Carrie Scanga attended Bryn Mawr College as an undergraduate and earned an MFA in Printmaking from University of Washington. She has held solo exhibitions in Berlin, Kansas City, Houston, St. Louis, and Philadelphia among other locales. Her work has been included in group exhibitions in commercial galleries, artist-run spaces, and museums, including the Portland Museum of Art, the Kingston Museum of Contemporary Art, PLUG Projects, Islip Art Museum, and Tiger Strikes Asteroid. Fellowship awards from the Pollock Krasner Foundation, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the New York Foundation for the Arts, The MacDowell Colony, Sculpture Space, Blue Mountain Center, and Fundación Valparaíso have supported the development of her work. Currently based in Maine, she is a Professor at Bowdoin College where she also directs the Marvin Bileck Printmaking Project visiting artist program.
Artist’s Statement
Beginning with paper, I create images, books, and installations. My work often starts with an intuitive attraction to something observed–a familiar object or a striking setting. As I explore it visually, through observational drawing, then intaglio printing, and finally folding paper, it gathers metaphorical resonance.
The objects and spaces I depict evoke paradoxical feelings: fragility and security, isolation and exposure, loneliness and connection. A backpack, for example, offers both weight and containment. It holds all the things a child might need for an independent step into the public realm of the school day. It is both personal and symbolic, private yet intrinsically linked to social identity and ritual.
I see my temporary installation art as a form of community spectacle and my artist’s books as private communication devices. Each of my projects offers an ephemeral experience, either inviting a community to share a fleeting moment of wonder or welcoming the viewer into the private, unfolding space of narrative imagery.
At the heart of my practice is a desire to understand the human experiences of connection and isolation. Through visual language, I seek to uncover what is universal in those experiences, ultimately helping both myself and others feel solace or joy.