Sharon Louden
About the Artist
Sharon M. Louden graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Yale University, School of Art. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Drawing Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Birmingham Museum of Art, Weatherspoon Art Museum and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Louden’s work is held in major public and private collections including the Neuberger Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, Arkansas Arts Center, Yale University Art Gallery, Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.
Sharon Louden’s work has also been written about in the New York Times, Art in America, Washington Post, Sculpture Magazine and the Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as other publications. She has received a grant from the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts and has participated in residencies at Tamarind Institute, Urban Glass and Art Omi.
Louden’s animations continue to be screened and featured in many film festivals and museums all over the world. Her latest animations, Carrier and Community premiered in the East Wing Auditorium of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, in a historical program of abstract animation since 1927 and in a program entitled, “Cine Concert: Abstract Film and Animation Since 1970”.
In 2011, Louden was commissioned to make a site-specific work for the Weisman Art Museum that was in dialogue with Frank Gehry’s new addition to the Museum. This solo exhibition entitled Merge consisted of over 350,000 units of aluminum spanning over 3,000 square feet. In 2013, another version of Merge was installed on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, and is now on view permanently. She also recently finished another aluminum installation, entitled Windows, at the Tweed Museum of Art, consisting of over 350 sheets and strips of highly reflective and colored aluminum spanning over 1,000 square feet.
Sharon has taught for 20 years since graduating from Yale in 1991. Her teaching experience includes studio and professional practice classes to students of all levels in colleges and universities throughout the United States. Colleges and universities at which she has lectured and taught include: Kansas City Art Institute, College of Saint Rose, Massachusetts College of Art , Vanderbilt University and Maryland Institute College of Art. Sharon currently teaches at the National Academy of Art in New York City and mentors at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Louden is also the editor of a best-selling, peer-reviewed book published by Intellect Books and distributed by the University of Chicago Press entitled, Living and Sustaining a Creative Life: Essays by 40 Working Artists. She is now working on the second book of this series, also to be published by Intellect Books and distributed by the University of Chicago Press entitled, Living and Sustaining a Creative Life: Artists as Culture Producers, coming out in 2017.
In addition, she continues to conduct Glowtown workshops in schools and not-for-profit organizations across the country. Louden is also active on boards and committees of various not-for-profit art organizations and volunteers her time to artists to further their careers.
Sharon is a full-time practicing, professional artist who lives and works in Minneapolis, MN.