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Biography

Anthony Sonnenberg - Artists - GAVLAK

b. 1986, Graham TX
​Lives and works in Fayetteville, AR

Anthony Sonnenberg’s luscious ceramic sculptures set a stage calling the spectator to ekstasis (to be or to stand outside one’s self.) The elaborate hand-built ceramic sculptures echo the decadent elaborations of Baroque and Rococo fioriture. Initially reminiscent of past civilizations’ aesthetic efflorescence, upon closer inspection, the viewer can vaguely identify familiar modern tchotchkes built into the structure.

A multi-media artist, Anthony Sonnenberg often works with the Greek mythology of Silenus, the tutor and companion to the wine god, Dionysus. Believed to derive wisdom from over-indulgence in alcohol, Silenus’ became a key player in the story of King Midas, the ultimate cautionary tale to those over-consumed with passion for material wealth. Casting himself in the role of Silenus, Sonnenberg deftly explores the King Midas story, as well as later interpretations by Nietzsche, for whom art enables transcending the pessimistic ‘Wisdom of Silenus’.

CV

b. 1986, Graham TX
Lives and works in Fayetteville AR

EDUCATION

2012     University of Washington, Seattle WA, M.F.A. SCULPTURE

2009     University of Texas, Austin TX, B.A. Art Studio with an emphasis in Italian and Art History, 2005-09

2007     University of Texas Study Abroad Program, Castilion Fiorentino, Italy                                                                                                                                               

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022      Make Me Feel Mighty Real, Wingate Museum of Art, Hendrix College, Conway, AR

2021      I'm Going to Dance the Way I Feel, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami FL
              GAVLAK, Palm Beach, FL

2019      In Times Like These - Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX

2018      Still Stage, Set Life - Art Museum of South East Texas, Beaumont, TX

2017     Let Your Flowers Grow - Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX

2016     Apollo and Dionysus - Art Palace Gallery, Houston TX

2015     Fat Equals Flavor - Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX
            With Wild Abandon - Lawndale Art Center, Houston TX

2013     Time After Time After Time – The Old Jail Art Center, Albany TX

2012     Still Lives – Vignettes, Seattle, WA 
             All That Glitters – CMA Gallery, Seattle, WA

2010     Beauty is Not Benign – Co-lab Projects, Austin, TX 

2009     Let the Golden Age Begin – Old Post Office Museum and Art Center, Graham TX
             Conspicuous Consumption - Flood Gallery, Austin TX 

SELECTED LIVE PERFORMANCES

 2013      Captain Dirty Bear and his Dirty Cub Cadets Contemplate the Impossibility of Permanence in the         
               Physical World - New and Greatest Hits
               Selected Work by Texas Biennial Artists 2005-2011,  Big Medium, Austin     
               TX                                                      

2011       Captain Dirty Bear Ask a Question – Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
               Captain Dirty Bear Spreads His Razzmatazz Around Town – NEPO 5k No Run, Seattle WA  
               Melting Point: Movements in Contemporary Clay, Craft & Folk Art  Museum, Los Angeles CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021      Ceramics Now, Gallerie Italienne, Paris, France      
              Fairyland - Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL
              Magic Touch - Dinner Gallery, New York, NY

2020      Radical Tradition: American Quilts and Social Change - The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo OH
              State of the Arts 2020 - The Momentary, Bentonville, AR 
              The Backbone of Things - Te Auaha, Wellington, NZ

2019      Inaugural Exhibition - Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles CA
              Solid Gold: Fuller at Fifty - Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton MA 
              Stonewall 50 - Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston TX

2018     Melting Point: Movements in Contemporary Clay, Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles CA 
             Rough Trade - Allegheny College Art Gallery, Meadville PA
             In Residence - Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston TX
             You Say Radical! I Say Feminist! - Archer Gallery @ Clark College, Vancouver WA 
             Inaugural Group Exhibition - Gavlak Gallery Palm Beach, Palm Beach FL

2017      Confabulations of Millenia, Institute of Contemporary Art @ MeCA, Portland ME Morph - Asya Geisberg
              Gallery, New York NY

2016      Double Digits: Lawndale's Artist Studio Program, 10 Years and Counting, Lawndale Art Center, Houston
              TX

2014     Natuiral Beauties: Jewelry from Art Nouveau to Now. Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT
             VANITAS (eat, drink and be merry), Hedreen Gallery at Seattle University, Seattle WA
             Open Archive, Red Arrow Contemporary, Dallas, TX 
             Pulliam Fine Arts presents: Anthony Sonnenberg and Saya Moriyasu– The Window PDX Contemporary,
             Portland OR

2013      The Obsessive Unknown Origins of Grotesques Irregularity, LxWxH Gallery, Seattle WA
              Nouveau Baroque – Gallery Fukai, Vancouver B.C. ONN/OF Light Festival

2011      The 2011 Texas Biennial –- Austin TX
             -Curator: Virginia Rutledge, Independent Curator and Art Historian

COLLABORATIONS, TWO & THREE PERSON

2019     Zina Al-Shukri – Paolo Arao – Anthony Sonnenberg, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Fransisco CA

2014    Pulliam Fine Arts presents: Anthony Sonnenberg and Saya Moriyasu - The Window Project, PDX
             Contemporary, Portland OR

2013     Self - with Rodrigo Valenzuela – 4Culture Gallery – Seattle WA

2012     Sticks and Stones – SOIL Gallery, Seattle WA
             Best Not To Be - with Graham Downing – 2012 City Arts Festival – Seattle, WA

COLLECTIONS

Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, Bentonville AR The Archie Bray Permanent Collection, Helena, MT
Fidelity Investment Corporate Collection
Beth DeWoody
Marguerite Hoffman
Deedie Rose
Catherine Rose  

TEACHING

2019     Instructor - Summer Course @ Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist Residencies, Saugatuck MI

2018     Present Visiting Assistant Professor in Ceramics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR

2017     Instructor - Glassel School of Art @ MFAH, Houston TX

2015-2017 Adjunct Professor - Lone Star College, Kingwood TX

2011-2012  Instructor of Record- University of Washington, Seattle WA

GUEST LECTURER

2021      Maryland Institute of Contemporary Art, Baltimore MD
              University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington TX
              Baylor University, Waco, TX

2020      Eastern Pribble Lecture Series, Pratt MWP College of Art and Design,
              Brooklyn and Utica NY

2018      California State University, Long Beach
              University of Texas, Austin TX
              South West School of Art, San Antonio TX

2017      Maine College of Art, Portland ME

2013      University of Texas @ Austin
              Pilchuck Glass School
              Oregon College of Arts and Crafts

2012      Cornish College of the Arts

RESIDENCIES

2019      Inverse Performance Residency, Questa College, San Luis Obisbo, CA

2018      CSULB-CCC Summer Resident Artist, California State University, Long Beach, CA

2017      Ox-Bow School of artists and artist's residencies, Saugatuck MI
              Yaddo Artist Residency

2016      Resident at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX 2015-16
              Resident in the Lawndale Artists Studio Program, Houston, TX

2014      Artist in Resident at Sculpture Space, Utica NY
              Summer Resident at Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena MT

2012      Emerging Artist in Residence at Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood WA

2008      Summer Resident at Ox-Bow School of artists and artist's residencies, Saugatuck MI

GRANTS/ FELLOWSHIPS/ AWARDS

2014     RPF Grant - The New Foundation - Seattle WA

2013     Finalist, Betty Bowen Award, Seattle Art Museum

2011     Peoples Choice Award - The 2011 Juried Exhibition, Punch Gallery, Seattle WA
             Julaine Martin Endowed Scholarship in the Arts 
             Jack and Layne Kleinhart Fellowship in the Arts 

 

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