Tracing Luminaries, 2022

Erika Blumenfeld—Biography

Erika Blumenfeld (b. 1971, USA) is a transdisciplinary artist whose practice is motivated by the wonder of natural phenomena and the relationship between nature and culture. A Guggenheim and Smithsonian Fellow, Blumenfeld approaches her work like an archivist, driven by a passion to trace and collect the evidence and stories of connection across the cosmos. Her research-based practice examines a range of subjects including astronomy, geology, planetary science, ecology, the environment, anthropogenic climate disruption, natural night sky preservation and light in its many forms.

Blumenfeld is currently an artist-in-residence at NASA where she is leading a team to create Astromaterials 3D, the newly launched interactive virtual library of NASA’s Apollo Lunar and Antarctic Meteorite collections for researchers and the public.

Blumenfeld is the recipient of many awards including a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Artist-in-Residence (2018); NASA ROSES PDART Grant (2016-2019/Sci-PI); Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship at the National Museum of Natural History (2015); Cape Farewell’s Scottish Islands Expedition Residency (2011); Artist-in-residence with ITASC Research Team, SANAE Research Base, Antarctica (2009); John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2008); Ballroom Marfa’s Inaugural Artist-in Residence (2004); Creative Capital Award (2000).

Blumenfeld’s work has been exhibited widely including the Albright Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, New York); Ballroom Marfa (Marfa, Texas); Färgfabriken Norr (Östersund, Sweden); Galerie der Stadt Mainz-Brückenturm (Mainz, Germany); Kunstnernes Hus (Oslo, Norway); OCA (Sao Paulo, Brazil); Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (Portland, Oregon); TATE Modern (London, UK); Willem de Kooning Academie (Rotterdam, Netherlands); among others.

Blumenfeld holds a BFA in Photography from Parsons School for Design and an MSc in Conservation Studies (with Distinction) from University College London. She lives and works in Houston, Texas.