Education

2023_MFA in Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2012_BFA in Interarts (Sound), George Mason University School of Art, Fairfax, VA

Solo Exhibitions

2018_A Lesser Light, VisArts, Rockville, MD

2012_Orphan, Artisphere, Arlington, VA

Residencies, Fellowships, Awards

2024_Stove Works, Chattanooga, TN

2023_Art Farm, Marquette, NE

2021-23_Sam Fox School of Art & Design Ambassador Full Tuition Fellowship, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2021_Sam Fox School of Art & Design Time Based Media Arts Fellowship (inaugural), Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2019_Halcyon Arts Lab Studio Fellowship, Washington, DC

2017-24_Vermont Studio Center Artist-in-Residency (4) Full Fellowships, Johnson, VT

2018_Montgomery College Artist-in-Residence, Takoma Park, MD

2017_VisArts Studio Fellowship, Rockville, MD

2017_Rocklands Artist-in-Residency Fellowship, Seattle, WA

2016–20_DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship, Washington, DC

2014_Exercises 11 Residency, Transformer Gallery, Washington DC

2014_Spotlight Artist Grant Arlington County VA

2009–12_School of Art Merit-based Tuition Scholarship, Honors, and President’s Awards, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Collaborative Projects

2023_Resonance: Nue Landscapes, culinary and sound experience (with curator Brianna McIntyre and ceramicist Jamie Harris), The Luminary, Saint Louis, MO

2020_SMUDGE, off-site pop-up with Transformer Art Space, Washington, DC (with multimedia artist, Amy Hughes Braden)

2019_Constituents, Brentwood Art Exchange, Brentwood, MD (with sculptor, Emily Francisco)

2018_Bipedal Soundscapes, Arlington Art Truck, Arlington, VA (with sculptor, Emily Francisco)

2016_No Sharps, No Flats, Transformer Gallery, Washington, DC (with designer, Adam Richard Nelson Hughes, sculptor, Emily Francisco, and thirty local musicians)

2016_Just the Tip [Iceberg], Cafritz Arts Center, Silver Spring, MD (with multimedia artist, Amy Hughes Braden)

2014_Bottomless Mimosas, Delicious Spectacle, Washington, DC (with multimedia artist, Amy Hughes Braden)

2013_Mirrorspeak , EMP Collective, Baltimore, MD (with multimedia artist, Amy Hughes Braden)

Selected Exhibitions/Performances

2023_The Buoyancy Show, Lemp Brewery Complex (curated by Anika Todd and Abby Flanagan) St. Louis, MO

2023_The Air That Inhabits, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, MO

2022_Parabola, Des Lee Gallery, St. Louis, MO

2021_Purgatory, pop-up show at the abandoned Craft Alliance Building, St. Louis, MO

2020_Halcyon Fellowship Retrospective, International Arts & Artist at Hillyer, Washington DC (Cancelled: COVID-19)

2017_Well, Well Past the Echo, Reston Arts Center, Reston, VA (Commissioned performative response to Sue Wrbican’s Well Past the Echo)

2015_Implicit Bias, Joan Hisaoka Center for the Healing Arts, Washington, DC

2015_Tilling Phase, Pop-up, Hyattsville, MD

2014_Outside and Play, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC

2014_Fermata, Artisphere, Arlington, VA

2013_Outside and Play, site specific performance, (E)merge Art Fair, Washington, DC

2013_Bella Russia Endurance Performance, Artisphere, Arlington, VA (with musicians, Nathan Mitchell and Joshua Braden)

Selected Public Art Commissions

2024_Be As Water, Dynamic LED installation with accompanying murals, tilework, and architectural intervention, Arthur Avenue Underpass, Nashville, TN

2023_Mainframe Donor Recognition Speaker Wall, multimedia and interactive audio installation, Mainframe Studios, Des Moines, IA

2022_Borealis, Dynamic LED installation, 8th Street Viaduct, City of Des Moines, IA

2019_Low Pass, motion-activate light and sound installation, Duke Street Tunnel, City of Alexandria, VA (with collaborative, Zerozero Collective)

2016_Oral Histories/Oral Futures, DC Funk Parade and DC Public Archive, Washington, DC (with historian, Seshat Walker and writer, Erik Moe)

2016_Boombox, iOS Application, Funk Parade, Washington DC (with Deloitte Digital)

2014_Piece and Quiet: a Discreet Sound Installation, Arlington County Libraries, Arlington, VA

2014-17_Axon Xylophone Bridge, motion-activated light and sound installation, Ballston Business Improvement District, Arlington, VA (with collaborative, Zerozero Collective)

Selected Auctions/Festivals

2020_By the People, Hirshhorn Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (Cancelled: COVID-19)

2016–18_SXSW, Austin, TX

2015–18_Transformer Annual Silent Auctions, Corcoran College of Art and American University Katzen Art Center, Washington, DC

2015_Select 2015: WPA Art Auction Gala, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC

2011_Sonic Circuits, Silver Spring, MD

Lectures/Workshops

2023_Lecture/Presentation, Lost in Space, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2022_Workshop, DIY Contact Microphones, Fox Fridays, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2019_Lecture/Presentation, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC (with sculptor, Emily Francisco)

2018_Lecture/Presentation, Montgomery College, Silver Spring, MD

2017_Workshop, VisArts, Rockville, MD

Teaching and Related Experience

2023_Teacher’s Assistant to Dr. Meghan Kirkwood, Advance Darkroom Printing Techniques, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2022_Teacher’s Assistant to Jennifer Colten, Black and White Photography, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2022_Teacher’s Assistant to Jonathan Hanahan, Conditional Design, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2009-12_Studio Manager, Sound Art Studio, George Mason School of Art, Fairfax, VA

Bibliography

Mark Jenkins, “In the Galleries: Braden & Francisco” The Washington Post, 2019.

Mark Jenkins, “In the Galleries: A Lesser Light, Reviewed” The Washington Post, 2018.

Margaret Carrigan, “A Cassette-Based Symphony that Erodes with Time” Hyperallergic, April 26, 2016. https://hyperallergic.com/294017/a-cassette-based-symphony-that-erodes-with-time/

Mark Jenkins, “In the Galleries: Artwork that’s Designed to Fail” The Washington Post, 2016.

Kriston Capps, No Sharps, No Flats at Transformer, Reviewed, Washington City Paper, 2016.

Kriston Capps, Tilling Phase, Reviewed, Washington City Paper, 2015.

Christina Cauterucci, “Crash Through a Ball Pit of Empty Cans in ‘Bottomless Mimosas’”

Washington City Paper, 2014.

Alex Braden, artist, and Emily Francisco, artist, and gallery support specialist, department of media production, National Gallery of Art In this conversation held on November 4, 2019, as part of the Works in Progress series, artists Alex Braden and Emily Francisco discuss how they develop collaborative projects in relation to their independent artistic and curatorial practices. Last year Braden and Francisco created Bipedal Soundscapes, the inaugural Arlington Art Truck activation that involved participants pedaling a stationary bike to power a five-tiered turntable housing vinyl records. Each visitor created their own unique audio experience by controlling the speed of the turntable through their pedaling.

National Gallery of Art

Collaborations and Investigations in Sound: Emily Francisco and Alex Braden

November 2019

Washington Post

A Lesser Light, Reviewed

Mark Jenkins, January 2018

Hyperallergic

A Cassette-Based Symphony that Erodes with Time

Margaret Carrigan, April 2016

The Washington Post

In the Galleries: Artwork That's Designed to Fail

Mark Jenkins, April 2016