Leah Koransky works between photography, collage, printmaking, sculpture, painting, and design. She uses light, color, and form to explore the precarious relationship between place and self.

She lives and works in Berkeley, CA. She received her BFA from California College of the Arts in San Francisco, CA and her BA from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. She is currently an MFA candidate in the School of Art at San Francisco State University.

Her work has been featured at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado, form & concept in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Tiger Strikes Asteroid in Brooklyn, NY; the Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA; Open Windows Cooperative, San Francisco, CA; San Francisco Design Week, and The Future Perfect, Brooklyn, NY. In 2020 she co-founded Deep Time Press︎︎︎, an independent publishing imprint that focuses on concepts of time and place, with photographer Justin James King.
CV

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Leah Koransky: 100 Days, Morningtide, Albany, CA, October 5 – November 5, 2018

Seawitches Artist-in-Residence Show, Open Windows Cooperative, San Francisco, California, December 9–15, 2017

SITE-SPECIFIC PUBLIC ART INSTALLATIONS

Wanda 2.0—SF Design Week, John Maher Alley, San Francisco, CA, June 15, 2017

Wanda, John Maher Alley, San Francisco, CA, November 18, 2016

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

So Far So Far, MFA Thesis Show, San Francisco State University Fine Arts Gallery, April 26 – May 16, 2024, catalog essay by Sofía Cordova

Wonder, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, January 31 - September 30, 2024

2023 Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition, September 15–October 6, 2023, SOMArts San Francisco

Pyramid Scheme, Bass & Reiner, San Francisco, CA, Spring 2023

Tuna fish sandwich (Yoko Ono), Public Performance curated by Mike Arcega, Art Market San Francisco at Fort Mason, April 20, 2023

Neighboring Sounds, the first-year MFA show at San Francisco State University, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA, January 30 – February 3, 2023 

under a rock, along the shore, form & concept, Santa Fe, New Mexico, November 15 – January 28, 2023

Light Breaking Open, LABA Bay Area Exhibition, Berkeley, California, December 3, 2022

Comment, JCC Taube Center for Jewish Peoplehood, San Rafael, CA, September 12, 2022 – January 4, 2023

that space, that garden, curated by Madeline Cass, Wallspace-LNK, Lincoln, Nebraska, July 8 – July 30, 2022

Between Here and Now, in conjunction with Vantage Points, New York, NY, May 6 – 15, 2022

Ephemeral Existence, in conjunction with Teleportal, Satchel Projects, New York, NY, January 12 – 29, 2022

Silver-Iron-Light, The Mildred Complexity, Narrowsburg, NY, November 2021 

TSA_PDF x SVA: The Artist Residency Project, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Brooklyn, NY, April 2 – 30, 2021

Members Exhibition, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California, January 1 – 31, 2020

All Gold Turns 3, All Gold, Oakland, California, June 29 – July 31, 2019

East Bay Open Studios, Firehouse Collective, Berkeley, California, September 22, 2019

Berkeley Women’s Center Fundraiser Show, All Gold, Oakland, California, December 8, 2018

Creating the Illusion: Psychic Echoes, Gristle Gallery, Brooklyn NY, January 30 – March 9, 2015

Greenpoint Open Studios, Brooklyn, New York, September 8–12, 2012

Hue Are You? The Future Perfect, Brooklyn, New York, March 20–April 30, 2008

Senior Thesis Exhibition, The Nave, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA, 2008

ARTIST RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS & AWARDS

2023
Cadogan Contemporary Art Awardee

Leo D. Stillwell Jr. Graduate Student Scholarship

2022
Kala, Artist-in-Residence: Photography (film)| Alternative Photographic Processes, and The Digital Lab

LABA East Bay, Visual Arts Fellow

2021
Mildred’s Lane, Fellow, June 2021

SVA Artist Residency Project, February – March 2021


PUBLICATIONS (AS AUTHOR)

2022
Drawing Trees (contributing writer, illustrator, and designer), edited by Sara McKay, Published by Princeton Architectural Press

PUBLICATIONS (AS DESIGNER)

Nancy Grace Horton: Photographs, published with funding from New Hampshire Council for the arts, 2021

Giants Cave, Justin James King, Published by Deep Time Press, 2020

Salt and Dust, Justin James King, Published by Deep Time Press, 2020

Yearbook, Paolo Arao, Published by Paolo Arao, 2018

Seawitches, A Zine for Waterpeople, Published by Other Side of Surfing Press, 2017–2021

Paula Hayes, Paula Hayes and Richard D. Marshall, Published by The Monacelli Press, 2015

TEACHING AND MENTORSHIP

San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Advanced Photography (experimental and alternative processes), Spring 2023

California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Graphic Design Undergraduate Thesis Advisor, 2018–2020

California College of the Arts Extension, San Francisco, CA Lecturer, Graphic Design, 2018–2020

UC Berkeley Extension
Guest Lecturer, Graphic Design, 2018

GRAPHIC DESIGN & ART DIRECTION EXPERIENCE

2008 – Present
Leah Koransky Design
Freelance Designer

2015 – 2018
Landor, San Francisco, CA
Senior Designer

2013 – 2015
Language Dept., New York, NY
Senior Designer

2011 – 2013
Laird & Partners, New York, NY
Designer

2008 Pentagram, New York, NY
Junior Designer

EDUCATION
 
MFA (Expected 2024), San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA

BFA, Graphic Design, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

BA with a Concentration in Printmaking/Painting, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
 
Semester Abroad in Printmaking/Painting, Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice, Italy

Summer Study in Photography, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL