Lex Thompson

Job Title

  • Professor of Art
    Art & Design, College of Arts and Sciences

Highlight

Photography, Senior Seminar, Professional Practices, Cryptozoology

Started at Bethel

2005

Education

  • New College of Florida - B.A. in History, 1999
  • Yale University - M.A. in Religion and the Arts, 2001
  • San Francisco Art Institute - M.F.A. in Photography, 2004

Biography

Lex Thompson's work focuses on manifestations of hope and failure in the American landscape.

Selected Exhibitions

2018
Firmament, Silverwood Park Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (solo)
Re|collect, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA (solo)
Re|collect, Neon Heater Gallery, Findlay, OH (solo)

2017
Eight Artists, Space 369, juror Candice Hopkins, Saint Paul, MN

2016
Re-Model, TuckUnder, Minneapolis, MN (solo)
North of the 45th, DeVos Art Museum, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI

2015
The Golden Hour, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA
This From There, Circa Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Extraordinary Outdoors, Peterssen/Keller Architecture, curated by Tim Peterson, Minneapolis, MN
TOMODACHI x mt tape, Tomodachi Mall of America, curated by Public Functionary, Bloomington, MN
6th Annual Contemporary Photography Exhibition, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, jurors Whitney Richardson
(NYTimes Lens Blog) and Paige West (Mixed Greens, NY), Philadelphia, PA
Nowhere Everywhere, The Cambridge School of Weston, Weston MA
Between Two Worlds, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI

2014
The Ephemeral, Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography, juror Tate Shaw, Detroit, MI
It Narratives, Franklin Street Works, Stamford, CT
INFOCUS Self Published Photobooks, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
This May Have Happened, David Weinberg Photography, Filter Photo Festival, Chicago IL
Photobook Show F, 72 Gallery, Tokyo Institute of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
The Here There, Some Sum Studio, Winona, MN
Photobookshow Malm, Vasli Souza, Malmo, Sweden

2013
Orders of Possibility, Form+Content Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (three person)
The Explorers Club, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, MN (two person)
DIY (Chicago): Photographers and Books, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL
a fair., Art + Design Gallery, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

2012
Lu-wow, Eugene Johnson Gallery, Bethel University, St. Paul, MN (solo)
New Southern Photography, Ogden Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
DIY: Photographers & Books, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Photobook Show C, Create Studio, Brighton UK

2011
All Our Pleasant Places, Seerveld Gallery, Trinity College, Chicago, IL (solo)
McKnight Photography Fellows 2009-2010, Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, MN
A View of the Vernacular: Eric Ruby & Lex Thompson, IFP Center for Media Arts, Saint Paul, MN

2010
Evergreen, Wall Space Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Biotics: The Hum/an/imal World, Conduit Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

2009
Carroll, Nedrelow, Thompson, SELLOUT Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Space Available, 9th Street Entry Gallery, Saint Paul, MN

2008
All Our Pleasant Places, Point of View Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Fanatically Yours, New York Center for Art & Media Studies, New York, NY
New American Talent, Arthouse, Austin, TX, Texas A&M, Commerce, & Texas Tech University, Lubbock.
PhotoMidwest, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
Artist Books: Recent Acquisitions, UCLA Arts Library, Los Angeles, CA

2007
High 5: Emerging Art in America, CW Network Corporate Headquarters, Los Angles, CA
Up & Now!, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
Untitled 6, SOO Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN
Photocentric 2007, Minnesota Center for Photography, Minneapolis, MN
All Our Pleasant Places, Focal Length Gallery, Minnesota State University, Moorhead, MN. (solo)
Mush, Mush, Masculinity!, Ephemeral Space, Saint Paul, MN

2006
Waterways, Eugene Johnson Gallery, Bethel University, St. Paul, MN (solo)
You Were Never Here, The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
Photo Books Now, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA

2005
Other America, Exit Art, New York, NY
Minnesota Biennial 2D II, Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN
Exposure X 9, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI
D(igital)fraged, University of West Florida Art Gallery, Pensacola, FL
Monument Recall, The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Portland, OR

2004
Monument Recall, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA
We Could've Been Friends, Boxspace, Miami, FL

Awards

Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board, 2016

Source-Cord Prize, shortlist, 2014

Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board, 2011

mnartists/McKnight Artist Fellowships for Photographers, 2009/2010

Flash Forward Emerging Photographer, 2009

Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board, 2008

Visiting Artist in Photography, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI, 2004-2005

Publications

Walker Art Center Blog, “A Sublime Feeling in My GUT: Eric William Carroll’s Theory of Everything, Lex Thompson, September 18 2014, ed. Susannah Schouweiler.

Photo-eye Blog, Book of the Week: Birds of the West Indies, August 18, 2014.

On A White Wall, Ghost Show May Be In Session, Lex Thompson, Aug. 2014, ed. Alex Wood.

mnartists.org, Objectifying Time,Lex Thompson, March 5 2014, ed. Susannah Schouweiler

Lay Flat, F* That: Photography and the Ineffable,Lex Thompson, June 2013, ed. Shane Lavalette

access + ENGAGE, Colleen Mullins’ Elysium: Urban Canopy Loss in Post-Katrina New Orleans at the Hand of Man, Lex Thompson, March 2008, Vol. 27, No. 2, ed. Susannah Schouweiler.

Religion and the Arts, 100 Artists See God, Lex Thompson, Vol. 8, No. 4, ed. Dennis Taylor (Boston, MA: Brill 2004). Article on the work shown in the exhibit 100 Artists See God curated by John Baldessari & Meg Cranston.

Certificates and Licenses

Class D Minnesota Driver's License

Hobbies and Interests

Ham Radio, Boxing, Ballroom Dancing, Building Ships in a Bottle, Archery, Magic

Areas of expertise

Photography, Senior Seminar, Professional Practices, Cryptozoology

Website

http://www.lexthompson.com