I’m Gonna Dance The Way I Feel
Anthony Sonnenberg’s work is about celebration, honesty, death and renewal. Having developed this exhibition during COVID lockdown, his grand, baroque style belies the severity of the outside world and the enormity of the pandemic crisis. Finding a reason to celebrate, Sonnenberg fashions heavily embellished jewels to adorn and festoon a population in need of rejuvenation. With his continued reference to still-life imagery, art historical tropes and mythological narratives.
Sonnenberg continues using casting and experimental glaze treatments to create decorative forms meant to elevate and excite. Sonnenberg references the Greek term Ekstasis which means “To stand outside of or transcend oneself”, as a metaphor for the works in the exhibition which rise above form and functionality and become shimmering crackled surfaces of joy.
About the Artist
Born in 1986 in Graham,TX, Anthony Sonnenberg earned a BA with an emphasis in Italian and Art History in 2009 and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Washington, Seattle in 2012. Residences include; Ox- Bow, Saugatuck, MI (2017); Lawndale Artist Studio Program in Houston,TX (2016); Artist in Resident at Sculpture Space, Utica NY (2014); the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena MT (2014); Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA (2012); and the Ox-Bow School, Saugatuck, MI (2008). Notable exhibitions include; State of the Art II, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR (2020); the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX (2019);
The Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA (2019); the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2018); the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX (2018); Lawndale Art Center, Houston TX (2015); The Old Jail Art Center, Albany TX (2013); the Texas Biennial (2011 & 2013); Old Post Office Museum and Art Center, Graham, TX (2012); Co- lab Projects, Austin, TX (2012) and the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (2011). Mr. Sonnenberg lives in Fayetteville AR and Conway AR, where he is currently the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College.
