Sonja Peterson | I Want To Know No More

My work addresses the role humans have in accelerating the reweaving of nature and disrupting a long  continuum of migrations and evolution. With my use of cut paper in these drawings, paintings and collages, the  works’ structural integrity is, at times, reliant on its interconnectivity; if elements disconnect, the entire system is  in threat of collapse. The slow process of cutting intricate stories into larger narrative networks is an action that fulfills my need to reexamine and unravel histories of the endless matrix of power structures and systems in today’s world. – Sonja Peterson, 2022 

About the Artist 

Sonja Peterson received her BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and her MFA from the University of Minnesota. Peterson currently works for the Department of Art at the University of Minnesota. Peterson has exhibited regionally and beyond including the Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN, Walker Art Center, MN, Weisman Art Museum, MN, Minnesota Museum of American Art, MN, Minnesota Marine Art Museum, MN, The American Swedish Institute, MN, Purdue University, IN, Rhinelander Art Center, WI, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, MI, Arena 1 Gallery, CA, GRAFIIKANPAJA – AAVA, Raahe, Finland and Gallery Myotatuuli, Raahe, Oulu, Finland. 

Peterson has been awarded the 2021 McKnight Fellowship, the Jerome Foundation Travel Grant as well as Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants. Peterson has been the Artist in Residence fellow at the Bell Museum of Natural History and the American Swedish Institute and will be a 2023 fellow at the Santa Fe Art Institute. 

Gallery Hours

Tuesday–Saturday 11am–5pm and by appointment 

Image: Sonja Peterson | Tern | 2022 | cut paper, map, graphite, watercolor on paper | 15 x 22.5 inches