Bio/News
Emily Budd is a queer artist specializing in time travel through mold-making. Drawing from a background in bronze-casting and paleontology, her work speculates on our own futurity and fossilization. Reformative monuments, memorials, and artifacts become an act of queer place-making while contemplating human sustainability when facing imminent change. Pulling from experiences as a foundry craftsperson and metalworker allows her to navigate between structure and experimentation within a queer context, exploring the possibilities of a separated difference.
Budd has been awarded various inspiring artist residencies including PLAYA Summer Lake, the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences, Vermont Studio Center and Recology San Francisco, the latter at which she spent four months developing a body of work made from materials gleaned archaeologically at the city dump. Budd earned an MFA at California College of the Arts where she received a Cadogan scholarship from the San Francisco Foundation, and a BFA in Sculpture at Miami University. Budd has exhibited throughout the US including at SOMArts Cultural Center and Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco, Site:Brooklyn, the Barrick Museum of Art in Las Vegas, the University of Arizona in Tucson, and SEED Lab at the Anchorage Museum. Currently serving as Visiting Assistant Professor of Sculpture at UNLV, both her personal practice and teaching philosophy consider the renewal and redefinition of transformed worlds towards inclusive and equitable futures.
News:
Aluminati News here.
October 2023 - Read Budd's essay, Cruising the Monuments of the Outskirts of Las Vegas (After Robert Smithson's A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey), in The New Geologic Epoch, curated by Mary Mattingly, an ecoartspace online exhibition and book. Page 147.
August 2023 - Budd was featured in the Discovery network's season premiere of Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America, to share her reseach on the hidden queer history of Rhyolite, Nevada and the temporary monument she made to memorialize it. Season 2, Episode 1. Available on Discovery Plus.
September-October 2023 - Of the Land, curated by Anna Tsouhlarakis, is on view at the Lightwell Gallery for the Mid-South Sculpture Alliance Confab 2023 in Norman, OK, from September 5 to October 7.
July 2023 - Budd's work for Modern Desert Markings mentioned in Rethinking land art at the Barrick by Brent Holmes for Double Scoop Nevada.
July 2023 - Budd's work for Modern Desert Markings mentioned in Artists React to the Legacy of Nevada Land Art in Modern Desert Markings by Steve Jansen for Southwest Contemporary.
June 2023 - Watch the Artist Symposium for Modern Desert Markings, hosted by Nevadans for Cultural Preservation, HERE.
April 2023 - Budd's essay, Aluminati: Rekindling a Forgotten Future of Foundry, for Couch in the Desert, shares an in-depth look at the Aluminati project past, present, and future.
March-July 2023 - Digging Machine (for an End of the World) on view at the Barrick Museum of Art for Modern Desert Markings: An Homage to Las Vegas Area Land Art, in collaboration with Nevadans for Cultural Preservation, curated by Katie Hoffman and Hikmet Sidney Loe, from March 14 to July 8.
March 2023 - View Climate Patinations in Passengers Journal Volume 4, Issue 1.
February 2023 - Read Budd's column for Climate Patinations at Neon Door.
April 2023 - View Alchemy, a virtual group exhibition for Create! Magazine, curated by Charuka Arora, Victoria J. Fry, and Mona Lerch.
February-April 2023 - Breaking Ground: Art About the Earth, a group show at Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center, curated by Anna Davis, opens February 10.
October 2022 - Budd's Memorial for Queer Rhyolite is featured in Stacker's Landmark LGBTQ+ history in every state (Nevada).
May-July 2022 - Forgotten Artifacts, a group show highlighting cast metal arts in Las Vegas curated by Ross Takahashi, on view at Core Contemporary in Las Vegas, Nevada through July 22, 2022. View the Artist Talk HERE.
Opening April 2022 - Late Bloomer, artist talk and exhibition with D'Clinic Studios in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary.
Opening April 22, 2022 - Mixed Media now viewing online at Site:Brooklyn. Curated by Anastacia Bloch.
October 11-November 7, 2021 - Tractor Online Virtual residency blog with D'Clinic Studios in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary.
June 2021 - Manifesto-The Future is Queer, a group show at Proyectos Galeria, Mexico City, MX.
June 2021 - Whiptail, a solo show for Outback Arthouse, opens June 12.
February 27-March 7, 2021 - Temporary Institute of Early Art. A collaborative research-based exhibition presented by Pancake House in partnership with the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library. Minneapolis, MN.
January-March 2021 - Water Slipping Through Our Fingers: An Art Memoriam to Lives Impacted by Police Violence at West Las Vegas Library. Presented by Families United 4 Justice Las Vegas, Forced Trajectory Project and Desert Arts Action Coalition, the exhibition holds space for and amplifies the voices of those who have survived or lost loved ones to police violence.
December 2020 - New Monuments for a Future Las Vegas, an exhibition by Settlers and Nomads for Nevada Humanities Gallery in Las Vegas, NV and online. Curated by Wendy Kveck.
October 2020 - Future-Ready: Survival Now + Next, a project by SEED Lab at the Anchorage Museum, is a virtual exhibition that explores diverse interpretations of future-readiness, both practical and speculative. Anchorage, AK.
September 17, 2020 - Budd served as a panelist for A Virtual Salon: Nevada's Public Monuments, hosted by Nevada Humanities.
September 2020 - Budd's essay, Queer Cities and Their Temporary Monuments, historicizes Queer Rhyolite and reflects on the desire for a new kind of monument made for the queer future. Written for Nevada Humanities Double Down Blog.
July 2020 - Memorial for Queer Rhyolite published in Engaging Collections, a journal sharing projects at the intersections of art + equity with libraries, archives, and special collections.
July 2020 - Budd received a Certificate of Completion from the Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art in Berlin, Germany (remote), with a focus on Care, Caring and Repair in Cognitive Capitalism.
June 2020 - Budd talked to The Washington Post about Memorial for Queer Rhyolite and the continued importance of the Stonewall Park story. By Diane Bernard.
June 2020 - The Exorcism of Emily Budd was featured in Stone Fruit Magazine, Issue 03: Sanctuary. Stone Fruit is a zine on queerness and religion based in Chicago. Purchase here - all sale proceeds will be donated to the Brave Space Alliance building campaign.
May 2020 - Researcher Profile: Emily Budd, shares more on working with the Stonewall Park Collection at UNLV Special Collections and Archives while researching Memorial for Queer Rhyolite. By Su Kim Chung.
May 2020 - Queers Just Wanna Have Fun, Queerly Collective.
April/May 2020 - Working Artist Award Recipient.
March 2020 - Grow Some Bulbs is featured in Truck Sluts Magazine
November 2019-January 2020 - Archway exhibited in the group show The Snake Eats Its Tail at University of Arizona Joseph Gross Gallery in Tucson, AZ. Curated by Brooke Grucella & Kristin Bauer.
October 2019 - Memorial for Queer Rhyolite, a temporary monument to dreams in the dust is installed for the Bullfrog Biennial in Rhyolite, NV. Curated by Sierra Slentz.
2019-present - Memorial for Queer Rhyolite at the Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite, NV.
November 2018 - OtherPeoplesPixels Interviews Emily Budd, OtherPeoplesPixels Blog. By Stacia Yeapanis.
Watch a bronze pour here.