Lisa Nonken Academic Director and Professor of Visual Arts
Lisa Nonken, Academic Director and Professor of Visual Arts:
Lisa received her MFA in Studio Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Sculpture from the Lyme Academy of Fine Art, and her BA from Mount Holyoke College. Lisa is an American artist who first came to Siena in 2008 as an instructor for the Siena School for Liberal Arts. In 2010 she returned to Siena to help launch the Siena Art Institute. She is the current Academic Director at the Siena Art Institute and serves as a Professor of Fine Arts, co-teaching the interdisciplinary Art and Society Seminar. She also teaches a Drawing course offered through the Siena School for Liberal Arts, the partner program of the Siena Art Institute. Lisa has exhibited both in the US and Italy, and has been awarded resiencies at Yaddo, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Blue Sky Project. Awards include the REMET “Shaping the Future” Project Grant, and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant.
Lisa’s interdisciplinary artistic practice includes work in sculpture, photography, and drawing. For the past several years, her interest in the public nature of art has led to an exploration of crowd dynamics and contemporary public identity: exploring the tension between one’s own private self-awareness and the presentation of oneself in the public setting of a group or crowd. She is particularly interested in public space as not only the site of projects but also as the subject.
Statement from Robert Bills Contemporary Gallery: As a sculptor and as an installation artist, Lisa Nonken brings a deep and complex understanding of space and scale to the exhibition. Using the anonymous human figure as her primary motif, her installations evoke the emotional drama of human encounters. While her photo-installation might seem to be the most representational piece in the exhibition, closer investigation reveals a deep dependency on the fundamental building blocks of abstraction, including the grid, geometric pattern and repetition.
EDUCATION:
Master in Fine Arts, Studio Art, 2010, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Fine Art, 2006, Lyme Academy College of Fine Art, Old Lyme, CT Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, 2003, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, Combined Major in Studio Art and Art History
TEACHING EXPERIENCE: Sept 2010-Present Art Faculty and Program Developer, Siena Art Institute, Siena Italy Sept 2008-May 2010 Teaching Assistant, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL June-Aug 2009 Resident Artist, Blue Sky Project, Dayton, OH Jan-May 2008 Art Instructor, Siena School for the Liberal Arts, Siena, Italy June-Aug 2005 Drawing Instructor, Phillips Exeter Academy Summer School Teaching Internship, Exeter, NH 2004-2006 Teaching Assistant, Lyme-Old Lyme High School and East Lyme Middle School, CT 2000-2003 Teaching Assistant, Mount Holyoke College Art Department, South Hadley, MA
HONORS/ AWARDS: 2009 Blue Sky Project Artist Residency 2008 REMET “Shaping the Future” Project Grant 2008 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant 2008 Vermont Studio Center Full-Fellowship Artist Residency 2006 Yaddo Sculpture Residency 2006 Roger T. Williams Prize: National Sculpture Society 2003 Phi Beta Kappa
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
2012 -Pianeta Toscana, Group Show, Galleria Didee, Siena, Italy -View from the Outside, Group Show, Museo del Paesaggio, Castelnuovo Berardenga, and Antiquarium di Poggio Civitate Museo Archeologico, Murlo, Italy -Ambiente e Inquinamento in Toscana, Juried Group Show, Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Accademia dei Fisiocritici in collabooration with the Fondazione Musei Senesi, Università degli Studi di Siena - Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, and Sienambiente, Siena, Italy
2011 -Dayton Flight, Temporary Sculpture Installation, PNC Tower, Dayton, OH (ongoing) -Drawn Together, Drawing Connections, Curatorial Team, Siena Art Institute, Siena, Italy
2010 -Foil, Walls and Toil, Group Show, Robert Bills Contemporary, Chicago, IL (upcoming) -Public Light and Space, Group Show, John Hancock Center; Chicago, IL -Dayton Flight, Temporary Installation, Dayton International Airport, Dayton, OH -Graduate Exhibition, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Chicago, IL -ABC Collaborative: NFO XPO: Version Festival; Chicago, IL -UnCommon, Group Show, Heaven Gallery; Chicago, IL
2009 -Urban Nights Festival, Group Show, Dayton Arcade; Dayton, OH -Blue Sky Project, Group Show, Excelsior Lofts: Dayton, OH -Population Survey, Solo Show, BaseSpace, SAIC; Chicago, IL -Shaping The Future, Finalists Exhibition, BaseSpace, SAIC; Chicago, IL -Department (Store), Collaborative Exhibition organized by J. M. Puett, Sullivan -Galleries, SAIC, Chicago, IL
2008 -Mostra Primavera, Siena School of Liberal Arts, Siena, Italy
2007 -73rd Annual Awards Exhibition, National Sculpture Society, Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, CT and Brookgreen Sculpture Gardens, SC
2006 -Silent Crowd, Sill House Gallery, Lyme Academy, Old Lyme, CT -Crossing the Bridge, Juried Invitational, Hygienic Gallery, New London, CT -Thesis Exhibition and Open Studios, Lyme Academy, Old Lyme, CT
2005 -“Arts Gone Wild” Summer Art Exhibition, Lamont Gallery, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH -“Faculty Selects” Chauncey-Stillman Gallery, Lyme Academy, Old Lyme, CT -Spring Art Exhibition, Juried Show, Chauncey-Stillman Gallery, Lyme Academy, Old Lyme, CT -Spring Student Exhibition, Paier College of Art, Hamden, CT
2003 -“Siteworks/Watercourse way,” Collaborative Installation/Performance, South Hadley, MA -Senior Thesis Exhibition, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, S Hadley, MA
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS/MEDIA:
Articles/ publications discussing my work: -Swann, Jessica, "SAIC Students Breathe Soul Into Chicago’s Public Spaces" FNews Magazine, May/June 2010 -Weiss, Hedy "Fountain creator challenges young artists' imaginations" Chicago Sun-Times, May 22, 2010 -Larsen, Dave, "Blue Sky Project works installed at Dayton Airport" Dayton Daily News, May 17, 2010 -McCoy, Mary Bucci, “Artists’ Communities in the Northeast,” Art New England, February/March 2007 -The Corporation of Yaddo, Highlighted Artist, Annual Report, 2006 -Edgecomb, Kathleen, “Class Superlatives,” The New London Day, May 5, 2006 -“2006 Young Sculptor Awards,” News Bulletin, National Sculpture Society, July/August 2006
Blue Sky Project Video Video documenting the Blue Sky Project Residency, 3 mins. Public Light and Space Website for SAIC's "Public Light and Space" course, including information about my "Upwards" public sculpture proposal.
RELATED WORK EXPERIENCE:
Sept 2009-May 2010 Museum Education Intern, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL May- Nov 2007 Foundry Assistant, New England Sculpture Services, Chelsea, MA Jan-Feb 2007 Studio Assistant, Stanley Bleifeld, Sculptor, Pietrasanta, Italy Aug-Dec 2006 Gallery Assistant, The Cooley Gallery, Old Lyme, CT May- Dec 2003 Assistant Education & Public Programs Coordinator, Nantucket Historical Association, MA
