The Polk Museum of Art is pleased to present A Colored Image of the Sun, a solo exhibition by artist, Kelly Sturhahn. Sturhahn’s work explores notions of the sublime in nature from a contemporary viewpoint, simultaneously considering experience, perception and transformation. Favoring process and experimentation, her practice combines the unconventional with the traditional, incorporating a range of tactile materials to create paintings on cut fabric, ink drawings, and large-scale installations comprised of textiles, such as hand-sewn sequins and painted lace. Drawing on nature’s intricate, ever-changing phenomena, these works translate sensory experience, and often reinterpret nature abstractly as shapes, patterns, color, light, and movement.

Kelly Sturhahn is an Associate Professor of Art and the Director of the Foundations Program at Florida Southern College. Sturhahn holds a BFA from Ringling College of Art and Design and an MFA from Hunter College. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions including Cheryl Hazan Contemporary (NY), Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art (NY), Ann Street Gallery (NY), Times Square Gallery (NY), Skylight Gallery (NY), 6th Street Container (FL), and Boca Raton Museum of Art (FL), among others.