Sophia Ainslie’s journey overseas from South Africa was instigated by a series of sponsored opportunities to attend artist workshops and residencies in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Having time to focus and experience a new landscape opened up new areas in her studio practice. The need for more of these circumstances brought her to Boston, via San Francisco, to finish her studies. Under the sponsorship of her patron, Henny Kirshon, and the Art History Department at Tufts, she pursued her MFA at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts. After graduating, she received the Anne and Graham Gund award to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, in Maine.
Ainslie is the recipient of the Inaugural Hendricks Art Fund for Tufts Graduates; the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship for Painting; and the Artist’s Resource Trust. Other awards include participation in residencies such as NIROX Foundation in South Africa, Triangle and ART/OMI in NY; Gasworks in London, Thapong International in Botswana, Southern Africa; and Thupelo international in Johannesburg and Cape Town South Africa.
Ainslie is an abstract artist working between drawing and painting. Her work focuses on the connection between diagnostic imaging technologies and landscape, interior and exterior, and the microscopic and macroscopic.
Ainslie is represented by Gallery Naga and maintains a studio in Somerville.
Research/Publications Highlights
Publications
Monographs
2021 Amy Halliday, Celine Browning, Sophia Ainslie. 2021. Sophia Ainslie – Drawing Breath, 10 years, Boston, MA: Gallery NAGA.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Exhale: A Multisensory Art Experience, Wilson Museum, Manchester, VT (curated by Brian O’Malley)
2021 Call and Response, Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI
2021 (re)Tell, HallSpace, Dorchester, MA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2021 Spill Without Splatter, Gallery Naga, Boston, MA
Fairs
2020 AREA CODE Art Fair Main Section: solo presentations, juried by Octavio Zaya
Departments
Art + Design
Education
- MFA, School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University, Boston
- Teacher’s Training, Johannesburg Art Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa
Awards
- 2023 Commission: Permanent site-specific mural, Private Residence, Chestnut Hill, MA
- 2022 Commission: Site-specific mural, Global Tech Company, Cambridge, MA
- 2021 Commission: Site-specific mural, Global Tech Company, Cambridge, MA
- 2020 Award: Excellence in Teaching, CAMD, Northeastern University, Boston MA
- 2020 Commission: Site-specific mural, Boston City Hall, Boston MA
- 2019 Internal Grant: Office of the Provost, Full-Time Faculty Professional Development Fund, Northeastern University, MA
- 2019 Commission: Site-specific mural, Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center, Harvard University, Cambridge MA
- 2019 Commission: Permanent site-specific wall painting, Private Residence, Cambridge, MA
- 2018 Commission: Public mural: Hubweek Walls, Boston, City Hall Plaza, Boston MA
- 2018 Commission: Permanent site-specific wall paintings, Studio Allston Hotel, Suite 411, Boston, MA
- Recipient of the Inaugural Hendricks Art Fund for Tufts Graduates
- Fellowship in Painting Massachusetts Cultural Council
- Finalist in Drawing: New England Art Award, New England Journal of Aesthetic Research
- Residency: Nirox International, Gauteng, South Africa
- Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Three–month international residency program (Ann and Graham Gund Fellowship)
- Grant: Artist Resource Trust
- Grant: The George Sugarman Foundation
- First Prize in Drawing, Staffrider, Johannesburg, South Africa
- First Prize in Drawing, New Visions, Johannesburg, South Africa
Professional Experience
- “Last Touch 2” (solo exhibition), Transit Gallery Harvard Medical School, Boston
- “Last Touch” (solo exhibition), Gallery Naga, Boston
- “Paintings by Sophia Ainslie” (solo exhibition), Mayor’s Art Gallery, Boston
- “Groundswell”, Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire, Paul Creative Arts Center
- “Drawing Project: Paper Chassis”, Hallspace Boston
- “Working Women: 36 Contemporary Women Artists”, Marian Graves Mugar Art Gallery, Colby-Sawyer College New London NH
- “In Person—574” (solo exhibition), Remis Sculpture Court, Aidekman Art Center, Tufts Univeristy
- “Interstitial” (solo exhibition), Carol Schlosberg Gallery, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly
Past Clients
- My work is in extensive private and public collections in the States and abroad.
