BIO

Io Palmer was born on Hydra- a motor-less Greek island off the coast of the Peleponesse. The first seven years of her life were spent amongst the donkeys, the fishes, the clear blue Mediterranean sea and the jazz music her parents listened to. 

Inspired by interior and exterior home decor landscapes, Io Palmer's artworks explore the complex issues surrounding class, capitalism and societal excess. Trained originally as a ceramicist, Palmer uses a variety of processes and materials including fabric, steel, sound and wood. Io has been featured in several national and international exhibitions including Dakart-International Arts Biennial, Dakar, Senegal; Working History, Reed College, Portland, OR; Hair Follies, Concordia University, Montreal and Rush Gallery, New York City, NY. Solo exhibitions at the Boise Art Museum, ID, PDX Airport, OR, York College, CUNY, Jamaica, NY; Deluge Contemporary, Victoria, BC; The Art Gym at Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, OR.   She has participated in several artist residencies including the Sanskriti Foundation, New Delhi, India; the Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM; Art Channel, Beijing, China and the Ucross Foundation, Clermont Wyoming. Io received an Idaho Commission on the Arts Grant in 2014. And a Fulbright Nehru Research Grant to India, 2018-2019. She is the recipient of an Artist Trust Gap grant, 2021 and an Artist Trust Fellowship in 2023.

She holds an MFA from the University of Arizona, Tucson and a BFA from Tyler School of Art (Temple University), Philadelphia, PA. And is a Professor at Washington State University, Pullman, WA.