Illuminating The Art of Time with Artist Alicia Eggert

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Interdisciplinary artist Alicia Eggert creates captivating work, which wrestles with fundamental existential questions in witty and awe-inspiring ways. From monumental inflatables, flashing neon signs, cut flowers, and more, her dynamic works have been exhibited globally. Often taking the form of text, she transforms words and phrases collected in her journals into profound, arresting installations that illuminate her interplay with time and language. She credits her preoccupation with time and existence to her upbringing as a child of evangelical Pentecostal missionaries. At a young age her family moved to South Africa to establish a ministry and she spent much of her time listening to her father’s sermons, contemplating life and performance, which left an indelible impact on her work. One of the beautiful things about her work is its simplicity and legibility which render them easily comprehensible. As a sculpture professor at the University of North Texas, she teaches a course about public art that culminates in students executing their work formally. Her dedication to her craft and students is inspiring and a reminder to live in the present, but with an eye to the future.

About Alicia:

(b. 1981) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work gives material form to language and time, the powerful but invisible forces that shape our perception of reality. Her creative practice is largely motivated by an existential pursuit to understand the linear and finite nature of human life within a seemingly infinite universe. She derives her inspiration from physics and philosophy, and her sculptures often co-opt the styles and structures of commercial signage to communicate messages that inspire reflection and wonder. Alicia creates neon signs that illuminate the way light travels across space and time, and billboards that allow Forever to appear and disappear in the fog. These artworks have been installed on building rooftops in Russia, on bridges in Amsterdam, and on uninhabited islands in Maine, beckoning us to ponder our place in the world and the role we play in it.

Alicia's work has been exhibited at notable institutions nationally and internationally, including the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, the Telfair Museums, and many more. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at Galeria Fernando Santos (Porto, Portugal), The MAC (Dallas, TX), and T+H Gallery (Boston, MA). Alicia is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including a TED Fellowship, a Washington Award from the S&R Foundation, a Direct Artist Grant from the Harpo Foundation, an Artist Microgrant from the Nasher Sculpture Center, and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Maine Arts Commission. She has been an artist in residence at Google Tilt Brush, Sculpture Space, True/False Film Festival, and the Tides Institute and Museum of Art. In 2020, she was added to the Fulbright Specialist Roster by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Alicia earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University in 2004, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture/Dimensional Studies from Alfred University in 2009. She is currently a Presidential Early Career Professor of Studio Art and the Sculpture Program Coordinator at the University of North Texas. Her work is represented by Galeria Fernando Santos in Porto, Portugal, and Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas. She lives with her son, Zephyr, in Denton, Texas.

Learn more about Alicia on her website and follow her on Instagram @aplaceintheuniverse.