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.
Photo: Madalyn Rowell
Bio
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.