Kit MacNeil

Kit MacNeil (they/them) is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in Printing History, Culture, and Practice, at St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto. MacNeil is a genderqueer visual artist with an MFA in Studio Art from SUNY University at Buffalo and a BA in Studio Art from the College of Charleston. MacNeil’s art has exhibited in China, France, and numerous institutions across North America including the Print Center New York, Print Austin’s the Contemporary Print, and at the Western New York Book Arts Center. Their research has been funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the South Carolina Arts Commission, and they were a Semifinalist and award winner for the annual international competition at the Print Center in Philadelphia in 2020. MacNeil has completed residencies at Tsinghua University, the Western New York Book Arts Center, Open Studio, and the Vermont Studio Center.

MacNeil’s artistic practice researches the ways print media intersects with performance art to explore embodied understandings of gender, illness, and trauma. In their work, MacNeil’s practice explores bodily impressions and queers notions of the matrix and substrate. MacNeil’s art interrogates the moments when the boundaries between viewer and artist break down and become enmeshed. Their work invites a queer intimacy of direct relation with material and viewer. Whether it’s following a set of instructions, eating a piece of paper, or envisioning the actions behind a series of marks, in these relations each enact a vulnerability and a responsiveness. Through this push and pull between artist and material, material and viewer, viewer and artist, roles and boundaries are subtly queered and new connections generated. MacNeil’s work initiates intimate moments that question the solidity of interpersonal connections and point to the mutability of bodies in contact.

 

Areas of Expertise

• Print Media Practices
• Research Creation & Artistic Practices
• Book Arts
• Performance Art
• Queer & Disability Informed Approaches to Print
• Community & Non-Profit Print Studios

 

Links

Portfolio: knmacneil.com

 

Selected Exhibitions

The Mirror Blinked, with Henry Gepfer, Open Studio, Toronto, Canada

Are We on the Same Page, with Henry Gepfer, Fried Fruit Gallery, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC (2024)

What I’ve Been Trying to Say, Solo Exhibition, CFA Project Space Gallery, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY (2024)

at-home apothecary, or EXTRA STRENGTH + PAIN RELIEF, Solo Exhibition, Centre[3] Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario (2022)

residue, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC (2018)

I’m trying to remember, pero nunca olvidaré, with Carlos Llobet, WNY Book Arts Center, Buffalo, NY (2018)

Vicious Cycle, Solo Exhibition, CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2018)

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

Queer Impressions: Experimental Approaches to Print, Ohklahomo, Chicago, IL. Curated by Alex Blom and Nicholas Waguespack (2025)

Printmakers for Disability Justice, Graphic Impressions, SGC International. Curated by Brett Taylor (2025)

The Future is Not Binary, Denison Museum, Granville, OH. Curated by Brett Taylor (2024)

X on the Line, Dream Clinic Project Space, Cleveland, OH (2024)

(L)Inking Letters, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN (2024)             

Good Bones, Mineral House Media, Chattanooga, TN (2023)

Celebrating Print, Cider Gallery, Lawrence, KS. Curated by Taro Takizawa (2023)

2023 MAPC Juried Member’s Exhibition, Saint Mary’s College, South Bend, IN. Juried by Golnar Adili

We’re Here, We’re Queer: A Letterpress Exhibition, Zygote Press, Cleveland, OH. Curated by Brittany Gorelick and Brittany Hudak (2023)

Beyond the Norm 2022: International Juried Print Exhibition, Illinois State University, Normal, IL. Juried by Carmon Colangelo (2022)

Juried Exhibition of the Americas, Full Court Press, Corpus Christi, TX. Juried by Michael Kruger and Miranda Metcalf (2022)

Going Astray (the System and its Discontents), MAPC Virtual Exhibition. Curated by Emmy Bright (2022)

Project Billbored: July Screening, Project Billbored, Hamilton, Ontario (2022)

Queer Printmaking and Futurity, UW Madison Backspace Gallery, Madison, WI. Curated by Ash Armenia and Becca Owen (2022)

Photophobia: Contemporary Moving Image Festival, Art Gallery of Hamilton and Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton, Ontario (2021)

94th Annual International Competition – Semi-Finalist, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA. Juried by Charlotte Cotton and Gretchen Wagner (2020)

I am my body, I am my memory, 59 Rue Rivoli, Paris, France – Curated by Action Hybride (2020)

May You Live In Interesting Times, Northern Arizona University Art Museum, Flagstaff, AZ. Curated by Dr. George Speer and Lisa C. Tremaine (2020)

Mid America Print Council Member’s Juried Exhibition, Bolivar Gallery, Lexington, KY. Juried by Yoonmi Nam (2019)

Thinking Unknown, with Zhang Yang, Tsinghua University Gallery, Beijing, China (First Place) (2019)

Piece of Paper, St. Louis Artist Guild, St. Louis, MO – Juried by Karen Kunc (2018)

Four Rivers Print Biennial, Southern Illinois Printworks, Carbondale, IL – Juried by Lisa Bulawsky (2018)

The Contemporary Print, PrintAustin, Austin, TX (Third Place Prize) – Juried by Dr. Paul Laidler (2018)

NEXT, Print Matters Houston, Houston, TX – Juried by Nancy Palmeri (2017)

99 Problems, The Southern Gallery, Charleston, SC – Curated by Erin Glaze and Justin Nathanson (2016)

Commedia: New Prints 2015/Autumn, International Print Center New York, New York City, NY. Juried by Tomas Vu (2015)

Artfields, An Epic Southern ArtFest, Lake City, SC (Honorable Mention) (2015)

Reorientation, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC (2014)

Contemporaries Artist of the Year, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC (2013)

 

Selected Performances

The Mirror Blinked, performance with Henry Gepfer. Open Studio, Toronto, Ontario. (May 30, 2025)

Are We on the Same Page, performance with Henry Gepfer. Fried Fruit Gallery, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC. (March 1, 2024)

things to do with your mouth (vol. II), Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI) Talent Show, Madison, WI (March 17, 2022)

Obedience, Performance, 30 January. Action Hybride, 59 Rue Rivoli, Paris, France (January 30, 2020)

 

Presentations

“Queer Book Arts Summer Seminar,” co-organizer and co-presenter, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library and John M. Kelly Library, University of Toronto (June 24-26, 2025)

“Papermaking on a Budget,” Building Book Labs Symposium, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL (May 21, 2025)

“How to Think & Talk about Research in Book Labs,” Roundtable, panelist, Building Book Labs Symposium, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL (May 21, 2025)

“Prints in Progress: How Tumblr Era GIFs Became a Gateway to Performance,” Prints in Motion, panelist, Southern Graphics Conference International (SGCI): Puertograbando, San Juan, Puerto Rico (April 5, 2025)

“Fostering Queer Spaces in the Book Arts,” Queer Bibliography Conference, California Rare Book School, Los Angeles, CA (July 25, 2024)

“Facilitating Special Collections at Massey College,” Curating Jewish Type Collections, panelist, Letters That Link Us: Histories And Mysteries Of Hebrew Type Symposium, Minneapolis, MN,

(April 11, 2024)

Fine Print: Rule of Thirds, co-chair and co-curator, Southern Graphics Conference International (SGCI): Verified by Proof, Providence, RI, (April 5, 2024)

“Printing with Disability,” Layers of Accessibility, panelist, Southern Graphics Conference International (SGCI): Multiple Layers, virtual, (March 11, 2023)

Fine Print: Into the Void (Part II), co-chair and co-curator, Southern Graphics Conference International (SGCI): Multiple Layers, virtual, (March 11, 2023)

Fine Print: A Performance Incubator with No Fine Print, co-chair and co-curator, performer, MAPC: Kent State, Ohio, (October 15, 2022)

 

Education

MFA, Studio Art (2018) – SUNY University at Buffalo

BA, Studio Art (2011) – College of Charleston