Sonja Thomsen is an American artist based in Milwaukee WI, whose multifaceted practice choreographs light in space, photograph and sculpture.  Thomsen is a woman working in abstraction, trained in the sciences, whose practice is beguiled by the plurality of light.  Thomsen’s installation practice creates space for wonder as a radical way to imagine post-patriarchal futures.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Studio Art from Kenyon College and a MFA in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute. Thomsen’s work resides in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University, DePaul University Art Museum, Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection in Flaxman Library at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago, Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Reykjavik Museum of Photography.

Sonja Thomsen is a member of the international photography collective Piece of Cake Collective. Thomsen is an Associate Professor, Adj. in the Photography Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Sonja Thomsen is CoPA’s founding president, leading the organization for its first 3-4 years.  Sonja looks forward to talking with new and old friends about how she choreographs space for wonder within her life and work.