OUTreach: Sonja Henderson

Join us for Mentoring Artist-in-Residence colloquium series featuring leading artists presenting their studio practice, work process and notable works. Mature content. This event is free and open to the public. ADA accessible.

Sonja Henderson received her B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Painting and Drawing and her M.F.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, where she concentrated in Sculpture and Installation. At Berkeley, Sonja created life size earthworks and temporal structures made of clay, earth, twigs and organic matter in response to the built environment. Her cavernous feminine forms connect us to places we call “home”, natural habitats and animal architecture like termite mounds, beehives, burrow complexes, and birds’ nests. These earthen structures began an ongoing dialogue between internal and external form, sacred placemaking, creation myths and rituals. Sonja’s installations challenge our perception of the physical world by contrasting organic forms against the built environment while manipulating materials, context, and scale. In Chicago, Sonja uses restorative justice practices to create communal placemaking, healing and memorial spaces. Sonja works very closely with Chicago’s west and south side neighborhoods creating community engaged public sculpture and mosaics. She sculpted the MLK Living Memorial with plaza and community tiled benches and the seminal cast bronze Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Memorial which has received Congressional Recognition. Sonja has also created inspired concept pieces for the Chicago Torture Justice Memorial, Austin Soul City and the Naomi Anderson Suffragette Memorial.