I am Tracie Noles-Ross. I am a multidisciplinary storyteller living and working in Birmingham, Alabama. I hold a B.A. from the University of Alabama in Birmingham with a concentration in Visual Arts and Creative Writing. In my work, discarded and forgotten objects are reconfigured, braiding themes of memory, place, identity, and environmental issues; encouraging a shift in perspective. The process disguises the object’s original form and purpose and brings forward new narratives. Strongly committed to understanding the place I am from, I explore aspects of the biologically diverse Alabama landscape, concepts of family and southern culture, deconstructing them for the purpose of improvement and growth while concurrently protecting, preserving, and celebrating this place I call home.
I am a member of the PaperWorkers Local artist collective in Birmingham, Alabama, the Alabama Women’s Caucus for Art, and the International community WEAD–Women Eco Artists Dialog. I was the recipient of the 2023-2024 Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artists Fellowship.
Selected Exhibitions:
2025
Embodied: Contemporary Takes on the Dress, Johnson Center for the Arts, Troy Alabama. April 2025. Curator: Leanna Lesley.
PaperWorkers Members Exhibition, Birmingham Alabama. April 2025.
6,000 Circles Southeast Regional Exhibition, Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment. April 2025.
The Robin Nance Metz juried Art Exhibition at Shelby County Arts Center, January-March 2025. Awarded Best in 3D.
2024
B24: Wiregrass Biennial, Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan, Alabama. Jurors: Amanda Karioth Thompson and Carrie Jaxon. July 21 – September 28, 2024.
PaperWorkers Members Exhibition, Birmingham Alabama, June 2024.
The Feminine I, Alabama A&M University Gallery, Huntsville Alabama. April 2024.
2023
Solo exhibition, Catawampus, Hoover Public Library, Hoover Alabama. October-November 2023.
Make –>Forward: Ground Floor Contemporary group exhibition, Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment, Huntsville, Alabama. October-November 2023. Curator: Miriam Omura.
Stories: Repeat After Me, group exhibition, Shelby County Arts Center. Curator: Doug Baulos. September 2023.
Embodied: Contemporary Takes on the Dress, Jacksonville State University. Jacksonville, Alabama. August 2023. Curator: Leanna Lesley.
Group exhibition for Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship recipients at Georgine Clarke Alabama Artist Gallery in Montgomery, Alabama. August 2023.
Embodied: Contemporary Takes on the Dress, Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, Alabama. June 2023. Curator: Leanna Lesley.
Sculpture Safe Harbor selected for Fiber Arts Now Paper Made Print Exhibition summer issue, July 2023.
Alabama A TO Z: 45TH Biennial Museum Exhibition, Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, Alabama, June-September 2023. Curator: Dana-Marie Lemmer, executive director and curator of the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Alabama.
Embodied: Contemporary Takes on the Dress, Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, Alabama. June 2023. Curator: Leanna Lesley.
G. R. I. T. S. A group exhibition exploring feminism in the south. April-May 2023. Curator: Holly Bells.
Begonia, Group exhibition at Ground Floor Contemporary, Birmingham, Alabama. April 2023
PaperWorkers Local 10th Anniversary Members Show, Birmingham, Alabama. April-May 2023.
Avant: Five Contemporary Voices: Work by Melinda Crider, Dariana Dervis, Tracie Noles-Ross, Miriam Omura, and Chiharu Roach, Tennessee Vallery Art Museum. February 2023.
The Robin Nance Metz juried Art Exhibition at Shelby County Arts Center, January-March 2023. Juror: Randy Gachet. Awarded Best in 3D.
Lost and Found, 2 person show with Miriam Omura and the Columbus Arts Council, Columbus Mississippi. February 2023.
2022
Ordinary Things, group show with Tara Lee Stallworth and Elaine Kinnard at Ground Floor Contemporary, Birmingham, Alabama, October 6-22, 2022.
Embodied: Contemporary Takes on the Dress, Union Grove Gallery University of Alabama in Huntsville, October 4-November 3, 2022
Creating with the Land, a group exhibition at the Georgine Clark Alabama Artist Gallery in Montgomery, Alabama, August 1 and runs through October 28.
B24: Wiregrass Biennial, Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan, Alabama. July 22 – September 24, 2022.
Apparition in the Kitchen, solo exhibition, Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment in Huntsville, Alabama, April 26-June 11, 2022.
Painting at Night, Collarworks, Troy New York, May 7-July 31, 2022.
Still, Stay Home Gallery, Paris, Tennessee, April -May 2022.
Tide Pools, group exhibition at Ground Floor Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama, April 7-23, 2022.
The Black Cherry Tree Project, Gallery Vox, Birmingham, Alabama, April 2022.
2021
Hierophantic Territories, Ground Floor Contemporary Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama with Liza Butts and Lauren Woods, October, 2021.
More Tales from the Brambly Thicket, solo exhibition at Tennessee Valley Art Association, August 13-September 18, 2021.
Rooted in HIstory: Interpreting Alabama’s Folk Art Traditions, a juried exhibition sponsored by the Historic Huntsville Foundation, June – September 2021. Awarded Best in Show.
Emergence, a juried exhibition at Tennessee Valley Art Association, jurors Stacey Holloway, Darius Hill, and Wayne Sides. June 1- July 2, 2021.
Intersections, gallery collective exhibition curated by Jason Tanner Young at Ground Floor Contemporary in Birmingham, Alabama, May 2021.
Solo exhibition: Tales from the Brambly Thicket, Gadsden Museum of Art in Gadsden, Alabama. April/May 2021.
Layers and Crucibles with Leah Karol and Chiharu Roach at Ground Floor Contemporary in Birmingham, Alabama, March 2021.
Shelby County Arts Council Adult Juried Art Exhibition at Shelby County Arts Council, Columbiana, Alabama January-March 2021. Juror: Nelson Grice. Awarded Best in 3D.
2020
Alabama Sampler at the Aaron Sanders Head studio in Greensboro, Alabama. November 7, 2020-January 2, 2021.
Hope/Revolution Stay at Home Gallery and Residency in Paris, Tennesee. Juror: Lauren Harris. October 2020-January 2021.
80/20 Juried exhibition at Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment in Huntsville, Alabama. September 30 – November 14, 2020.
Gaia Theory Query curated by Celeste Amparo Pfau, Haco NYC, Brooklyn, New York. March 2020 (postponed due to Covid-19 closures).
ALWCA Member Showcase 2020, UAH Union Grove Gallery, Huntsville, Alabama. March 2020.
Small Works Juried exhibition at A Smith Gallery Photographic Arts, Johnson City, Texas. Juror: Kevin Tully. January 10- March 8, 2020.
The 19th Amendment at 100: Women’s Voices Then and Now Juried exhibition at Swords into Plowshares Peace Center & Gallery, Detroit, Michigan. January 24-February 29, 2020.
Shelby County Arts Council Adult Juried Art Show at the Shelby County Arts Council, Columbiana, Alabama. Winner of Executive Directors Choice award. January – March 2020.
54th Annual National Drawing and Small Sculpture Show Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX. Juror: Katherine Liontas-Warren, Professor of Art at Cameron University. Winner of Honorable Mention award. February 21-May 8, 2020.
2019
Solo exhibition: Madwoman and the Woods at Paperworkers Local in Birmingham, Alabama.
MINT Summer Invitational at the MET, Curator Jessica Helfrecht, MINT Gallery, Atlanta Georgia.
A Sense of Place Juried Exhibition Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, Georgia. Juror: Anne Marchand. Winner of Honorable Mention award. September 2019.
Unbound: A Juried Member Exhibition with Alabama Women’s Caucus for Art at Lowe Mill ARTS and Entertainment. Juror: Maria Spies, director of the ceramic arts program at the Eastern Shore Art Center in Fairhope, Alabama.
Connections, gallery collective exhibition curated by Ty Smith of Department of Art & Art History at the University of Alabama at Birmingham at Ground Floor Contemporary Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
Building Bridges: Mentors in the Arts 2010-Present, curated by Julie Watters at Gallery Vox, Pinson, Alabama.
2018
Exhibition 21, Ground Floor Contemporary Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
Making Room: Stories about Ghosts, Ground Floor Contemporary Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama with Ashley Wingo and Emily Rice.
Poustinia, a permanent site-specific art installation at The Red Mountain Community School in Birmingham, Alabama.
Water of Alabama, PaperWorkers Local’s second annual juried exhibition, Birmingham, Alabama. Juror: Graham C. Boettcher, Ph.D., the R. Hugh Daniel Director of the Birmingham Museum of Art. First place winner.
B18: Wiregrass Biennial, Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan, Alabama Jurors: Elizabet Elliott, Curator of Programs at the Mobile Museum of Art, and Jackie Clay, Director of the Coleman Center for the Arts in York, Alabama.
Night Festival, Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve, Birmingham, Alabama.
A Look at Us: a juried exhibition, Juror: Sara Garden Armstrong, Daisie Hoitsma and Miriam Omura, Ground Floor Contemporary Gallery in Birmingham, Alabama.
2017
Ink Only, Juror: Katie Baldwin, art professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, UAB Project Space hosted by Paperworkers Local, Birmingham, Alabama
Night Festival: A Nocturnal Celebration of the Natural World, Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve. Curator Jon Wooley.
Prelude Calavera Invitational, Naked Art Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
2016
Solo exhibition: Vespertine, Naked Art Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
Prelude Calavera Invitational, Naked Art Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
Solo installation: Haiku Islands, Naked Art Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama. Winner of Silvertron award.
2013
Solo exhibition: The Brambly Thicket, Bridgestreet Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
From Black and White to a World of Color at the Alabama Power Archives Museum. Curator: Dan Bynum.
2012
Reflections of Food in Alabama Art, Art Folk Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama. Curator: John Lytle Wilson.
2011
Alabama Signatures: Contemporary Expressions, Alabama Artists Gallery at the Alabama State Council on the Arts in Montgomery. Curator: Georgine Clarke.
Farewells and Introductions, New Orleans, Louisiana. Curator: John Fields. Prospect 1.5.
The Milkweed Project, a collaborative installation. The Eclipse Gallery, Algoma, WI. Project Architect: Shan Bryan-Hanson.
2010
Traveling exhibition Heads Up Alabama, a public art project of the Alabama Psychological Association Foundation. “Back to Nature” sculpture permanently installed at Lister Hill Library at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Birmingham Biennial 3. Juror: Dan Cameron of Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans and creator of Project 1
2016-2010
Dia de las Muertos, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama
2009
Solo exhibition: Honey in My Eye, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
2006
New Works by Tracie Noles-Ross and Wendi Flowers, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
2004
Solo exhibition: Calliope’s Moon, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
2003
Electra, Alabama Power Juried Exhibition, Birmingham, Alabama.
2002
Allegory of the Senses, Sensational New Works by Tracie Noles-Ross and Olsen Ross, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham.
The Gift Project, Plattsburgh, New York, Plattsburgh State University. Curator: Diane Fine.
Dwelling, invitational, Opelika Art Association, Opelika Alabama. Curator: Allyson Comstock.
2001
Solo exhibition: Milk to Mud: The Recrudescence of Self, The University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama.
Visual Conversations: Three Alabama Artists, Alabama State Council on the Arts Alabama Artists Gallery, Montgomery, Alabama. Curated by Georgine Clarke.
Letters Home sculpture displayed in the Regiment of Columns in the Alabama Veterans Memorial. Honoring Alabama Veterans of the 20th Century.
Breaking Up Winter, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
Women of Taste, Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, California.
Behind the Yellow Door curated by Derek Cracco, 21st Street Studios Birmingham, Alabama.
Art’s Alive, Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts, Florence, Alabama.
Recycled Art, Nonesuch Gallery, Huntsville, Alabama.
Firsts: The Personal and The Historical, an invitational exhibit sponsored by the UAB Women’s Studies Department and hosted by Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama. Curator and exhibiting artist.
2000
Solo exhibition: Heroines in Troubled Fields, installation, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
Art’s Alive, Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts, Florence Alabama.
1999
Solo exhibition: The Rock Beneath the Sand, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
1998
Solo exhibition: La Architectura del Nido, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
The Fourth Floor, A collaborative painting with Olsen Ross at The Ferguson Art Gallery at The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.
1997
Shrines: The Sacred and Secular in Contemporary Southern Art, Lenox Square, Atlanta,Georgia
Triumvirate, A Collaborative Installation with Joe Ross and Arthur Price at Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
1996
Solo exhibition: The Infamous and The Remarkable, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham.
Arts Alive, The Kennedy Douglas Center for the Arts Juried Exhibition, Florence, Alabama. Juror: Georgine Clark.
1995
Ten Book Artists: One of a Kind Artists Books, Maralyn Wilson Gallery Birmingham.
Traveler’s Feast, The Dr. Pepper Complex. Birmingham. February-March.
The Distance Between Two Hearts, A Collaborative Installation with Marcia Bacon Connolly, The Birmingham Art Association.
The Distance Between Two Hearts, A Collaborative Installation with Marcia Bacon Connolly, The Ferguson Art Gallery at The University of Alabama.
Solo exhibition: Ardor and Faith, solo exhibition Artomotive, Birmingham.
1994
Solo exhibition: Babies on the Moon, Birmingham Art Association.
1993
To Be… The Kentler International Drawing Space, New York. Curated by Florence Neal.
Somalia Benefit, A group exhibition of 7 Birmingham artists for International relief, Miyagi Ken, Japan.
1992
Favorable Bed: A Study in Paradoxical Personae, A collaborative installation with Olsen Ross at The Fifth Gate Arts Center
We Live in a Political World, The Fifth Gate Arts Center. Birmingham. October.
Solo exhibition: Superstition and Personal Ritual. The Fifth Gate Arts Center.Birmingham. February 7-28.
Sanctuary as Canvas, An FMC Installation at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Birmingham.
1991
Filling The Dream Organ, An FMC Installation, The Fifth Gate Arts Center.
The Age Of Nimbus Monsters, An FMC Installation, Converted Birmingham storefront.
1990
The Second Annual Flood and Mystic Chamber Salon, 10.2.4 Gallery, Birmingham.
1989
The First Annual Flood and Mystic Chamber Salon, SoMo Gallery, Birmingham.
1988
The Other Side, A Collaborative Installation with Olsen Ross at Space One Eleven.
1987
The Eaten Ones, A group exhibition with Olsen Ross and Douglas Baulos at The University of Alabama at Birmingham Visual Arts Gallery.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Cover art for the Summer 2020 “f-visions” feminist journal of Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Center based in Tokyo
Cover art for “Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society”, the journal of women’s and gender studies published by The University of Chicago Press, Autumn 2021.
Illustrator of “The Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild” by award winning author and naturalist Lyanda Lynn Haupt (Little, Brown and Company).
Reynolds, Michelle. “Making Art With Needle and Thread.” Two artists combine textiles and storytelling, HGTV, Jan. 2019. www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/embroidering-stories–making-art-with-needle-and-thread-pictures.
“I Create Birmingham: Tracie Noles-Ross.” Create Birmingham, 8 Nov. 2017,createbirmingham.org/i-create-birmingham-tracie-noles-ross/.
Massouleh, Tara. “Moss Rock Festival Featured Artist Uses Nature and Women as Inspiration in Art.” AL.com, AL.com, 1 Nov. 2017,www.al.com/bhammag/2017/11/moss_rock_festival_featured_ar.html.
Reed, Emily “Weaving The Everyday Into Art” Hoover’s Magazine, 24 Oct. 2017,www.hooversmagazine.com/why-tracie-noles-ross-was-chosen-as-2017s-featured-artist-of-moss-rock/.
Walden, Rebecca. “Artist Tracie Noles-Ross and Her Family Are Living and Learning from the Land.” B-Metro Magazine., b-metro.com/into-the-woods/4809/.
Reynolds, Michelle. “Her Wild Acres.” Alabama Gardener Magazine.
AWARDS
2022
Recipient of the Alabama State Council Visual Arts Fellowship 2022-2023
2021
Awarded Best in Show. Rooted in HIstory: Interpreting Alabama’s Folk Art Traditions, a juried exhibition sponsored by the Historic Huntsville Foundation.
Awarded Best in 3D. Shelby County Arts Council Adult Juried Art Exhibition at Shelby County Arts Council, Columbiana, Alabama.
2020
Executive Director’s Choice Award, Shelby County Arts Council Adult Juried Art Show at the Shelby County Arts Council, Columbiana, Alabama.
Awarded Honorable Mention at 54th Annual National Drawing and Small Sculpture Show Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX. Juror: Katherine Liontas-Warren, Professor of Art at Cameron University.
2018
First place winner for Water of Alabama, PaperWorkers Local second annual juried exhibition, Birmingham, Alabama. Juror: Graham C. Boettcher, PhD, the R. Hugh Daniel Director of the Birmingham Museum of Art.
2017
Moss Rock Festival, Featured Artist, Birmingham, Alabama.
2001
Award of Excellence awarded by The University of Alabama at Birmingham Women’s Studies Program for curating Firsts: The Personal and the Historical, an exhibition honoring Women’s History Month sponsored by the UAB Women’s Studies Program, hosted by Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama.
1999
Scholarship, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass, Colorado for Paint as Substance encaustic painting workshop with Sono Osato
1992
Winner of Regional Artists Project Grant, The Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans for the exhibition Favorable Bed: A study in Paradoxical Personae.