Emily Sheffer is a photographic artist, educator, and book designer. She is the founder of Dust Collective, a handmade photography book publisher, and is the photography studio director of Barbara Bosworth. Emily earned her MFA in photography from The University of Hartford, and BFA in Photography from The Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography at the University of Hartford.
Contact Emily at emsheffer14@gmail.com
Links
In Time: Barbara Bosworth and Emily Sheffer - Rivalry Projects, Summer 2023
Art New England - Feature, November 2018
Teaching
Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography, University of Hartford, 2023-present
Visiting professor, Photo Books, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 2023
Visiting professor, Photo Books, Arizona State University, online, 2023-present
Education
MFA in Photography, University of Hartford, 2022
Recipient of Merit Scholarship
BFA in Photography,
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 2015
Graduation with Departmental Honors
Professional Experience
Dust Collective: Handmade Photography Books, founder, 2017-present
Studio Director, Barbara Bosworth, 2015-present
Research Assistant, Sharon Harper, Harvard University, 2018-2021
Collections
Harvard Fine Arts Library, Cambridge, MA
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
Tusen Takk Foundation, Leland, MI
Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Awards
Tusen Takk Artist-in-Residence, Leland, MI, 2022
Book Artist In Residence, Maine Media Workshop and College, Rockport, ME, 2019
Review Santa Fe 100, CENTER, Santa Fe, NM, 2016
LensCulture Top 50 Emerging Photographer, 2015
Scholarship recipient, Maine Media Workshops, Rockport, ME, 2015
The Hearst Fund Scholarship recipient, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen, CO, 2014
Lectures
Rivalry Projects, Buffalo, NY, 2023
Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2022
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 2022
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, for Photo Books course, Boston, MA, 2022
Virtual Assembly, Gnomic Books, “On Photo Books”, online, 2022
Traverse Area Library, Tusen Takk Artist-in-Residence lecture, Traverse City, MI, 2022
Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, 2021
California College of the Arts, 2020
Bowling Green State University, 2020
Selected Exhibitions
In Time, Emily Sheffer and Barbara Bosworth, Rivalry Projects, Buffalo, NY, 2023
Notes from a Detour, University of Hartford Photography Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, Hartford, CT, 2022
What Photography Is, The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA, Curated by Kyra Schmidt, 2022
32nd Annual Benefit Art Auction, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA, 2021
A Yellow Rose Project, Boston University, Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery, Boston, MA, 2021
A Yellow Rose Project, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO, 2021
Dust Collective: Handmade Photography Books, Aviary Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA, 2021
29th Annual Benefit Art Auction, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA, 2018
Intimate View, New England School of Photography, Boston, MA, Curated by David Hilliard, 2017
Fay Chandler Emerging Art Exhibition, Scollay Square Gallery, Boston City Hall, Boston, MA, Curated by Karen Haas, 2016
Format, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC, Curated by Laila Abdul-Hadi Jadallahi, 2016
Texas National 2016, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, TX, Curated by Abelardo Morrell, 2016
LensCulture Emerging Talent Exhibition, San Francisco Camerawork Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2015
New England Photography Biennial, Danforth Art Museum, Framingham, MA, Jurors award recipient, 2015
Senior Thesis Photography Exhibition, The President’s Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA, 2015
Selected Press
Art New England, Autumn 2019, Storytelling in Rockport: The Expanding Universe of Maine Media Workshops and College,
an article about Emily Sheffer’s time as a book-artist-in-residence at Maine Media Workshops
Bookmarks: Dust Collective, Don’t Take Pictures, online interview
In Conversation: Emily Sheffer and Dust Collective, online interview with curator Kyra Schmidt
Dust Collective: Handmade Photography Books
Collections
The New York Public Library
The International Center of Photography
Tufts/ The School of the Museum of Fine Arts Library
Peabody Essex Museum
Harvard Fine Arts Library
Light Work
Designer and publisher on the following titles
Diana’s Baths by Barbara Bosworth
Swifts by Barbara Bosworth
From Where the Sun Now Stands by Barbara Bosworth
Stellar Skytron by S. Billie Mandle
Chicory by Elizabeth Billings, Barbara Bosworth, and Margot Kelley
Queen Annes Lace by Elizabeth Billings, Barbara Bosworth, and Margot Kelley
Tide and Air by Barbara Bosworth, Danielle M Dean, and Alyssa Minahan
Light of the Eclipse by Barbara Bosworth
Coastal Matter by Kyra Schmidt
High Tide: Montauk Point by Joni Sternbach
Self-published Titles
Of Clay by Emily Sheffer
A Short History of Cyanotype by Emily Sheffer
Eclipse of the Sun by Emily Sheffer
Spring Equinox by Emily Sheffer
Winter Solstice by Emily Sheffer
Selected Book Exhibitions
Multiple Formate, Boston University, Boston, MA, 2023
Boston Art Book Fair, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, 2022
International Center of Photography Photobook Fest, New York, NY, 2022
Paris Photo New York (cancelled due to Covid), 2020
Virtual Assembly, online book fair, 2020
Boston Art Book Fair, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, 2019
The Humid, pop-up bookstore, Athens, GA, 2019
New England Art Book Fair, SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME, 2019
Northampton Print and Book Fair, Northampton, MA, 2019
Photographic Center Northwest, pop-up bookstore, Seattle, WA, 2019
The Photography Show presented by AIPAD, New York, NY, 2019
Boston Art Book Fair, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, 2018
Northampton Print and Book Fair, Northampton, MA, 2018
Odds and Ends Art Book Fair, Yale, New Haven, CT, 2018
Philadelphia Art Book Fair, Philadelphia, PA, 2018
Boston Art Book Fair, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, 2017
Odds and Ends Art Book Fair, Yale, New Haven CT, 2017