Lee Running

Recognized for her arresting sculptures, Lee Emma Running’s work directly engages our relationship with the natural world. Her sculptures made of roadkill animal bones, kiln-cast glass, and precious metals were the center of a solo exhibition, Verge at PACE in Council Bluffs IA in 2021/22.

In 2022/23 she is the artist-in-residence with Opera Omaha and was a 2022 speaker at TEDx Omaha. Her window installations using images of native plants are permanent fixtures in the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs; the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Bernheim, Kentucky; and the Edgar Fine Arts Center at Upper Iowa University. Her work has been featured in recent exhibitions at St. Ambrose University, the Morris Graves Museum, Eureka, California, and the Western Carolina Museum of Fine Art, Cullowhee, North Carolina. She has been an artist-in-residence at Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture, Ucross, Santa Fe Art Institute, Jentel, and the Penland School of Crafts. Her sculptures, installations, and drawings are deeply connected to place.