About Sean Connaughty
“I was born in 1966 and grew up in Eden Prairie Minnesota on Sunnybrook Road, a dead end gravel road amidst prairie, forests, wetlands and oak savannas near Purgatory Creek making its way to the Minnesota River through its deep and wide valleys. Valleys carved by the Great Glacial River Warren over 10,000 years ago, draining Ancient Lake Agassiz at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. I was deeply impacted when the land around us was sold, surveyors staked out the land and the earthmovers arrived, leveling the land and building the city. Painful as that loss was to me, I often wonder what it must feel like to be Dakota on whose homeland we reside. Dakota Peoples were interned, executed and expelled from the state and their land was claimed for white settlers. The “wilderness” I experienced growing up was actually the land stripped of its stewards. But I am fortunate to have experienced the land before it was destroyed. Like all children, I had no agency to advocate for balancing human development and protection of wildlife or sacred natural places. Fast forward thirty years I have connected with Lake Hiawatha Bde Psin in the way I connected with Eden Prairie. With the agency of adulthood I am now able to advocate and do some of the work of repair. I am working to bring back some of what we’ve lost. In my contribution to the restoration of the Lake, I do my best to connect and work with my Dakota and Indigenous allies and the larger local community as we work together to restore what is now an anthropogenic space that hopefully is on a trajectory of recovery.”
Photo by Rik Sferra 2019
Selected Features
Education:
1998- 2001 M.F.A. Painting, Savannah College of Art and Design
1984-1989 B.F.A. Painting, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
1987-1988 University of Minnesota
1986-1987 San Francisco Art Institute
Teaching Appointments:
2002- present University of Minnesota - Department of Art- 75% Lecturer
2002- 2017 St Cloud State University Art Department- Lecturer
2004-2005 College of Visual Arts
Selected Awards
2018 McKnight Foundation Fellowship -Visual Arts
2018 MPRB volunteer of the year award,
2017 Forecast Public Art - professional development grant "Lake Hiawatha Visioning Project”
2013 Minnesota State Arts Board Artists Initiative Fellowship “Ark of the Anthropocene”
2009 Appointed Juror for the Assafeer Art Competition Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by Prince Mohamed bin Saud bin Khalid Al Saud. A national competition for Saudi artists.
2008 Appointed Juror for the Omani Fine Arts Society by HM Qaboos bin Said Al Said, Muscat, Oman
2005 and 2006 Selected for Art Shanty Projects, Medicine Lake, Plymouth, MN
2003 Recipient Blacklock Nature Sanctuary residency.
2002 Minnesota State Arts Board, Artist Assistance Fellowship
2001 Selected by jury; Sothebys/Artlink International Young Art Auction 2002, Tel Aviv, New York, Amsterdam
2000 Featured in New American Painting, Southern Region
1999 Presidential Scholarship, Savannah College of Art and Design
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2021 “The Art of Reciprocity” Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center and Grand Marais Art Colony, Schroeder MN
2019 “Lake Hiawatha – Anthropocenic Midden Survey – Final Report” White Page Gallery
2019 “Lake Hiawatha Trash Survey 2019” MCAD Sculpture Garden
2016 “Anthropocenic Midden Survey Mississippi River” Weisman Art Museum
2015 “O2” College of St Benedict- Benedicta Arts Center, St Joseph, MN
2015 “Lake Hiawatha –anthropocenic midden survey” Sandbox Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
2014 “Ark of the Anthropocene” Duluth Art Institute Duluth MN
2014 Weisman Art Museum “Ark of the Anthropocene” Northern Spark Festival
2011 “The Structural Circle” Kiehle Gallery, St Cloud State University, Minnesota
2011 “O” XYandZ Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2011 “Bigloo v21” Walker Art Center Minneapolis, MN
2010 “Live Branch Constructions “ Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
2008 “A History of the Earth and the Garden Projekt” BBK Gallery, Hildesheim, Germany
2007 “A History of the Earth” DownSpace Gallery, LA Design Center, Los Angeles CA
2007 “5” Gallery Co Minneapolis MN
2003 "Tansy, Bluegrass, Poison Hemlock, Water Hemlock, Datura,..." Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN
2003 “Sean Connaughty” Farnham Gallery, Simpson College, Decatur, Iowa.
2002 "Beneath All Things" No Name Exhibitions, The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
2001 "Man Looking at Himself" Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2000 "Birds of Appetite", Bergen Gallery, Savannah, GA
1996 "Things to Remember in the Wilderness", Thomas Barry Fine Arts, Minneapolis, MN
1995 "Aural Paintings", Gallery Rebolloso, Minneapolis, MN
1993 "Beyond Science", Gallery Rebolloso, Minneapolis, MN
1992 "Four Alchemical Rules", Gallery Rebolloso, Minneapolis, MN
1991 "Freshwater", Hamline University Art Gallery, Saint Paul, MN
Selected Group Exhibitions
2003 "Artlink on the Lake" TelAviv, Israel
2002 "International Young Art 2002" Sothebys Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Holland
2002 "International Young Art 2002" SothebysTel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
2002 "International Young Art 2002" Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York
2000 "11th year Anniversary Exhibition" Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2000 "Obvious/Unseen" Installation Project, Starland Dairy, Savannah, GA
2000 "In a Different Light", Broome Street Gallery, New York, NY
1999 "I-95 to New York", Broome Street Gallery, New York, NY
Sean Connaughty Resume
Publications
SEAN P CONNAUGHTY
Selected Publications
2023 “The Art of Ecological Renewal” CLA UMN by Russ White
2021 “Highpoint & Green Partners” video 2021
2021 Perfect Day Duluth “Sean Connaughty’s Art at Sugarloaf Cove”
2019 “From Trash to Art” KARE 11 story
2019 “A Minneapolis lake's story, told through its trash” MPR News Watermain
2019 “Lake Hiawatha's guardian artist uses sculptures to call attention to trash problem” Star Tribune Mpls. By Jenna Ross
2019 Video: KARE 11 “From trash to art, Minneapolis artist provides commentary on lake pollution” by Sharon Yoo
2016 “Artist Sean Connaughty works to improve water quality in Lake Hiawatha” Clean Water Action
2015 “Ark of the Anthropocene” The Playlist
2015 “1,500 pounds of trash later, man's quest to keep Minneapolis lake clean continues” by Beatrice Dupuy, Mineapolis Star Tribune
2014 “An Artist’s Ark Meets Its Fate on Lake Superior” by Sheila Regan hyperallergic.com
2012 “Sean Connaughty at Arthouse” by Jacinda Davis, Walker Art Center Blogs
2011 Featured Banner Artist: “O a new project by Sean Connaughty” Access+Engage mnartists.org by Susannah Schouweiler
2011 “Connaughty’s Nesting Instinct” Mplsart.com, by John Megas
2011 “Bigloos, Amplified Tea Kettles, and Other Activites for a Frozen Minnesota Weekend” Walker Art Center magazine and Blog , by Scott Stulen
2008 “Vogel futtern dringend erwunscht” Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung, by Andre Mumot
2003 "Connaughtys' Choice" by Michael Fallon. City Pages,