Like a scientist explaining the vastness of subatomic or deep space, Gilkerson’s work rethinks the visual world we see every day, be it a newspaper’s broadsheet or the horizon line in a photograph. The result is a visual vocabulary where awe and wonder sit comfortably alongside humor, reflection, and an understanding of the permeable boundary separating our atmosphere from the deafening void of the universe.
— Baltimore Sun's Top Ten Art Shows of the Year
Skye Gilkerson (born 1982, South Dakota, USA) is an interdisciplinary artist creating poignant conceptual projects across a range of media, including sculpture, installation, photography, film, collage, and poetry. With a sense of wonder, tenderness, and humor, her work engages the tension between time and timelessness, place and placelessness, and the human and universal scale.
Gilkerson has filmed the sun simultaneously rising and setting on opposite sides of the earth, walked the distance to outer space and back, made drawings from the ash remains of burning newspapers on each new moon, and keeps a reference library of failed apocalypses.
Her work has been shown internationally and across the United States at the Pensacola Museum of Art, the Contemporary Museum of Baltimore, the South Dakota Art Museum, and FLAG Foundation in New York. She was awarded a Chenven Foundation Grant, a Smack Mellon Studio Fellowship, and Artist Residency Grants with the La Napoule Art Foundation in La Napoule, France, and Tilleard Projects on Lamu Island, Kenya. Her work is in the Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection, the Vanderbilt University Collection, and many personal collections.
For exhibition invites and studio news sign up for her newsletter here.
Solo & Two Person Exhibitions
A Kind of Ecstasy 2023
Rick Wester Fine Art, New York, NY
A Planet I Can Walk On 2023
Haas Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, PA
Close Your Eyes 2020
Library Exhibitions, Fayetteville, AR
There and Back 2017-2018
South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings, SD
Nowhere Better Than This Place 2017
Webb School Gallery, Knoxville, TN
Unending 2016
Institute of Contemporary Art, Baltimore, MD
Skye Gilkerson: New Works 2014
K&K Project Space, Stuttgart, Germany
The Sunrise Watches the Sunset 2013
Bethel University, St Paul, MN
Out of Context, 2011
Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia, PA
Portable Horizon Project, 2010
Seed Space, Nashville, TN
Nervous Expression, 2004
Eastern University, St. Davids, PA
Select Group Exhibitions
Artist-in-Residence Exhibition 2023
Kleinert/James Gallery, Woodstock, NY
Phenomenology of Outer Space 2021
SOIL Art Gallery, Seattle, WA
Summer Reading 2021
Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
No Place But Home 2020
University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
Making a Way 2020
South Bend Museum of Art online exhibition
Winfisky Gallery at Salem State University online exhibition
Double Negative 2019
ChaShaMa, New York, NY
Stone’s Throw: On Borders, Boundaries and The Beyond 2018-2019
Pensacola Museum of Art, Pensacola, FL
Between Days 2018
Honey Ramka, Brooklyn, NY
Nighttime For Strangers 2018
NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY
Summer Reading 2018
Woskob Family Gallery, State College, PA
The Times 2017
FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY
Reader’s Art 2017
Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Bound and Unbound IV 2017
University Libraries, Vermillion, SD
Trace/Limit 2017
Jackson Meadows, Marine on St Croix, MN
Endless and Mobile Beautiful Collapsible Labyrinth 2017
Flux Factory, Queens, NY
The Video Show 2017
Raritan Valley Community College, Raritan, NJ
20th Anniversary Show 2016
Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY
Transmitter @ IABF 2016
Independent Art Book Fair, Brooklyn, NY
Edgehill Muses 2016
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
...And I Feel Fine 2015
The Re-Institute, Millerton, NY
From Lourdes 2015
Figment, New York, NY
Sunsets 2015
The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY
Transmitter Presents 2015
Select Art Fair, New York, NY
6 x 6 2015
Transmitter, Brooklyn, NY
Re:Collect 2014
Re:View Gallery, Detroit, MI
Art On Paper: Works from the Collection 2014
Gormley Gallery, Notre Dame of Maryland University, Baltimore, MD
In The Details 2014
The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY
All My Ghosts 2013
College Art Gallery Collaborative, St Paul, MN
Selfie 2013
Guest Spot, Baltimore, MD
Triangulation 2012
Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago, IL
Grand Prix 2012
Nudashank, Baltimore, MD
Flooded Art Party 2012
Imlay, Red Hook Brooklyn, NY
Invited: Celebration Station 2012
Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
Trawick Prize Finalist Exhibition 2012
Gallery B, Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Liste 2012
Baltimore Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD
Residency Re-imagined 2012
City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
23rd National Drawing and Print Exhibition 2012
Gormley Gallery, Notre Dame of Maryland University, Baltimore, MD
Textuality 2012
Manifest Creative Research and Drawing Center, Cincinnati, OH
Economy and Mapping 2011-2012
Temple Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Trawick Prize Finalist Exhibition 2011
Artery Plaza Gallery, Bethesda, MD
KISS: New Sincerity And New Romanticism in Art 2011
Murray State University, Murray, KY
365 Days of Print 2011
DUMBO Arts Festival, Brooklyn, NY
The Visual Arts Gallery, New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ
Chain Letter 2011
Samsøn Projects, Boston MA
Out of Context 2011
Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia, PA
Edited States 2011
Guest Spot, Baltimore, MD
Medium of Exchange 2011
Center for the Arts Gallery, Towson University, Towson, MD
Regeneration 2011
Second Chance, Baltimore, MD
All or Nothing 2010
Denler Gallery, St Paul, MN
Stop. Start. Repeat. 2010
Anton Art Center, Mt Clemens, MI
Crystalline Justice 2010
Patton-Mallott Gallery, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass Villiage, CO
Paperworks 2009
BJ Spokes Gallery, Huntington, NY
Majestic Gallery Juried Exhibition 2009
Majestic Gallery, Northville, OH
Loose Cannon: MFA Thesis Exhibition 2009
Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Bookends 2009
Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA
Daimler Chrystler New Art Exhibition 2008-2009
Daimler Chrystler, Farmington Hills, MI
Yellow # 5 2008
Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Ephemeral Sensuality 2008
Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Nothing is Everything 2008
Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
In Vibrio 2008
Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Where the Aero Lands 2007
Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
The Greatest Damn Sculpture Show on Earth 2007
Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Earth From Above: No Name Exhibitions Biennale 2006
Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
Curatorial Projects
Glaze Words 2019
NIAD Art Center, Online
House Work 2017
437A, Brooklyn, NY
Left to Right 2015
437A, Brooklyn, NY
Stories 2015
437A, Brooklyn, NY
November 2014
437A, Brooklyn, NY
Division of Labor 2012
Current Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Strange Magic 2011
Guest Spot, Baltimore, MD
Red Carpet: Sculpture as Social Mediator 2009
Open Lot, Nashville, TN
My Universe is Gigantic, Enormous, and Amazing: A Drawing Show 2008
Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Lectures
Exhibition Lecture, Haas Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, PA 2023
Artist Lecture, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 2019
Artist Lecture, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY 2018
Panel Discussion, Pensacola Museum of Art, Pensacola, FL 2018
Artist Lecture, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL 2018
Artist Talk / Panel Discussion, SECAC Conference, Birmingham, AL 2018
Exhibition Lecture, South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings, SD 2017
Gallery Lecture, Raritan Valley Community College, Raritan, NJ 2017
Van Zante Visiting Artist Lecture, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 2014
Artist Lecture, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE 2014
Exhibition Lecture, K&K Projects, Stuttgart, Germany 2014
Artist Residency Lecture, La Napoule Art Foundation Residency, La Napoule, France 2014
Gallery Lecture, Bethel University, St Paul, MN 2013
Artist Lecture, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, TN 2013
Professional Practice Lecture, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI 2013
Studio Fellowship Lecture, Smack Mellon Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2012
Curatorial Lecture, Current Gallery, Baltimore, MD 2012
Artist Lecture, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD 2012
Artist Lecture, Current Gallery, Baltimore, MD 2012
Artist Residency Lecture, Philadelphia Art Hotel, Philadelphia, PA 2011
Guest Lecture, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI 2010
Guest Artist Series, Wyly Community Art Center, Basalt, CO 2010
Artist Residency Lecture, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass Villiage, CO 2010
Artist Residency Lecture, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for Art, Nebraska City, NE 2010
Artist Lecture, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI 2008
Gallery Lecture, Bethel University, St Paul, MN 2007
Awards and Residencies
Chateau d'Orquevaux Artist Residency, d'Orquevaux. France 2023
Byrdcliffe Colony Artist Residency Woodstock, NY 2022
Mass MoCA Artist Residency, North Adams, MA 2020
Tilleard Projects Artist Residency, Lamu Island, Kenya 2018
Webb School Artist Residency, Knoxville, TN 2017
Jentel Artist Residency, Sheraton, WY 2017
Art of Consciousness Artist Residency, Springfield, NH 2015
La Napoule Art Foundation Artist Residency, La Napoule, France 2014
Vermont Studio Center Full Fellowship, Johnson, VT 2013
Byrdcliffe Colony Artist Residency Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, Woodstock, NY 2013
Smack Mellon Studio Fellowship 2012-2013
Notre Dame of Maryland Purchase Award 2012
Trawick Prize Finalist 2012
Philadelphia Art Hotel Artist Residency, Philadelphia, PA 2011
Trawick Prize Finalist 2011
Chenven Foundation Artist Grant 2010
Anderson Ranch Artist Residency, Aspen, CO 2010
Kimmel Harding Nelson Artist Residency, Nebraska City, NE 2010
Majestic Gallery Exhibition First Place Award 2009
Pamela Applebaum Scholar, Cranbrook Academy of Art 2007-2009
Detroit Symphony Orchestra Artist Residency, Detroit, MI 2008
Lifeworks, Inc. Artist Grant 2007
Collections
Notre Dame of Maryland Collection, Baltimore, MD
Vanderbilt University Collection, Nashville, TN
Bethel University Collection, St Paul, MN
Robert F. Pfannebecker Collection, Lancaster, PA
Philadelphia Art Hotel Collection, Philadelphia, PA
Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts Collection, Nebraska City, NE
Numerous Personal Collections in the US and Germany
Drawing Center Curated Online Registry, New York, NY
Bibliography
Roberts, Mike, "'Stone's Throw' goes the distance at Pensacola Museum of Art," Pensacola News Journal, December 2018
Carey, Maryanne, "Nowhere Better Than This Place," Number: Ninety Three, March 2018
Baltimore City Paper, “Top 10 Art Shows of 2016,” December 2016
Sweeney, Erin, “Skye Gilkerson and the Edge of Space,” October 2016
Johnson, Paddy, “This Week’s Must-See Events,” Art F City, November 2016
Edgehill Muses Catalogue, “Experiments in Utopia,” January 2016
Art F City, “This Week’s Must-See Art Events,” November 2015
365 Artists/365 Days, "Skye Gilkerson-Brooklyn, NY," September 2014
Seed Space Catalogue, "Portable Horizon Project," July 2014
Kind Aesthetic, "Five Alive: Skye Gilkerson," March 2014
La Napoule Art Foundation Blog, "Spotlight on Skye Gilkerson," April 2014
Rehm, Rebecca, "UNW participates in art tour with Bethel, MCAD," UNW Column, Oct 2013
Ober, Cara, “The Real America: To Go,” Urbanite, February 2012
Ober, Cara, “Strange Magic,” Urbanite Online, November 2011
“Seen and Liked: ‘Out of Context’ at Grizzly Grizzly,” Heavybubble, September 2011
Schwartz, Chip, “The Parallel Processes of Skye Gilkerson and Sarah Steinwachs,” The Art Blog, September 2011
Pastan, Rachel, “Field Trip: Alternative Spaces,” Institute of Contemporary Art Blog, September 2011
Stewart-Sanabria, Denise, “New Horizons,” Exhibition Catalogue, 2010
Bubis, Rachel, “Portable Horizon Project,” Exhibition Catalogue, 2010
Bubis, Rachel, “Interactive Art Exhibition at Seed Space,” Nashville Examiner, 2010
Open Letters Monthly, Cover Art, October, 2010
Open Letters Monthly, “An Authorless Chorus,” October, 2010
GIlkerson, Skye, Cranbrook Academy of Art Graduate Catalogue, 2009
Umass Small Press Bonanza, Microfilme Magazine One, Issue 1, 2009
Anna Dezeuze “Express Yourself,” Variant Magazine Issue 31, 2008
Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July “Learning to Love You More,” Prestel Publishing, 2007
Lukas Gohl “Badass Bienalle,” The Wake Magazine, Volume 5 Issue 6, 2006
Education
MFA, Sculpture, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI 2009
BA, Studio Art with Honors, Bethel University, St Paul, MN 2004
Altos de Chavon/Parsons School of Design, La Romana, Dominican Republic 2004
Oregon Extension Women’s Studies Program, Ashland, OR 2003
Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland, UK 2002