Education
2002 MFA in Painting, The George Washington University, Washington DC
1999 BA (concentration in painting), The Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon
Grants/Awards
2013 The Kafiye Project Competition Winner, Kaflab Foundation, New York, NY
2011 The John Young Award, Artists of Hawaii Exhibition, Honolulu, HI
2002 The Langenkamp Award for Abstract Painting, Annual Awards Show, The George Washington
University, Washington, DC
2001 The Glassman Award, Annual Awards Show, The George Washington University, Washington,
DC
Solo Exhibitions
2019 Endless Red: Moribund Outlivers. Aupuni Place, Honolulu, HI
2018 Shangri-La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design. Artist in Residence Mural Commission,
Honolulu, Hawaii
2016 PreyPray, SBCAST, Santa Barbara, CA
2015 Reem Bassous: Beyond the Archive, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
2013 Green Line, The Washington Studio School Gallery, Washington DC
2010 Plexus, Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, HI
2010 My Revolution Begins, The Contemporary Museum Café, Honolulu, HI
2005 Creative Destruction, RamsayOng Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Collaborative Projects/ Exhibitions
2023 Ghosts of War, East Hawai'i Cultural Center, Hilo, HIʻʻi
2020 8x8 Exhibition, Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design, Honolulu, HI
2020 Hawaii’s Women Artists Reflect on a 100 Years of Suffrage. Halekulani Galley, Honolulu, HI.
2018 The Far Shore: Navigating Homelands. Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, MI.
2017 Within/Without: A Collaboration between Mary Babcock, Reem Bassous, Katherine Love,
Hadley Nunes and Maya Portner. Peggy Hopper Gallery, Honolulu, HI.
2016 FOUR: Reem Bassous, Pratisha Budhiraja, Deborah Nehmad, Yida Wang.
Koa Gallery, Honolulu, HI
2012 Negotiating Dystopia, Reem Bassous and Maya Portner, Honolulu Museum School of Art,
Honolulu, HI
2012 Hybrid Herd, Reem Bassous and Maya Portner, Thirtyninehotel, Honolulu, HI
2007 Portraits by Reem Bassous and Meg Harders, Focus Gallery at Meadows Museum, Shreveport,
LA
2002 Calm and Chaos, Work by Reem Bassous and Jodie Biggers, Dimock Gallery, The George
Washington University, Washington, DC
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 One in a Year, The Painting Center, New York, NY
2021 Paintings We Collect, Downtown Arts Center, Honolulu, HI
2020 F-99: Global Conversation 2020, UN 75th anniversary commemorative exhibition
2019 Artifacts of Place, Stand4 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Cycles, Mori at Hawaii State Art Museum, Honolulu, HI
2019 Drawing 2019: Kailua Gallery, Kailua, HI
2018 Finding Home: The Global Refugee Crisis, University of Central Florida Art
Gallery, Orlando, FL
2014 In Transit, Consulate General of Lebanon, New York, NY
2014 Shifting Ecologies, The Painting Center, New York, NY
2013 The Kafiye Project, Whitebox Art Center, New York, NY
2013 Faculty Exhibition, University of Hawaii at Manoa
2011 Artists of Hawaii, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
2010 Miniature Exhibition, Koa Gallery, Honolulu, HI
2009 Faculty Exhibition, University of Hawaii at Manoa
2008 Japanese Chamber of Commerce Exhibition, Honolulu Museum School of Art, Honolulu, HI
2007 Artists of Hawaii, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
2006 2”x12” Annual National Juried Exhibition, Louisiana State University Union Gallery,
Baton Rouge, LA
2006 Northwest Louisiana Artists’ Triennial Competition, Meadows Museum, Shreveport, LA
2006 Hiroshima Benefit Exhibition, Brunei Gallery, University of London, London, England
2003 Washington Studio School Faculty Exhibition, Dumbarton Concert Gallery, Washington, DC
2001 Emerging Talent, Fraser Gallery, Washington, DC
2001 Maryland Federation of Art Annual Exhibition, Annapolis, MD
Bibliography
Print Media
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) Georgetown University, Spring/Summer 2021
FLUX Hawaii: Dark Matter, Fall 2019
The Far Shore: Navigating Homelands, exhibition catalog, 2018
Finding Home: The Global Refugee Crisis UCF, exhibition catalog, 2018
Imago Mundi, It’s Always Been (Lebanon), 2018
The Times Literary Supplement, Sorry What Were You Saying? By Katy Guest, November 14, 2017
Book Cover: Liban. Memoires Fragmentees d’une guerre obsedante by Carla Calrage. June 2017
New American Paintings No.127 Pacific Coast Issue January 2017
Art Asia Pacific, Studio Visit with Lebanese Artist Reem Bassous, by Isabella Hughes, April 21, 2016
Star Advertiser, Roundtable to Explore Injustice Against Land, by Mindy Pennybacker, March 20, 2016 Star Advertiser, Political Art Elicits Cultural Reflection, by Brett Oppegaard, January 24, 2016
Star Advertiser, Artist’s Show Evokes Her Days Growing Up in War-Torn Lebanon, by David Goldberg, January 3, 2016
Summit Magazine. War and Paint, by Will Caron, November 2015
Honolulu Museum of Art Member’s Magazine, December 2015
L’Orient Le Jour, Des Jeunes Talents Libanais au Consulat du Liban de New York, October 13, 2014
The Painting Center Publication, Shifting Ecologies, June 2014
The Washington Post, Green Line (Sunday Arts Section), by Mark Jenkins, September 29, 2013
The Honolulu Weekly, The Scapes of War, by Matt Dekneef, November 2010
Kalamalama, Visions of an Artist, October 2010
The Honolulu Weekly, Grim Poetry, by Marcia Morse, February 2010
The Honolulu Weekly, Artists of Hawaii review, August 2007
Online Periodicals
Hyperallergic, December 28, 2018. https://hyperallergic.com/475359/artists-and-poets-look-at-homelands-from-a-distance/
University of Hawaii Newsletter, September 7, 2017, https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2017/09/07/curative-power-of-art/
Honolulu Museum of Art Blog, August 2017, http://blog.honoluluacademy.org/two-views-of-war-madge-tennent-and-reem-bassous/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Enewsletter%3AAugust28%2C2017&utm_content=version_A&promo=4258
Hawaii Public Radio, March 22, 2016. http://hawaiipublicradio.org/post/reem-bassous-beyond-beirut
Hawaii Public Radio, March 16, 2016. http://hpr2.org/post/arts-roundtable-explores-theme-injusticehttp://hpr2.org/post/arts-roundtable-explores-theme-injustice-against-land-atherton-march-22against-land-atherton-march-22
Honolulu Magazine, December 18, 2015. http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-
Magazine/December-2015/Reem-Bassous-Examines-the-Lebanese-Civil-War-through-a-Hawaii-filter/
Honolulu Museum of Art Blog, December 2015 http://blog.honoluluacademy.org/reem-bassous-findinghttp://blog.honoluluacademy.org/reem-bassous-finding-identity-in-her-paintings/identity-in-her-paintings/
Honolulu Museum of Art Blog, May 2015 http://blog.honoluluacademy.org/the-process-in-dialogue-withhttp://blog.honoluluacademy.org/the-process-in-dialogue-with-artist-reem-bassous-and-curator-healoha-johnston/artist-reem-bassous-and-curator-healoha-johnston/
Dialogist: Quarterly Poetry and Art, Vol. I Issue III http://dialogist.org/v1i3/
Ecology: Environmental Art Exhibit, Shifting Ecologies
http://www.ecology.com/2014/08/15/shifting-ecologies-environmental-art-part-2/
My Art Space Talk: Reem Bassous, September 6, 2008
http://myartspace-blog.blogspot.com/2008/09/art-space-talk-reem-bassous.html
Interviews/Press
Interview with KHON2, February 18, 2020, https://www.khon2.com/living-808/hisam-celebrates-womens-suffrage-with-limited-edition-porfolio-collection-by-5-hawaii-artists/?fbclid=IwAR3hxHVOD0s9XiMAUHoTGnaCg_nphisTyUmWZANexM5-O8uHOMwXE5jCT4Y
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), July 14, 2017 http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-40603785/the-children-drawing-syrian-war-memories?SThisFB
Design Talk Hawaii, AM760 KGU, September 2, 2016Hawaii Public Radio, The Conversation with Bill Sage, May 5, 2016
Island Connection, Occupation and Resistance, Olelo TV, April 2016
Hawaii Public Radio Injustice Against the Land roundtable discussion, March 22, 2016
Al Hurra TV Al Majalla segment, featuring artist Reem Bassous. Air Date February 2nd 2015
Teaching Experience
2016-present Assistant Professor, Drawing and Painting, Leeward Community College, Honolulu, HI
2007-2016 Lecturer, Drawing and Painting Program, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
2015-2016 Lecturer, Art Program, Leeward Community College, Honolulu, HI
2014-2016 Lecturer, Communication Arts Program, Honolulu Community College, Honolulu, HI
2003-2004 Instructor of Drawing and Painting, The Washington Studio School, Washington, DC
2001 Instructor of Painting, The George Washington University, Washington DC
Related Experience
Gallery Coordinator, Ho'ikeakea Gallery, Honolulu, HI 2022-Present
Discipline Coordinator,Drawing and Painting Program, Leeward Community College, Honolulu, HI 2022-Present
Juror, Hui No’eau Annual Exhibition, Maui, HI, 2022
Co-Curator of Why Are You Painting exhibition at HoMA School, Honolulu, 2020
Friends of the Hawaii State Art Museum Commemorative Print Commission, 2020
Visiting Artist with Ana Aqra Foundation, Second Chance project with Syrian Refugee Children, 2015-2018 (Summer Workshop)
Graduate Mentor in Painting, Lesley University, Boston, MA, 2013, 2014, 2017
Doctorate of Architecture Thesis Advisor, Ronald Ribao, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 2014-15
Juror, 52nd Annual Regional Scholastic Awards, 2014, Honolulu, HI
Juror, 47th Annual Regional Scholastic Awards, 2009, Honolulu, HI
Juror, Annual Student Show, 2003, The George Washington University, Washington, DC
Lectures/Workshops/Residencies
2023. Color Workshop, Washington Studio School, Washington, DC
2022. Creative Mornings, Honolulu, HI
2022 Image Politics III, Washington Studio School, Washington DC
2021 Art Workshop, Refugee Support Europe, Nicosia, Cyprus
2021 Image Politics II, Washington Studio School, Washington DC
2020 Image Politics, Washington Studio School, Washington DC
2019 Lecture, Debunking Preconceptions, Art from Hawai’I, Bassous/Nunes, New York
Studio School, New York, NY
2019 Artist Talk, Mapping the Middle East, Stand4 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Guest Lecturer, Artist Talk, Contemporary Art in Hawaii, ART 478, University of Hawaii
at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
2018 Artist tour/talk Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design, Honolulu, HI
2017 Visiting Artist Workshops with Reem Bassous, Ana Aqra Association, Beirut, Lebanon
2017 Bridging Gaps Workshop with Reem Bassous, Honolulu Museum School of Art, Honolulu, HI
2017 Memory/Space Workshop with Reem Bassous, Honolulu Museum School of Art, Honolulu, HI
2016 Reem Bassous Artist Talk, Embarcadero Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara.
2016 Visiting Artist, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA
2016 Artists Roundtable: Injustice Against the Land, Hawaii Public Radio, March 22, 2016
2015-18 Art Workshop, Ana Aqra’ Association, Art with Syrian Refugee Children, Bekaa/Beirut, Lebanon
2015 Lecture, Beyond the Façade, Pecha Kucha, Honolulu, HI
2015 Guest Lecturer, Lebanese Civil War and the Arab Spring, POLS 201 Problems of War and
Peace, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
2014 Artist Talk, Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, HI
2014 Artist in Residence, The Washington Studio School, Washington, DC
2014 Guest Lecturer, The Global Role of the Contemporary Lebanese Artist, ART 400 Global/Local
Issues in Art, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
2013 Artist Talk, The Washington Studio School, Washington, DC
2013 Workshop, The Washington Studio School, Washington, DC
2012 Artist Talk, Packaged States of Existence, OffHRS Creative, Honolulu, HI
2012 Artist Talk, The University of Hawaii Art Club, Honolulu, HI
2012 Workshop, Honolulu Museum School of Art, Honolulu, HI
2011 Workshop, OffHRS Creative, Honolulu, HI
2009 Artist Talk, Pecha Kucha, Honolulu, HI
2007 Visiting Artist, Centenary College, Shreveport, LA
Public Collections
Honolulu Museum of Art
Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design