TL Solien

  • TL Solien
  • TL Solien
  • TL Solien
  • TL Solien

TL Solien Biography

B. 1949, Fargo, ND, USA – Lives and works in Madison, WI, USA.

T.L Solien, born in Fargo North Dakota in 1949, received a BA degree in Art from Moorhead State University, Moorhead MN in 1973, and an MFA in Painting and Sculpture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1977.

Solien has been invited to participate in numerous exhibitions of National and International magnitude including, the 1983 Whitney Biennial, the 39th Biennial of American Painting at the Corcoran Museum, Washington, D.C.; Avant-Grade in the 80”s, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The American Artist as Printmaker, Brooklyn Museum NY; Images and Impressions, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN and Contemporary Drawings, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA.

Solien’s work has been visible in more than 35 solo exhibitions in the last 25 years, and was the subject of a 25-year retrospective titled, “T.L. Solien: Myths and Monsters” organized by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison WI. In 20013, The Plains Museum, in Fargo North Dakota organized the traveling exhibition, “Toward the Setting Sun”. “Toward the Setting Sun” emanated from Solien’s interest in Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick, and Seena Jeter Naslund’s, “Ahab’s Wife, or the Star-Gazer. From these two literary sources, Solien created over 100 works which, collectively, reimagine the whaling life of Ahab, and that of his widow, as she navigates a life which takes her from the privileged life of a ship captain’s wife, and into the unfolding adventures as a participant of the great American westward expansion. “Toward the Setting Sun” traveled to the Billings Museum of Contemporary Art in Montana, and The Sheldon Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.

T.L. Solien has been the recipient of numerous honors, including multiple Bush Foundation and Jerome Foundation fellowships, University of Wisconsin Graduate School Research Grants, and has been named “Outstanding Alumni” at both the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Moorhead State University, MN. In 2008 Solien was awarded a fellowship from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and in 2010 received a Wisconsin State Arts Board fellowship.

Solien has held teaching positions at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT; and has been a tenured Prof. in the Art Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI for the last 23 years.