Alison O'Leary, M.F.A.

Ali O’Leary is a mixed media conceptual artist. She combines embroideries and textiles with photography. Her artwork currently explores self-representation while going between digital and tactile environments. O’Leary exhibits these photographic fiber works in galleries across the Southeast. She is engaged with local contemporary art and participates in the art community.

O’Leary grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She lived in New York City after graduate school where she worked in a fashion and design studios. She returned to the South to start a family and now has two toddler boys with her partner in Atlanta, Georgia. O’Leary continues to do freelance work, alongside her studio practice, in photography and graphic design.

Education and art have been consistent threads in Ali O’Leary’s life, growing up in a university town and academic family and always with a sketchbook. She has worked with a wide range of students (elementary through university and continuing education). She is a passionate interdisciplinary teacher bringing current events and contemporary artists alongside history into the classroom. She believes in being encouraging while showing arts’ critical edge and social relevance. O'Leary currently teaches foundational courses at UNG.

• M.F.A. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Visual Art, 2013
• Post Baccalaureate in Visual Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art and Design, 2011
• B.A., Barnard College at Columbia University, 2010