
Chair, Division of Art
Associate Professor, Photo/Media + New Genres
Fields of Interest
Education
Biography
Whitney Lynn works across a wide range of media to explore the role of images in the construction of myth, illusion, power and desire. Recent investigations examine the archetype of the femme fatale, the subversive potential of floral art, perceptual traps, and shifting depictions of forbidden knowledge.
Lynn has exhibited internationally at venues including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Torrance Art Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and CCA Wattis Institute. She has created site-responsive public art for the San Diego International Airport, alongside the Burke-Gilman Trail in Seattle, in the City of Reno's City Hall lobby, and in the form of bus bench billboards throughout Miami. She was the first National Artist-in-Residence at The Neon Museum, Las Vegas, and also an artist-in-residence at the de Young Museum and the Internet Archive. She is currently an Artist Fellow with Black Cube Nomadic Museum.
Lynn started teaching at the University of Washington in 2018. She previously taught at Stanford University, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the University of California, Berkeley.
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Production Grant, VIA Art Fund, 2025Artist Fellow, Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum, 2023-26Royalty Research Fund (RRF) Scholar, University of Washington, 2023Mellon Faculty Fellow, Mellon Foundation/University of Washington, 2021-22
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Creative Work
Selected Research
- "An Act of Gathering: Whitney Lynn Interviewed by Kim Beil: A public artwork layers history and language," a feature written by Kim Beil for BOMB Magazine about Lynn's public art project in Seattle. Published on July 5, 2021. https://bombmagazine.org/topics/whitney-lynn
- Hall W. Rockefeller, “Women of the Pacific Northwest: Whitney Lynn,” less than half, June 29, 2020. https://lessthanhalf.org/50-women/2020/6/29/women-of-the-pacific-northwest
- Whitney Lynn. "Biblical Temptresses in Neon: San Francisco-Based Whitney Lynn Looks at Las Vegas in the Larger Context of Time," a review written by Kristen Peterson for Las Vegas Weekly about Lynn's residency at The Neon Museum. Published on June 29, 2016.
- Whitney Lynn, Atomic Open House, presented by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. Opening Spring 2026 in Nye County, NV.
Research Advised
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Autumn 2025
Spring 2025
Winter 2025
Winter 2024
Autumn 2023
Spring 2023
Winter 2023
Spring 2022
Winter 2022
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