About The Artist
My art practice is inspired by stories. Over many years of exploring diverse cultures and landscapes across the planet, I have collected numerous stories and images of people and places. Using oil, wax and ink I paint these stories on wood, paper, canvas and stone. Hovering between abstraction and postmodern sensitivities, my work invites viewers to merge their own memories into the vast continent of cultural collective consciousness.
“Art is the language of memory, derived from the past, shared in the present, informing the future.” — Wo Schiffman
Trained in oil, ink, wax painting, and monotype printing, Wo works primarily on wood, washi paper, and stone. As the daughter of NASA Scientists, her education explored not only art but questions in Physics and Philosophy. Wo holds a BA in Philosophy (summa cum laude) with honors from John Carroll University. Her art education includes concentrated atelier art study in Scandinavia, Japan, and the US including the Art Students League of NY and the Cleveland Institute of Art. Since the end of the pandemic, Wo has continued study through the Rhode Island School of Design Illustration program. Wo’s work is in the permanent collections of: the New York Hall of Science Museum, the Hosby Konsthall Print Museum(Sweden), and the Museum of Encaustic Art (Santa Fe, NM) and numerous private collections. Her work has been exhibited at Context:Art Miami for the past 4 years with the Alessandro Berni Gallery. At the invitation of the European Cultural Centre, her work will be on exhibit during the Venice Biennale 2024 (April -November 2024, Venice, Italy) at the Palazzo Mora pavilion for the ECC: Personal Structures Exhibition.
Studio Information
ICB Building
First Floor, West Side of Building, Outside Door "STUDIO 124"
Contact Information
603.770.6982
Exhibitions & Press
Recent Exhibitions
Les Billets-Doux, Solo Show, SF Women Artists Gallery, 2024
Connections 8, Invitational Curated groups show, Atlantic Gallery (NYC),2024
Personal Structures, European Cultural Center Pavilion, Venice Bienalle, 2024
A Gathering of Color, Juried show, Falkirk Cultural Center, 2024
Söft, Solo Show, O’Hanlon Art Center, 2024
Refusès of the Bay, Group show, Voss Gallery 2023
CONTEXT– Art Miami, Alessandro Berni Gallery , 2019 – 2023
Artistic Vision, Juried exhibition, SF Women’s Artist Gallery, 2023
Portals, NCWCA Juried show, Arc Gallery, SF 2023
Les Billets-Doux, 2024
Söft, 2024
Being Human, 2023
Water Poems, 2022
Aardvarks in Reykjavik, 2021
Conversations in Color, 2019
Encaustic Entanglements, 2018
- Finalist/Short List, PenCraft Awards, Best New Poetry Book, 2022
- Juror’s Choice, SFWA, Artists Choice, October, 2021,
- Juror’s Choice, SFWA, Abstract World, September, 2021
- Juror’s Choice, SFWA, Scapes City, Sea & Land, April, 2021
- Ink & Wax, Linea (James Little curator), Art Students League of NY, 2020
- Best in Show, Journey Exhibition, Seacoast Artists Association, 2019
- Best in Show, Floral Exhibition, Seacoast Artists Association, 2018
- 2nd Place: Fine Art, Annual Art Exhibition, Exeter, NH, 2017
Education
BA, Philosophy, summa cum laude, with honors , John Carroll University
MA/PhD graduate study, University of Colorado Boulder
Creative Writing, Stanford University (2 year CE/MLA program)
Painting & Critique, Art Student’s League of NY, James Little
Painting Intern, Cleveland Institute of Art
Textile Design, SF State University, Candace Crockett
Indigo & Shibori Independent Study, Kyoto, Japan
Painting & Design Atelier Program (5 years), Copenhagen, DK
CE Painting certificate program, RISD (ongoing)