About

Hugs
2004-2010

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 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 newest animation, Carrier, premiered in the East Wing Auditorium of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in March, 2011 in a historical program of abstract animation since 1927. 

In addition, Sharon currently has a solo exhibition on view of a major installation work entitled Merge, which is made of over 250,000 units of aluminum at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, MN, which opened to the public on October 2, 2011, and closes this May, 2012. Sharon was commissioned to make a site-specific work for the Weisman Art Museum that is in dialogue with Frank Gehry’s new additions to the Museum. 

In connection to and inspired by the exhibition at the Weisman Art Museum, Sharon showed paintings, drawings, animation and the Merge compositions at the Burnet Art Gallery in Minneapolis, which opened this past March and will close on May 6th, 2012. 

Upcoming exhibitions include a two-person exhibition at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art in London opening May 28th, as well as numerous group exhibitions held throughout the year. Scheduled for the fall of 2013 is solo exhibition of new work at Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York and another premeire of a new animation at the National Gallery of Art in a program of Abstract Animation and Film since 1965 on September 8, 2013, which may be traveling to different museum venues across the country. Stay tuned!

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 and Maryland Institute College of Art. Sharon currently teaches at the National Academy of Art in New York City and most recently, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee this past spring. 

In addition, she continues to conduct “Glow Town” 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. She is currently editing a book entitled Living and Sustaining a Creative Life: Essays by 40 Working Artists.

Sharon is a full-time practicing, professional artist who lives and works in New York City.

--May, 2012