Lee Emma Running’s work embraces the beauty and complexity of the natural world. Guided by simple material investigations, her sculptures, installations and drawings are deeply connected to place.
Running was awarded the 2017 Iowa Arts Council fellowship. In 2018 she completed a major permanent installation in the Edgar Fine Art Building at Upper Iowa University, and a temporary installation in the Governor’s Office at the Iowa State Capital using herbarium samples from the 1800’s as inspiration. In the last year she has exhibited her work at the Morris Graves Museum, Eureka CA, Western Carolina Museum of Fine Art in North Carolina, the Front Gallery, New Orleans, LA, The Dubuque Museum, Dubuque, IA and the National Taiwan University of the Arts. She has been an artist in residence at the Jentel Foundation, Sheridan WY, Penland School of Crafts, Penland N.C., Constellation Studios, Lincoln NE and The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson VT. In 2020 she will be artist in residence at the Bernheim Forest in Kentucky.
Her work is in international public and private collections, and she is represented by Olsen Larson Galleries in Des Moines IA where she lives. Running was born in Minnesota, grew up in Colorado, received her BFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY and her MFA from the University of Iowa. She is currently Full Professor of Art and Chair of the Studio Art Department at Grinnell College. In 2020 she will be appointed the director of the Center for Prairie Studies at Grinnell College.
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