Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts

Artist Talk: Erika Blumenfeld

Thursday, October 3, 2019

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

The UH Photography and Digital Media Program will present an artist talk by Erika Blumenfeld, who will speak about her recent project photographing moon rocks with NASA, her ongoing exploration of scientific themes through photography and the relationship between photography and science. 

About the Artist
Erika Blumenfeld is a transdisciplinary artist whose practice is motivated by the wonder of natural phenomena and the relationship between nature and culture. Driven by a passion to trace the evidence and stories of connection within the cosmos, her artistic inquiries have led her to examine a range of subjects including astronomy, geology, petrology, planetary science, ecology, the environment, anthropogenic climate disruption, natural night sky preservation and light in its many forms. Often working with scientists and research institutions, her non-traditional research-based studio practice has explored the subtle shifts in lunar and solar light, the prismatic landscape of Antarctica, the starry night sky, the glow of marine bioluminescence and the intricate mineralogical structure of astromaterials.

Blumenfeld is the recipient of many awards including the Rauschenberg Residency (2018); NASA's ROSES PDART Grant (2016 – 2019); the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship at the National Museum of Natural History (2015); Cape Farewell's Scottish Islands Expedition Residency (2011); the Purchase Award from the New Mexico Museum of Art (2010); artist-in-residence with ITASC Research Team, SANAE Research Base, Antarctica (2009); the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2008); Ballroom Marfa's Inaugural Artist-in Residence (2004); the Creative Capital Foundation Grant (2000); an exhibition grant from Land Rheinland-Pfalz Kultusministerium (2002); three Polaroid Corporation Film Grants; and a Special Editions Fellowship from the Lower East Side Printshop (2000). She has collaborated with the Scripps Institution for Oceanography, the McDonald Observatory, the South African National Antarctic Program and NASA.

Blumenfeld's work has been exhibited widely in museums and galleries in the US and abroad, including the Albright Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, New York); Fondation EDF Espace Electra (Paris, France); New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts (Santa Fe, New Mexico); Ballroom Marfa (Marfa, Texas); DiverseWorks Art Space (Houston, Texas); Fargfabriken Norr (Ostersund, Sweden); Galerie der Stadt Mainz-Bruckenturm (Mainz, Germany); Kunstnernes Hus (Oslo, Norway); OCA (Sao Paulo, Brazil); Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (Portland, Oregon); Women & Their Work (Austin, Texas); Stadtgalerie (Kiel, Germany); TATE Modern (London, UK); Willem de Kooning Academie (Rotterdam, Netherlands); among others. Learn more at http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/.