Mira Gerard’s creative output spans painting, video and performance. Primarily a painter, their current work is layered, delicate and dramatic, featuring luminous and fantastical landscapes occasionally populated by figures, animals, and vegetation. They describe painting as a self-induced state of emotional intensity that emboldens them to conjure narratives from layers of stains, drips, marks, glazes, and carefully rendered forms. Gerard received a BFA from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and a MFA from The University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. They are a Professor in the Department of Art & Design at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, where they have taught since 2001, most recently serving as Department Chair from 2014-2021.
 
Gerard’s work has been exhibited at the Knoxville Museum of Art, Walter Maciel Gallery, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Torrance Art Museum, Huntsville Museum of Art, Arkansas Museum of Art, Nave Gallery, Wichita Center for Contemporary Art, K Space Contemporary, William King Museum, James May Gallery, Reece Museum, and many more. Their most recent body of paintings will be featured in a 3-person show for the inaugural exhibition at Tyger Tyger Gallery, opening its doors in August 2022 in Asheville, North Carolina. Images of their work in publications include New American Paintings #118, The International Zizek Studies Journal, Artizein Journal, Poets & Artists Journal, and The Cortland Review.
 
A recipient of numerous grants, awards and fellowships, Gerard has attended a number of artist residencies including Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, Michigan, The Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap Georgia, The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont, Cill Rialaig Project in Ballinskelligs, Ireland, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts in Amherst, Virginia. They have given presentations about their work at the Southeastern College Art Conference, the Southern Humanities Conference, the International Zizek Studies Conference, the LACK Conference, and the Psychology and the Other Conference.