Little Big ANT
About the Artist:
Anthony “Ant” Naimo (he/him; they/them), queer artist and fabricator. Their practice combines collage, illustration, and photography to construct fanciful realities fabricated from familiar materials. Naimo plays with themes of impermanence, worldbuilding, and appropriation as activism.
I come from a family of collectors. My grandmother is a magpie, and my father is a packrat. There is a story contained in each artifact they steward: how and where an object was acquired, how long they have cared for it, the origin of each dent and scratch from a lifetime of use. Their collections come to represent their life stories. Those narratives elevate the value of the object associated with them. Knickknacks and paperstock curios become irreplaceable heirlooms.
I carry on my family’s affinity for the stewardship of found and discarded materials. I love to imagine my materials for what they could be, rather than what they are — which oftentimes is common junk. The curious and electric question of, “what else could this be,” is paramount to my artistic interests.
I believe that to collage is to transmute the familiar into the fantastic. It is a means to traverse the minutiae of life through the discard of others: snippets of imagery, photography or found objects, reconnecting bits of fleeting data and prose.
I recognize my practice as contributing to a larger conversation of queer futurism and worldbuilding as art. To me it is a source for understanding the presence of materials in our lives by investigating how the values of objects shift with context and exchange of stewardship. My works consider the activity of acquiring objects and stories to reflect our sense of identity, the idiosyncracies of collection, and the importance of forging fictions to propagate seedlings of a better tomorrow.
To Collage is to Transmute the Familiar into the Fantastic
Education
Master of Fine Arts: Metals Design, 2020 - 2023
East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
Bachelor of Fine Arts: Photography, 2016 - 2020
Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO
Professional Development
Residencies
Artist, Sprint Pentaculum | Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN | May 2024
Artist, Collage & Illustration Residency: Frankenstein | Kolaj Institute, Burlington, VT | Aug. 2023 - Sept. 2023
Workshops
Instructor, Advanced Digital Collage in Photoshop | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | May 2023
Instructor, Chimeras & Collage | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | Oct. 2022
Instructor, Chimeras & Collage | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | Oct. 2021
Studio Assistant, Finding the Souls of Forgotten Materials | Penland School of Craft, Bakersville, NC | July 2022
Studio Assistant, Finding the Souls of Forgotten Materials | Pocosin School of Craft, Columbia, NC | Aug. 2022
Student, Traditional Handsewn Leatherwork | Penland School of Craft, Bakersville, NC | June 2022
Student, Abaca Hemp and Flax Papermaking Workshop | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | April 2022
Student, Experimental Letterpress | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | March 2022
Student, Single-Sheet Handmade Book Forms | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | March 2022
Student, Paper Marbling | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | March 2022
Student, Finding the Souls of Forgotten Materials | Arrowmont School of Craft, Gatlinburg, TN | July 2019
Conferences
Co-Chair, Material Topics Symposium | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | Aug. 2021 - Jan. 2023
Conference Assistant, Across Borders IX | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | May 2022
AWARDS
Penland School of Craft's HEPP Scholarship | 2022
Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft's Horn Foundation Scholarship | 2022
East Carolina University School of Art Scholarship | 2021 - 2023
Claire E. Armstrong Scholarship | 2021 - 2023
J. Satterfield & Jenni K. Jewelry Scholarship | 2021 - 2023
Barbara McFadyen Metals Scholarship | 2020 - 2021
Rice, Donald and Dorothy Myers Scholarship | 2018 - 2020
Distinguished Scholar Award | 2020
Northwest A+ Award | 2021 - 2023
Exhibition Record
Solo Exhibitions
Assembly Required | Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, NC | March 2023
Somnambulist's Book of Meanings | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | Sept. 2022
Juried Exhibitions
In Our Place | MidwestNice Art, Aberdeen, SD | April 2023
Here There and Nowhere | juror select | University of Montana, Missoula, MT
Annual SOAD Graduate Exhibition ‘22 | Joyner Library, Greenville, NC | Nov. 2022
Annual SOAD Graduate Exhibition ‘21 | Joyner Library, Greenville, NC | Nov. 2021
Annual SOAD Graduate Exhibition ‘20 | Joyner Library, Greenville, NC | Nov. 2020
Exhibitions
Midwest Salon | MidwestNice Art, Aberdeen, SD | Jan. 2024
Cut Me Up: Souvenir | Albany International Airport, Albany, NY | July 2023
Nice;01 | MidwestNice Art, Aberdeen, SD | July 2023
Oops! We Arted | Burroughs Wellcome Gallery, Greenville, NC | March 2023
We Say Gay | ECU Student Art Gallery, Greenville, NC | Oct. 2022
Digital Art, Assemblage, & Cut Paper Collage | Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY | Sept. 2022
Pride Invitational | Proctor-Yongue House, Greenville, NC | June 2022
Interlaced Certainty | Health Sciences Campus Student Center, Greenville, NC | Sept. 2021
Student Summer Showcase | Deluce Gallery, Maryville, MO | Sept. 2019
Undergraduate Student Show | Deluce Gallery, Maryville, MO | Aug. 2019
Hobbs Spring Opening | The Hobbs Building, Kansas City, MO | Oct. 2018
Exhibitions Juried
Signal Jammers | Midwest Nice Art, Aberdeen, SD | April 2024
Eastern North Carolina Regional Scholastic Art Awards | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC | Jan. 2024
Lectures
The Queering Principles of Science Fiction & Collage | Research & Creative Achievement Week, Greenville, NC | April 2023
Assembly Required Tour | Guided tour at Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, NC | March 2023
Assembly Required Artist Talk | Exhibition reception at Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, NC | March 2023
Trash Magic: A Wastelander’s Guide to Collage | Research & Creative Achievement Week, Greenville, NC | April 2022
Greebles, Wiggets, & Bips:The Art of Coalescence | Research & Creative Achievement Week, Greenville, NC | April 2023
Publications
Featured artist for Cut Me Up Magazine Issue 11: Souvenir | July 2023
Featured artist for Dead Peasant Magazine | Aug. 2021
Collaborator for Everyday Apocalypse by Kate Laster | Jan. 2021 - March 2021
Featured artist for Rebel Art and Literary Journal | Jan. 2021
Featured for Dead Peasant Magazine | Aug. 2020
Featured artist for Medium Weight Forks | Sept. 2019
Editorial illustrator for Northwest Missourian | Aug. 2019 - Nov. 2019
Featured artist for Medium Weight Forks | Sept. 2018