Amber Hansen

Amber Hansen serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Art within the College of Fine Arts at the University of South Dakota. Her work spans multiple creative disciplines including painting, film, drawing, and musical performance, with a strong emphasis on community engagement.

• MFA in Drawing and Painting, University of Kansas (2010)
• BFA in Painting and Printmaking, University of South Dakota (2007)

Hansen's research focuses on socially engaged and community-based artwork throughout the Midwest, creating a dialogue between formal artistic education and rural ethics. Her work promotes creative engagement across all age groups while critically examining animal welfare ethics and human relationships with food systems. She has been instrumental in numerous public mural projects across the country and co-directed the documentary film 'Called to Walls' (2016), which explores community-based mural creation in Middle America.

Hansen's recent publications and film work demonstrate a consistent trajectory toward community-centered artistic practices that address rural identity, food systems, and public space. Her 2024 publication 'Heartland, Heartwork' continues this exploration of place-based community development through art.

• Purchase Award, 14th Annual Drawing Discourse Exhibition (2023)
• Rural Regenerator Fellowship Grant from Springboard for the Arts (2021)
• Change Network recognition from Bush Foundation & National Arts Strategies (2018)
• Rocket Grant from The Charlotte Street Foundation (2011)

Hansen has secured significant grant funding including the Rural Regenerator Fellowship Grant (2021-2022), Artists in Schools & Communities Program funding (2023), and multiple Vermillion Community Mural Project grants. She actively advises community organizations and serves on the board of Community Built Association while being a citizen artist member of the U.S. Department of Arts & Culture. Her work bridges academic art practice with direct community engagement through numerous workshops and presentations.

Hansen leads community mural projects and collaborative art initiatives that function as de facto research laboratories for socially engaged art practices, particularly focusing on rural communities throughout the Midwest.