Dana Major’s interactive light installations investigate how perception creates reality.

Studio-made LEDs, repurposed glass, reflection, shadow, and lensing explore the surprise of worlds beyond what we usually see. The lenses of microscopy and astronomy show patterns and processes that, bound up with the inherent limitations of ways of seeing, come to be called reality.

Dana has lectured in the Sculpture Department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and provides accredited studio internships at the undergraduate and graduate levels for enrolled students in AICAD, the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design, which include SAIC, Pratt, KCAI, and RISD. Her 2011 MFA from SAIC follows her BA in Philosophy from DePaul University, and an 18-month arts apprenticeship in St. Petersburg, Russia. She maintains her studio at Mana Contemporary Chicago. Some of her accomplishments include displaying work at Elmhurst Art Museum, Chicago Art EXPO, and designing multiple installations for the Chicago Art Departments annual Crystal Ball Gala.