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We were inspired this week by Nina Elder’s insight, research and artworks during coLAB.

Artist and researcher Nina Elder creates projects that reveal humanity’s dependence on, and interruption of, the natural world. With a focus on changing cultures and ecologies, Nina advocates for collaboration, fostering relationships between institutions, artists, scientists and diverse communities. She is the co-founder of the Wheelhouse Institute, a women’s climate leadership initiative. Nina lectures as a visiting artist/scholar at universities, develops publicly engaged programs, and consults with organizations that seek to grow through interdisciplinary programming.

Nina’s artwork is widely exhibited and has been featured in Art in America, VICE Magazine, and on PBS. Her research has been supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Rauschenberg Foundation award for Arts & Activism, the Pollock Krasner Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation. She has recently held positions as an Art + Environment Research Fellow at the Nevada Museum of Art, a Polar Lab Research Fellow at the Anchorage Museum, and a Researcher in Residence in the Art and Ecology Program at the University of New Mexico. She is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Be inspired by more of her work here: https://www.ninaelder.com/

Artist Alicia Eggert is our next visitor! Join us next week, Wednesday February 3 at 12:30 for coLAB to learn more about her amazing work! https://aliciaeggert.com/

Alicia Eggert

(b. 1981) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work gives material form to language and time, the powerful but invisible forces that shape our perception of reality. Her creative practice is largely motivated by an existential pursuit to understand the linear and finite nature of human life within a seemingly infinite universe. She derives her inspiration from physics and philosophy, and her sculptures often co-opt the styles and structures of commercial signage to communicate messages that inspire reflection and wonder. Alicia creates neon signs that illuminate the way light travels across space and time, and billboards that allow Forever to appear and disappear in the fog. These artworks have been installed on building rooftops in Russia, on bridges in Amsterdam, and on uninhabited islands in Maine, beckoning us to ponder our place in the world and the role we play in it.

Alicia’s work has been exhibited at notable institutions nationally and internationally, including the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, the Telfair Museums, and many more. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at Galeria Fernando Santos (Porto, Portugal), The MAC (Dallas, TX), and T+H Gallery (Boston, MA). Alicia is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including a TED Fellowship, a Washington Award from the S&R Foundation, a Direct Artist Grant from the Harpo Foundation, an Artist Microgrant from the Nasher Sculpture Center, and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Maine Arts Commission. She has been an artist in residence at Google Tilt Brush, Sculpture Space, True/False Film Festival, and the Tides Institute and Museum of Art. In 2020, she was added to the Fulbright Specialist Roster by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Alicia earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University in 2004, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture/Dimensional Studies from Alfred University in 2009. She is currently a Presidential Early Career Professor of Studio Art and the Sculpture Program Coordinator at the University of North Texas. Her work is represented by Galeria Fernando Santos in Porto, Portugal, and Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas. She lives with her son, Zephyr, in Denton, Texas.

Artist Ryan Pierce inspired the coLAB cohort to think about the ecology and the relationship between things today!

To learn more about his work visit https://ryanpierce.net/home.html and read his bio below!

Ryan Pierce’s vivid, large-scale paintings depict our world recovering from human industry. He draws on influences from ecological theory, literature, and folk art to create scenes that portray the resilience of the natural world.

He has exhibited internationally and his work has been recognized by grants from the Joan Mitchell and San Francisco Foundations, and the Regional Arts and Culture Council, as well as by reviews in Art in America, Art Papers, and The Oregonian. Pierce has been an artist in residence at the Ucross Foundation, Caldera, and Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder in Norway, and a fellow at the Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology. Pierce has taught at colleges and universities throughout Oregon and lectured as a Visiting Artist at more than 30 institutions. In 2012, he was the recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission. He is represented by Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland.

Pierce is the co-founder, with activist Amy Harwood, of Signal Fire, a group that facilitates wilderness residencies and retreats for artists of all disciplines. Pierce currently works as the Director of Signal Fire’s academic program, Wide Open Studios.

Surface class invited Katie Zazenski to share her work to the coLAB cohort this week. Katie is the co-director of Stroboskop, an independent, alternative project space based in Warsaw, Poland. To learn more about her work visit her website here https://kathrynzazenski.com/

Are you looking for more sections of a CORE class?

Good News!

We just added a section of ART101 Surface and another section of ART 105 Ideation!

Jump onto banner and get your spot and we will see you in September!