Artist Statement
I am a narrative artist who is inspired by myths, dreams and storytelling. I especially like tales where animals have power and distinct personalities and have as much, or even more presence in this world as humans do. Although my paintings tend not to have a linear narrative, I find that each painting I make, occupies a very specific geographic place, and also adds to the collective narrative, of an alternate world that keeps expanding and gaining definition the more that I paint.
Because I don't begin with a sketch or storyline, it often feels that I am just a conduit that stories pass through so that I can bring them to life. But over time, looking at the scope of what I've created, it is obvious that while these stories come from outside of me, they are also shaped as they pass through me and end up expressing all that they see in me too. I don't know what this means to me or what it is supposed to mean to anyone but I like that other people respond to my paintings with stories of their own. I also like the feeling that I have access to an alternate reality just under the surface of this world. One where animals get to live out their own stories without so much human interference. One with fleeing and reprieve, temporary safe havens, lands that contain vast homes for various creatures, portals and passages and roads all leading to the next place.
Bio
Abigail Lee Goldberger is a narrative artist, born in Boston, Massachusetts. She currently lives in San Francisco, California and works out of Art Explosion Studios on Alabama street in the Mission District. She has been featured in solo shows and has taken part in numerous group exhibitions across the US. She is a member of City Art Gallery in the Mission District of San Francisco and does select monthly showings there. Her first book, ‘The Doorway Inside the Cat’, was published in March of 2020 and features all five of the stories in her illustrated story series. She is the creator of the evolving interactive web-based art project, The Oracle of Dreams, oracleofdreams.org. And she is the founder of Sheepscot Arts Preserve, an artist residency center in Midcoast Maine that supports narrative, visionary and outsider artists of all disciplines.
CV
Abigail Lee Goldberger
Born 1973 Boston, Massachusetts
Lives in San Francisco, California
Works out of Art Explosion Studios, San Francisco, Ca.
galleries
Select Monthly Shows City Art Cooperative Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2017-present)
museum shows
Gateway to the Imagination; Farmington Museum, Farmington, NM.(October-December 2017)
Juried by Julie Sasse curator at the Tuscon Museum of Art
solo shows
Other Worlds; Marin Jeweler's Guild Gallery, San Rafael, Ca. (September - October, 2018)
stories and dreams; Artworks Downtown, San Rafael, Ca. (October 9 - November 6, 2015)
Sponsored by Artworks Downtown
Fairy Tales and Enchantment; Athan's Cafe Gallery, Brookline, Ma. (July 3 - August 31 2014)
Sponsored by Unbound Visual Arts
juried shows
Group show featuring Abigail Goldberger, Julia Canright and Darnel Tasker Mini bar, San Francisco(October 2022- December 2022)
The Wild Side Arc Gallery, San Francisco(June 2022- August 2022)
Hosted by NCWCA
Intergalactic Open; Shockboxx Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA.(January 2022- February 2022)
Creatures, Beasts, Myths; Vacant Museum, Online.(Fall 2020)
A Generous Kingdom IV; Verum Ultimum Gallery, Portland, OR.(January 2020 - February 2020)
SNAP!; Arc Gallery, San Francisco, Ca.(January 2020)
ArtVale Imagined; ArtVale Gallery, Oakland, Ca.(July 2019 - September 2019)
ArtSpan-Art in Neighborhoods; Mission Bowling Club, San Francisco, Ca.(December 2018 - March 2019)
Feast of Color; O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, Ca.(November 2018)
Juried by Leslie Allen
Vibrant Vision; SFWA Gallery, San Francisco, Ca.(October 2018)
Juried by Matt Mckinley
Awarded Juror's Choice Award
Tell me a Story; O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, Ca.(July 2018)
Juried by Chester Arnold
StoryTelling; 1337 Gallery, San Rafael, Ca.(June - July 2018)
Juried by Kay Bradner
Renee's Must See Picks- 25 Featured Artists Bon Air Plaza, Greenbrae, Ca. (April- June 2018)
Juried by Renee Baldocchi
Bay Area Women Artists; O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, Ca.(August 2017)
Juried by Donna Seager and Suzanne Gray of Seager Grey Gallery
Fables, Fairytales, Folktales, Legends and Myths; Fe Gallery, Sacramento, Ca.(October-December 2016)
SFWA Artist Choice; SFWA Gallery, San Francisco, Ca.(October- November 2016)
In Your Dreams; Marin Society of Artists, San Rafael, Ca.(Sept-October, 2016)
Juried by Michael Azgour
Bold; O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, Ca.(June 30, 2016-July 21, 2016)
Juried by Robert Green
Contemporary Women 10; Chico Art Center, Chico, Ca.(April 8, 2016-May 6, 2016)
Arts on our Avenues; Brighton Music Hall, Allston, Ma. (March 2015)
Curated by Arch Gallery. Sponsored by Allston Village Main Streets.
MCCA Arts; Boston Convention and Exposition Center (May - August 2014)
Boston Biennial; The Gallery at Spencer Lofts, Chelsea, Ma. (December 2012)
juried art fairs
The Other Art Fair; Dallas Market Hall, Dallas, TX (May 2024)
The Other Art Fair; Barker Hangar, Los Angeles, Ca. (March 2023)
Superfine!; Fort Mason Arts Center, San Francisco, Ca. (February - March, 2020)
select group shows
Near Future Ago Group Art Show; Smith Anderson Gallery North, San Anselmo, Ca. and other North Bay locations (2016-2018)
International Printmaking Exchange- Boston and Montenegro; Harbor Gallery, UMass Boston and in Montenegro, Europe. (January 2013)
Allston Rock City Art Tour; Harvard St. Allston, Ma. (October 2011)
Artist Choice Show; Somerville Museum, Somerville, Ma. (2009 - 2015 April and May)
Allston/Brighton Art Exposition; Honan-Allston BPL, Allston, Ma. (2008 - 2010)
publications and talks
Featured Artist- Direct Art; Volume 23 (2021 Pandemic Special Edition)
Featured Artist- Alebrijes; Online Journal of Creative Arts (Summer 2016)
Featured Artist- Amethyst Arsenic; Online Literary and Art Journal (Winter 2013)
Lecture- How Dreams and Visions Relate to my Artistic Process; O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, Ca. (2016)
press
10 Emerging Contemporary Artists From San Francisco to Know; Justine McGrath at The Culture Trip.com (June 8, 2017)
Chico Art Center Show Celebrates Strength of Women; Chico Enterprise Record (Chico, Ca.) (April 9, 2016)
awards and chosen works
Juror's Choice Award for- The Doorway Opened Upon the New World Vibrant Vision Show, SFWA Gallery, Juried by Matt Mckinley (September 2018)
Renee's Must See Picks- 25 Featured Artists Chosen by Renee Baldocchi, founder of the San Francisco Fine Arts Museum’s Public Programs Department (April 2018)
Dig Radio's Citywide Blackout; Album art for Best of 2013 compilation album chosen by Boston Weekly Dig Newspaper (December 2013)
other
Founder/Director- Sheepscot Arts Preserve MidCoast, ME (2022-present)
Artspan, Mission and Art Explosion Open Studios; San Francisco, Ca. (2018-present)
Gallery 111, gallery committee ; Sausalito, Ca.
show proposals, curation and hanging of shows, gallery upkeep.
ICB Open Studios; Sausalito, Ca. (2015-2018)
Joy Street Open Studios; Somerville, Ma. (2009-2015)
Curator MOS, Gallery 111, The Near Future Ago group shows
education
2009 – 2013 UMass Boston
BA in Latin American and Iberian Studies
Minor in Environmental Science.
Recipient of Maria Luisa Osorio Prize
Graduated Summa Cum Laude
2005-2016 Massachusetts College of Art, The Museum School of Fine Arts Boston
Classes in Lithography, Intaglio and Relief Printmaking, Metal Work, Animation, and Figure Drawing.
Studied Lithography under Carolyn Muskat, Master printmaker