Lindsy Halleckson

American, resides Minneapolis, MN

Education

2012   MBA, General Management, University of St. Thomas
2002   BA, Studio Art and Art History, St. Olaf College

Artist Statement

My practice echoes old ways of studying the sky using new and old technologies. The paradox of my painting is that if I do my job well, no one sees how much effort is required. This resonates with our view of the atmosphere. We don’t see how temperature, humidity, and latitude affect the colors we perceive. Add smog, particulate matter, and a precise location on Earth and the atmospheric story changes again, perhaps more subtly but undeniably.

Using water I draw from the environment, via rain catchment and a dehumidifier, I thin paint and add layer after layer to the canvas. Expanding each color every stroke until the paint is dry. The fine gradients I create reflect the sky’s composition and, like the sky, show no single brushstroke.

The physical exertion required for each canvas is intentional. It demands that I be fully present with the paint, the brush, the process, and my breath. It is meditative and a means of exploring ideas and concepts through a multi-faceted lens. A different way of using my brain, hands, and eyes to categorize data, the work fascinates me. I watch as it grows and advances until there is a connection, a thread between me and the canvas. I follow the thread until it feels true. Each breath, like a thread in a tapestry, unable to be extracted from the interwoven emanations of life across time and space.

About

Lindsy Halleckson’s luminous paintings are a distinct exploration of the atmosphere, driven by a process that evolves alongside her deepening understanding of light and perception. With an approach that seamlessly merges scientific inquiry, deep observation, and profound introspection, her work embodies an ongoing dialogue between the external world and the inner self. Through her meticulous study of the sky at the edges of day and night, Halleckson captures the fleeting yet powerful interplay between light, atmosphere, and perception—creating works that not only document but evoke the complex and transformative qualities of our environment.

Halleckson’s work has been shown in galleries across the US and internationally, and her paintings have been commissioned for public and private collections from Martha’s Vineyard to Los Angeles. Recognized through exhibitions, fellowships, and grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board (2018, 2021, 2024), Metropolitan Regional Arts Council/McKnight Foundation (2017, 2023) and Puffin Foundation (2013), her practice extends beyond traditional boundaries. She has collaborated with atmospheric chemists on projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and one of her paintings appears in the Art x Climate collection as part of the 5th National Climate Assessment (NCA5). Artist research residencies in the Arctic, including The Arctic Circle (2018) and in Greenland (2023), have expanded her scope, infusing collaborations, remote sensing data, and data gathered with her own equipment. Other art residencies she has attended include Cuttyhunk Island (2025), Montello Foundation (2024), Hinge Arts at The Kirkbride (2016), as a Jerome-funded Emerging Artist Fellow at Tofte Lake Center (2011) and New York Mills Regional Cultural Center (2010). She was an Art(ists) on the Verge Fellow (2018). Her work is represented by Wally Workman Gallery in Austin, TX.

SELECTED AWARDS 
2026
Invited Collaborator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Grant (NOAA), University of Minnesota
2025
Artist in Residence, Cuttyhunk Island Artists' Residency
2024    
Creative Support for Individuals Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board
Artist in Residence, Montello Foundation  
2023    
Next Step Fund Grant, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC)/McKnight Foundation
Summer Expedition, Skydancer, Ilulissat, Greenland
2022
Artist in Residence (self-guided), Grand Marais Art Colony
2021
Creative Support for Individuals Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board
2020
Invited Collaborator, National Science Foundation Grant, University of Minnesota and Colorado State University
2018 
Art(ists) on the Verge 10 Fellow, Northern Lights.mn/Jerome Foundation
Autumn Expedition, The Arctic Circle
Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board  
2017 
Next Step Fund Grant, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC)/McKnight Foundation
2016
Artist in Residence, Hinge Arts at the Kirkbride, Springboard for the Arts 
Award of Distinction, Banfill Locke Center for the Arts (juror: Leslie Hammons) 
2015
2nd Place Award - Painting, Wintertide Biennial 
Award of Distinction, Banfill Locke Center for the Arts (juror: Teresa Engeltjes) 
2013
Project Grant, Puffin Foundation 

 
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 
2022
Conversing with Forest, Air, & Light, Paramount Center for the Arts, St. Cloud, MN
2019
Windshield, Silverwood Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2017 
Exigent Pleasantry, Roen Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 
FREE TIME, Artistry, Minneapolis, MN 
2016 
Parsing Silence: A Meditation on Solitude, Larson Gallery, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN  

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
Mary Case + Lindsy Halleckson, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX (two-person show)
Open Loop 2026, Form+Content Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (juror: Kylie Linh Hoang)
North of the 45th, DeVos Art Museum, Marquette, MI (jurors: Shane Walsh and Shane McAdams)
You’re It, The Brit List (online, curator: Brittany Fanning)
2025
45th Anniversary Exhibition, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX
Sightlines, Gallery 85, New York, NY (curator: Victoria Gildersleeve)
Climate / Change Regional Biennial, Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, IA (juror: Elizabeth Gollnick)
2024    
A Sense of Surface, The Painting Center, New York, NY (jurors: Shazzi Thomas and Lucy Schwartzreich)
64th Arrowhead Regional Biennial, Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, MN (juror: Aya Kawaguchi)
2023   
73rd A-ONE Exhibition, Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT (juror: Madeline Cornell)(catalog)
NORTH, immersive installation with composer Mary Ellen Childs, Zeitgeist new music ensemble, and video by Tamara Ober and Caitlin Hammel, Weitz Center for Creativity, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Fibres, AIR Gallery, Manchester, UK
NORTH, immersive installation with composer Mary Ellen Childs, Zeitgeist new music ensemble, and video by Tamara Ober and Caitlin Hammel, The Anderson Center, Red Wing, MN
2022
Chroma, MSP International Airport, Minneapolis, MN (juror: Sheila Dickinson)
2021
Lindsy Halleckson + Revi Meicler: Moments, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX (two-person show)
Spectrum of Being, Walker Fine Art, Denver, CO
Take Two: Déjà Vu, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND (auction)(catalog)
2020
40th Anniversary Show, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX
Congruence, I Like Your Work (online)(juror: Bridgette Mayer)
Lately, CIRCA Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Art(ists) on the Verge 10, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN (catalog)
2019
The Nature of Disappearance, Silverwood Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (juror: Mara Duvra)
Nouveau, CIRCA Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Kindred, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2018
National Juried Exhibition, First Street Gallery, New York, NY (juror: Ronnie Landfield)
Summer Salon, CIRCA Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
nano 1.2, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Bold Boho, CIRCA Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Winter Salon, CIRCA Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2017
LIGHT, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX
Infinite Layers, Walker Fine Art, Denver, CO
Complementary, Art Students League of Denver, Denver, CO
58th Midwestern Invitational: Revolution, The Rourke Museum, Moorhead, MN
Summer Salon, CIRCA Gallery, Minneapolis, MN 
Lindsy Halleckson + Ahavani Mullen, CIRCA Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (two-person show) 
2017 Annual Contemporary Art Survey, The Lincoln Center, Fort Collins, CO (juror: Zoe Larkins) 
Untitled 13, Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN (jurors: Dean Otto and Astria Suparak) 
Winter Salon, CIRCA Gallery, Minneapolis, MN 
2016
No Stone Unturned, Silverwood Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (juror: Christine Baeumler) 
29th September Competition, Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA (juror: Francis Pavy)(catalog) 
Summer Salon, CIRCA Gallery, Minneapolis, MN 
North of the 45th, DeVos Art Museum, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI (juror: Michele Bosak) 
Untitled 12, Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN (jurors: Enrico Gomez and Theo Sims) 
2015 
This From There, CIRCA Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (juror: Christopher Atkins) 
North of the 45th, DeVos Art Museum, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI (juror: Lena Vigna) 
Soul Struck, SPACE Gallery, Denver, CO (juror: Christoph Heinrich, PhD) 
Wintertide Biennial, Public Functionary, Minneapolis, MN (catalog) 

SELECTED COMMISSIONS
Art Force, Minneapolis, MN
Aspire, Woodbury, MN
Canyon Ranch, Austin, TX
Castlelake, Minneapolis, MN
Hyatt Regency, Conroe, TX
International Dairy Queen, Minneapolis, MN
Le Meridien/Chambers, Minneapolis, MN
Springboard for the Arts, St. Paul, MN
University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN
The Westin, Washington, DC
Zeitgeist New Music, St. Paul, MN

SELECTED COLLECTIONS 
Boston Scientific, Maple Grove, MN 
Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences, Minneapolis, MN
Henson Efron, Minneapolis, MN
Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Los Angeles, CA
Studio/E, Minneapolis, MN
University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN