February 2015 Artist in Residency: sonja thomsen

As we settle in to a brand new location at the Hubbard Street Lofts, we're happy to welcome Milwaukee-based artist Sonja Thomsen! Thomsen will be the first resident of 2015, and the first to work out of the new space. 

At LATITUDE Thomsen will produce work for an upcoming solo exhibition at the DePaul University Art Museum. The exhibition, Glowing Wavelengths In Between, opens on May 15 and continues through August 10th. As per exhibition curator Gregory Harris: 

"Sonja Thomsen's photographs and installations create a tangible means to experience the ephemeral qualities of light. Glowing Wavelengths In Between, Thomsen’s latest series, is, in the artist’s words, “a rumination on the very physicality of seeing.” Trained as a biologist, Thomsen finds inspiration in the methods and language of science. Her work springs from extensive experimentation with optical phenomena and research into philosophical debates regarding the mutability of scientific knowledge. Utilizing an array of materials that refract and reflect light, Thomsen’s artistic practice embraces improvisation and iteration as means to creative discovery. The resulting pieces—vibrant color photographs, immersive photographic murals, faceted metallic sculptures—shift between direct documentation and destabilizing abstraction, and thereby recalibrate our perceptions of the visible world. Viewing Thomsen’s work is far from a passive experience. Through undulations in scale and manipulations of light, her layered works provoke an acute awareness of light, space, and time."

We think that's rather well said. We'll publish open studio hours for Thomsen soon, come by to chat with her! 

This residency is supported by Hahnemühle FineArt, artisan paper makers who produce the elite substrates that Thomsen's prefers.