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Bio
Rachele Riley is a multimedia artist and graphic designer passionate about typography, code, imaging, visual data and language. She is focussed on shaping poetic, empathetic, and research-based approaches to art and visual communication. Her multi-faceted work explores representations of conflict and the relationships between history, change, and environment, and is deeply engaged with the material systems of archives. She is interested in creating generative context-driven works that visually and conceptually inspire thought, feeling, and action.

Rachele has presented, published, and exhibited her work in national and international settings—at Artist Replete Gallery in Chicago, IL (2024); at 1708’s Gallery InLight21 in Richmond, VA (2021); at Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York (2019); the Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington, NC (2018); the Baltic Centre in Gateshead, UK (2013); and at SIGGRAPH in Vancouver, Canada (2014), among other venues. Her project, The Evolution of Silence (launched in 2013), which explores the impact of forty-one years of post-WWII nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site, was named an Official Honoree in NetArt by The Webby Awards (2014) and also recognized by AIGA Philadelphia Design Awards (2017). Her design work has been recognized by  Communication Arts Magazine (Typography Annual) (2018), Print Magazine’s Design Regional (2008), and is featured in the book, Motion Design (Woolman, 2004). She has collaborated with Daniel McCafferty and Joshua Singer on Different Data (a project that explores design systems relating to cities, dynamics, and resources) and with participants of DesignInquiry (DI) from 2011–2016.

Rachele holds a MFA in Design/Visual Communication from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), a Vordiplom in Communication Design from the Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle in Germany, and a BS in Studio Art from New York University (NYU). She is currently Associate Professor of New Media and Design and the College of Visual and Performing Arts Graphic Designer at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

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CV (curriculum vitae selected 2007–present)
contact me for my full cv → rachele at rachele riley dot com
Rachele Riley, born in Washington, D.C.

Education
2005—MFA, Design/Visual Communication, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
2001—Vordiplom, Communication Design, Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule, Halle, Germany
1994—BS, Studio Art, New York University, New York, NY
1990—Washington International School, Washington, DC

Awards
2018—Award of Excellence, Typography, Communication Arts
2017—AIGA Philadelphia Design Award, Philadelphia, PA
2014—Official Honoree in NetArt, The Webby Awards
2008—Print Magazine Design Regional Issue

Full-time Faculty Positions
2023–present—University of North Carolina Greensboro, Associate Professor of New Media and Design, Greensboro, NC (tenured)
2017–2023—University of North Carolina Greensboro, Assistant Professor of New Media and Design, Greensboro, NC (tenure-track)
2014–2017—University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Champaign, IL (tenure-track)
2009–2014—The University of the Arts, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Philadelphia, PA
2007–2009—University of North Carolina Charlotte, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Charlotte, NC (tenure-track)
2005–2007—Virginia Commonwealth University, Administrative Director & Assistant Professor of Kinetic Imaging, Richmond, VA

Exhibitions
2024—Artist Replete Gallery, Chicago, IL
2022—Art Produce Gallery, Posters of Optimism, San Diego, CA
2021—1708 Gallery’s InLight 2021, Richmond, VA
2021—Marking Time, Horace Williams House (with Susan Finer), Chapel Hill, NC
2019—Acid Rain, Attic 506, Chapel Hill, NC
2019—DesignInquiry: Futurespective, Institute of Contemporary Art, MECA, Portland, ME
2019—Another Potato Chip Weekend, Gallery Oneoneone Annex, Carrboro, NC
2019—Ambiguous Territory [traveling], Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca, NY
2019—Black Hole/Atomic City, Sanitary Tortilla Factory, Albuquerque, NM
2019—Ambiguous Territory [traveling], Pratt Manhattan Gallery, NY
2018—Digital Disobedience, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
2018—Cucalorus Film Festival, Wilmington, NC
2018—Ambiguous Territory [traveling], University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
2017—Ambiguous Territory: Architecture, Landscape, and the Postnatural, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2016—AIGA Philadelphia Design Awards Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA
2016—Data Materialities, SIGGRAPH 2016 Art Gallery, Anaheim, CA
2016—Artifact and Process, Weeks Gallery, Jamestown, NY
2015—Different Data Detroit+Stockholm, NORDES 2015, Stockholm, Sweden (with Joshua Singer and Daniel McCafferty)
2014—Different Data Detroit, Depe Space/MOCAD, Detroit, MI (with Joshua Singer, Daniel McCafferty, and Patricio Davila)
2014—Acting in Translation, SIGGRAPH 2014 Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (curated by Basak Senova)
2013—Praxis and Poetics, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art,  Gateshead, UK
2010—Art in the Air, PECO Crown Lights, Philadelphia, PA
2009—Art in Academia, Space 301, Mobile, AL
2008—Media X,1708 Gallery,  Richmond, VA
2008—Overload Virtual Art Collection, Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Athens, GA
2008—Paperwork In, On, and Of Paper IV, Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO
2007—Gallery 400, Pathogeographies: Or Other People’s Baggage, Chicago, IL
2007—Titles: An Exhibition of Artists’ Book Works, Balfour Books, Toronto, Canada
2007—The Drawing Room, Fine Arts Gallery VCU, Richmond, VA

Publications
2022—Ambiguous Territory exhibition catalog, Actar Publishers
2019—AIGA Frontier conference proceedings (with Joshua Singer)
2018—Displacements journal. Reality/Fiction, Vol.2, pg 50–54, GIPC Cultural Landscape Research Group, Madrid, Spain
2016—Design Cities: Berlin, DesignInquiry publisher
2015—Reflections on Research through Design, Studies in Material Thinking: Visual/Textual, Vol 13, Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
2015—Cumulus: The Virtuous Circle, conference proceedings (with Joshua Singer)
2014—Leonardo, Journal of Arts, Sciences and Technology, SIGGRAPH 2014, Volume 47, Number 4
2013—Praxis and Poetics: Research Through Design, conference proceedings
2013—Make/Do, DesignInquiry publisher
2009—White Space in Design, Sandra Wheeler, Angela Patchell Books
2008—100’s Visual logos & Letterheads, Matt Woolman, Angela Patchell Books, p.26
2008—Print Magazine Regional Design Annual 2008

Lectures + Presentations
2024—Artist talk, College Art Association Conference, Chicago, IL
2021—1708 Gallery, virtual
2020—Southeastern College Art Conference, virtual
2016—AIGA Design Educators Conference, Frontier, Bozeman, MT
2016—VCU, Department of Graphic Design, Richmond, VA (with Joshua Singer and Daniel McCafferty)
2016—SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, NY
2016—Weeks Gallery, Gallery talk ‘Artifact and Process,’ Jamestown, NY
2016—College Art Association Conference, Design Colloquium, Washington, D.C.
2015—Mapping Ephemeralities, Art & Cartography, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2015—DesignInquiry NO QUO, Vinalhaven, ME
2015—EuDesignRadio, Live interview at Cumulus, Milan, Italy (with Joshua Singer)
2015—Cumulus: The Virtuous Circle, Milan, Italy (with Joshua Singer)
2014—GIS Day—Discovering the World through GIS, Champaign, IL
2014—Re: the City, Humanities Center Symposium, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
2014—Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
2014—SIGGRAPH 2014 Art Gallery Talks, Vancouver, Canada
2013—New Paradigms in Teaching and Learning, AICAD Symposium, Baltimore, MD
2013—Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA
2013—Praxis and Poetics: Research Through Design, Baltic Center for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
2013—DesignInquiry Station, Vinalhaven, ME
2012—Remaking Research, AICAD Symposium, Vancouver, Canada
2012—DesignInquiry/Design City: Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2012—Texas State University San Marcos, San Marcos, TX
2011—DesignInquiry: Make/Do, Vinalhaven, ME
2010—College Art Association Conference, Chicago, IL
2009—College Art Association Conference | ARTspace, Los Angeles, CA
2008—Southeastern College Art Conference, (presented with Stephanie Hutin), New Orleans, LA

Workshops + Learning
2022—Generative Typography (workshop with Lynne Yun & Kevin Yeh), Type at Cooper, Cooper Union
2021—Pattern and Animation with Python & Drawbot (workshop with Maurice Meilleur), Typographics Festival
2021—Animating with Risographs (workshop with Kelli Anderson)
2021—Artist-centred Platforms (workshop with Craig Fahner)
2021—Python for Visual Designers (workshop with David Jonathan Ross), Type at Cooper
2021—Creative Writing with Computation (workshop with Allison Parrish), Anderson Ranch Arts Center
2021—Coding for Artists P5.js (workshop with Ari Melenciano), Anderson Ranch Arts Center
2019—Blow-Up: Exploration and Discovery (workshop with Casey Reas), Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
2018—Animating Video with Code: Generative Cinema (workshop with Casey Reas), Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
2016—Text as Image, Type as Thought (workshop with Marianne Dages), Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC

Grants
2024—Dean’s Creative Research Award, University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG)
2023—Dean’s Creative Research Award, UNCG
2022—Dean’s Creative Research Award, UNCG
2021—Dean’s Creative Research Award, UNCG
2021—Faculty Research Leave, UNCG
2020—Dean’s Creative Research Award, UNCG
2020—Faculty Research Grant, UNCG
2019—Faculty First Research Grant, UNCG
2019—Dean’s Creative Research Award, UNCG
2018—Dean’s Creative Research Award, UNCG
2017—Dean’s Creative Research Award, UNCG
2016—Work Study Scholarship, Penland School of Craft
2015—Creative Research Award, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
2014—Faculty Academic Development Fund, The University of the Arts
2012—Faculty Research Semester Course Release, UArts
2011—Faculty Enrichment Grant, UArts
2013—Hatchfund Open Match Fund
2012—The DigitalGlobe Foundation Imagery Grant
2008—Center for Humanities, Technology and Science, University of North Carolina Charlotte
2008—Faculty Research Grant, UNCC
2007—College of Arts and Sciences Small Grant, UNCC

Artist Residencies
2015—DesignInquiry NoQuo, Vinalhaven, ME
2014—DEPE Space—DesignInquiry, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI
2014—DesignInquiry DesignCity, Detroit, MI
2013—DesignInquiry Station, Vinalhaven, ME
2012—DesignInquiry DesignCity, Berlin, Germany
2011—DesignInquiry Make/Do, Vinalhaven, ME
2007—Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Amherst, VA

Graphic Design Experience
2023–present—University of North Carolina Greensboro, CVPA Graphic Designer, Greensboro, NC
2023–present—School of Art, UNCG
2023—College of Visual and Performing Arts, UNCG
2023—Ideas on Purpose
2021—Leah Sobsey
2020—Tungsten Branding
2020—LEA Studios, LLC, LEA logo
2019—Sheryl Oring, Mauer Broadcast
2019—Barbara Campbell Thomas, Thisness
2017—Revolve/MAP, Holler logo
2015—Kid Owned and Operated Play (KOOP), logotype and identity system
2011—UArts, Creative Director & Co-Coordinator, Active Territory
2011—College of Media Arts and Communication, UArts, Design Does
2009—College of Arts and Architecture, UNCC
2009—Ron Johnson
2008—Stephen Vitiello, Four Sounds
2007—Department of Sculpture + Extended Media, VCU, Ann Agee
2007—Graduate Artists Association, VCU, MFA Thesis exhibition publication

Community
Type Directors Club, Member
Letterform Archive, Member
AIGA, Member
DesignInquiry, Member, Board of Directors
DesignInquiry, Participant
New Media Caucus, Member
College Art Association, Member
SIGGRAPH, Member

Skills
Processing, p5.js, Python, Jupyter Notebook, Drawbot
HTML, CSS, Glitch, WordPress, Figma
Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, AfterEffects, Premiere, Media Encoder, Acrobat)
Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Office, Keynote, Google Workspace

Languages
English (native)
German
French

 

rachele at rachele riley dot com → linkedin → instagram → vimeo → research blog