Nathan Haenlen
Instagram: @nathanhaenlein
Bio: Nathan Haenlein is a Professor of Art at Sonoma State University, where he has taught since 2003. He specializes in printmaking, drawing, and painting, offering courses ranging from foundational 2-D studies to advanced studio practices in lithography, etching, and digital printmaking. His teaching has been recognized with the Thomas Jefferson Award for Teaching Excellence, reflecting a deep commitment to mentorship and artistic development. Haenlein earned his MFA and MA in Printmaking from the University of Iowa, with minors in Painting and Drawing, and his BFA in Printmaking and Painting from the University of Toledo. His work has been exhibited widely in the United States and internationally, including solo exhibitions at Occasional Things Gallery (Santa Rosa), The Ridderhoff Martin Gallery (Fredericksburg, VA), Inde/Jacobs Gallery (Marfa, TX), and The Drawing Center (New York, NY). He has also participated in international exhibitions in Lithuania, Croatia, and Belarus, with works held in collections such as the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the University of Iowa Museum of Art, and the Lithuanian Graphic Center. In addition to his teaching and studio practice, Haenlein has curated exhibitions at Sonoma State University and contributed essays and artwork to publications including *Shifter Magazine* and *Printeresting.org*. He has been an invited lecturer and visiting artist at institutions such as Bucknell University, College for Creative Studies, and the University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale. Haenlein’s creative practice explores intersections of printmaking, drawing, painting and contemporary visual culture, consistently engaging audiences through thoughtful experimentation and material rigor.
Statement: My work is grounded in the language of drawing, painting and now sculpture. These disciplines provide both material resistance and endless opportunities for experimentation. I am interested in how images accumulate, overlap, and erode—how marks, shapes, and fragments can carry memory and meaning forward while also revealing their instability. Much of my practice involves working with repetition and variation, exploring how a single gesture or motif can generate multiple possibilities. In this way, the studio functions as a site of testing and reconfiguration, where each piece is both a conclusion and a beginning. I often embrace accidents and irregularities, allowing the unexpected to shape the final image and remind us that control is always partial. As both artist and educator, I am committed to sustaining a dialogue between tradition and innovation. Teaching informs my practice by keeping me engaged with fundamental questions: What does it mean to make a mark? How do we translate experience into form? In navigating these questions, I continue to explore the tension between material process and the elusive, shifting nature of meaning.
