Lee Emma Running is an artist based in Omaha NE who creates monumental public installations on windows, and arresting objects using cast iron, enamel, glass, bone, and handmade paper. For the last 15 years, she has been using this work to engage audiences in conversations about the impact of human-built systems on the natural world.
She was a Foundry Resident in the Arts/Industry program at Kohler Co. in 2023 and will return in 2024. She was also a 2022/23 Artist in Residence with Opera Omaha. Permanent installations of her work can be viewed at the University of Nebraska Omaha, The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Bernheim Arboretum. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Kaneko, and the Des Moines Art Center. She has been awarded residencies at Western North Carolina Sculpture Park, Ucross, Santa Fe Art Institute, and Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture.
Running is the recipient of a 2023 Populus fund grant from the Union for Contemporary Art in Omaha and was a 2017 Iowa Arts Council Fellow. She was a Professor of Art at Grinnell College from 2005-2021.