborative Residency, The Studio at Corning, Corning, NY
2011
Artist in Residence, Pilchuck Glass School, Standwood, WA
2004
Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, Fellowship (also 1993)
1996
The Greenwall Foundation, award in support of "Only Connect"
1993
New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Sculpture Fellowship (also 1989 & 1986)
1992
Dieu Donne Papermill, New York, NY, Workspace Artist
1991
Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
1989
Pollack Krasner Foundation Grant
1982
The Archie Bray Foundateion, Helena, MT
1981
Millay Arts, Austerlitz, NY
EDUCATION
1984 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
1982-1984 Columbia University, New York, NY, MFA
1977-81 Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, BFA