Adam Wolpa
Art Department
Calvin College
3201 Burton SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
616 304 6272 wolpa@calvin.edu
EDUCATON
2001
MFA with Honors in Printmaking, School
of Art & Art History,
The University of Iowa. Minor in Drawing.
2000
MA in Printmaking, School of Art
& Art History, The University of
Iowa. Minor in Drawing.
1996
BA Highest Distinction in Studio Art,
McIntire Department of Art,
The University of Virginia. Concentration in Sculpture.
ACADEMIC AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS
2001
New American Paintings, The M.F.A.
Annual 2001, Juror: Lisa Phillips.
2000
Iowa Arts Fellowship, University of
Iowa.
1999-2000
Teaching Assistantship, School of
Art and Art History, University of Iowa.
1998-1999
Iowa Arts Fellowship, University of
Iowa.
1996
Highest Distinction, Distinguished
Majors Program,
McIntire Department of Art, University of Virginia.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES
2002
Condimentalism, Fayerweather Gallery,
Rugby Road sidewalk, Charlottesville, VA.
Free hot dogs are delivered from the gallery onto the sidewalk via Märklin
electric train for passers-by to enjoy.
2001
Full Service, Men’s Restroom,
Iowa Memorial Union, Iowa City, IA.
Wolpa is the IMU bathroom attendant for Spring semester 2001.
Goodbye, Edward, Goodbye, Museum of
Art, Iowa City, IA.
Farewell and mourning of Edward Weiss.
2000
The Beginning and The End, Iowa City,
IA.
Wolpa repeatedly dips sheets of paper in local hog’s blood.
1999
The Valley of Dry Bones, Eve Drewelowe
Gallery,
School of Art and Art History, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
Hot Off the Press, Southern Graphics
Council Conference,
Arizona State University,Tempe, AZ.
Distribution of The Printmakers Left Issue No. 2 in disguise. Begins in
auditorium during panel discussion and proceeds outdoors.
Hot Off the Press, Downtown, Iowa
City, IA.
Distribution of The Printmakers Left Issue No. 1, Super Bowl Sunday.
1997
Works on Paper, Studio 14, San Francisco,
CA.
Prints, drawings, and collages with multi-media opening reception.
1996
Woolen Mills, Charlottesville, VA.
Interactive puppet show at abandoned power plant for Civil War Uniform Mill.
Language, sculpture, sound, fire, machine, installation, and sublime combine
to generate conceptual steam and revival.
Big Head Graduates, The Lawn, University
of Virginia.
Wolpa receives diplomas wearing giant cardboard head.
The Appendectomy, Fayerweather Gallery,
University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, VA.
Audience removes a puppet’s appendix in front of video stage.
1995
Fast Food For, The streets of Los
Angeles, CA.
Free puppet show for any interested viewer. Wolpa wears big head and solicits
no response.
COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITIONS
AND PERFORMANCES
2004
The Hall of Horrors, The Heartland,
Grand Rapids, MI.
2001
in Attendance, CSPS, Cedar Rapids,
IA. Ready Table installation with Harmon and Sprecher.
Tent of Meeting, School of Art and
Art History, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
Collaborative installation with Alan Harmon; people meet for conversations
about the art, the conversation is the art.
The End of Language Record Release
Party, Byron Burford Gallery, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
Debut of the 7” mastered by Wolpa, Harmon, Quinn and pressed in clear
vinyl.
2000
Competitive Writing, Eve Drewelowe
Gallery, School of Art and Art
History, University of Iowa Iowa City, IA.
Viewers play table tennis using paddles and balls which are assigned letters.
Wolpa and Quinn document games as poems by stamping corresponding letters
as match progresses. POMOPOMOP POMOPO.
Listen to Us, Iowa City, IA. Public
Mural with Justin Quinn.
1999
Cow Catchin’ Days ‘99,
Iowa River, Iowa City, IA.
Passers-by are welcomed to spear cows from the Iowa River.
Prizes and free milk. Co-authored with Justin Quinn.
Volksgraphics, University of Iowa
Homecoming Parade, Iowa City, IA.
INVITATIONAL/GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2004
Curator, Ordinary Aura, UICA, Grand
Rapids, MI.
Action Packed!, Delta Axis at Marshall
Arts, Memphis, TN.
(re)narrate, UICA, Grand Rapids, MI.
The Circular Ruins, Bayley Art Museum,
Charlottesville, VA.
2003
The Funnel, UICA, Grand Rapids, MI.
The Circular Ruins, Bayley Art Museum,
Charlottesville, VA.
The Fringe Festival, Old IGA, Charlottesville,
VA.
2002
Circular Ruins, Zoller Gallery, Penn
State University, State College, PA.
Flickering Signifiers, Zoller Gallery,
Penn State University, State College, PA.
9-11-01: Reflection, Les Yeux du Monde,
Charlottesville, VA.
2001
New Work, Fayerweather Gallery, University
of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
Ready Table, Marxhausen Gallery, Concordia
University, Seward, NE.
Artist’s Books and Folios, Leroy
Neiman Gallery, Neiman Center for
Print Studies, New York.
The Fringe Festival, Frank Ix Building,
Charlottesville, VA.
MFA Thesis Show, University of Iowa
Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA.
Border Crossings 2001- International
University Invitational,
Southern Graphics Conference, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin,
TX.
25 schools select two students from each instituation.
2000
Snapshot, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore,
MD.
Iowa Printmakers:10, Jewett Art Center,
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA.
Ausstellung der University of Iowa,
Galerie im Fenster, Osnabruck, Germany.
As A Light, Checkered Space, School
of Art and Art History,
The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
Collaborative, interactive, multi-media installation by members of The Ready
Table.
Altering Tradition, Summit Street
Gallery, Iowa City, IA.
Lost in the Labyrinth, Artspace, Newcomb
Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
Funny Bones, Byron Burford Gallery,
School of Art and Art History,
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
1999
Southern Graphics Council Print Exchange
Exhibition,
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
Farewell to the Twentieth Century,
Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI.
International Mail Art Exhibition.
1998
Prints by Iowa Graduates, Boyd Tower,
University of Iowa
Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA.
1996
Student Video Festival, University
of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
PUBLICATIONS
POWWOW
March 2003-present
Let's have a powwow.
ALL ABOARD
September 2001.
Free book component to faculty show installation.
The HOME OF ROGER LUTTSKI
April 14, 2000.
Collection of Bowling Poems By Iowa Writers.
THE PRINTMAKERS LEFT
February 1999-May 2000.
Monthly magazine with political, social, and spiritual implications, collage
aesthetic, and satire. Distributerd locally for free and alsoavailable by
subscription (subscription includes original artwork by Iowa artists each
month).
PRINT EXCHANGE PORTFOLIOS
2004
Space
25 Artist Books, The last project of Fayerweather Hall Print Shop, University
of Virginia, VA.
2002
(The Circular Ruins)
Collaborative exchange portfolio resulting in 25 hand sewn books,
based on the Borges story. Prints from Virginia, Alabama, Texas,
Iowa, New York, and Arizona.
2001
Coralville Express Second Annual Regional
Exchange
Prints from Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, and Ohio.
The End of Language
Prints from Iowa,Virginia, Alabama, Ohio, Rome, Los Angeles, Krakow.
7” record of phone conversation made in collaboration with Justin
Quinn and Alan Harmon. Project theorist.
2000
Labyrinth A3 International
Prints from Virginia, Iowa, Rome, Wyoming, Illinois, Massachussettes, Georgia.
Coralville Express Regional Print
Exchange Portfolio
Prints from Iowa, Kansas, and Illinois.
1999
A3 International
Prints From Virginia, Helsinki, New York, Iowa, Massachussettes,
Philadelphia, Iowa Site Coordinator.
Southern Graphics Council.
SGC Conference, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
1998
A3 International
Prints from Virginia, California, and Helsinki.
COLLECTIONS
The University of Virginia Special
Collections
The University of Iowa Rare Books
Arizona State University
Museum of Art, The University of Texas
at Austin
Print Archive, School of Art and Art
History, University of Iowa.
Southern Graphics Council
Jyvaskyla Art Museum
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carol Knowles, "Act Up: Getting
Involved in Delta Axis' Action Packed," The Memphis Flyer, (April 23,
2004).
Genevieve Smith and Carly Nicholson
“Condimentalism- A New Taste in Art,” The Declaration, (February
7, 2002), v30n4: 12.
Arshiya Singh, “Art You Can
Eat,” The Cavalier Daily, (February 5, 2002): B3-4. Aaron Steinberg,
“Life is long, art is beef,” C-VILLE Weekly (January 29- February
4, 2002): 24.
Andrew Shurtleff, “Frankly,
it’s art,” The Daily Progress, (January 19, 2002): A1.
Steven Zevitas, ed. New American Paintings:
The M.F.A. Annual 6
The Open Studios Press, Wellesley, Mass (August 2001): 106-9.
Mark Wilson, “Finding the art
of science fairs,” Daily Iowan,
(November 3, 2000): 10A.
Matthew Holst, "Art Exhibit to
Open," Iowa City Press-Citizen,
(August 29, 2000): 2A.
Sarah Clunis, "Frighteningly
anthropomorphic," Icon, (July 13, 2000): 9.
Jeremy Erwin, "Printmaking in
a Heaven Called Iowa," Daily Iowan,
(February 3, 2000): 1C.
Pressed and Pulled VIII, Georgia College
and State University,
Exhibition Catalogue.
Brian Ray, "Shish Kebab,"
Daily Iowan, (October 4, 1999): 1A.
TV News, KGAN News Channel 2, October 1, 1999.
