Emily Nicolosi, PhD
Artist / Director of In Theory Art Studios
Huntsville, UT
www.intheoryartstudios.com
instagram @in_theory_art
Q What do you do?
“I am a monumental light artist, born in the Burning Man tradition of large-scale, interactive art.”
I create art that tours light, music and art festivals around the world and also do permanent public art. I founded a studio to make this all happen, and run it on my 18 acre property in Northern Utah. My sculptures aren't those boring bronzes that you are probably imaging - they are something that will stop you in your tracks. That's because I use optically dichroic (iridescent) material that come alive through interplay with natural and digital light. The artworks I create aren't some abstract blob or a bronze figure- I make iconographic forms that you can instantly relate to- recast with intricate geometries to make them feel amazing, exciting, wondrous. My work is optimistic. I believe if we come together from a place of shared love and human connection, we can build a better world. Everything I do has the environment in mind. My studio is 100% solar powered and my sculptures are mostly made of upcycled materials.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
For most of my life, I was a painter. I understood the world through color. At the University of Vermont, I spent late nights in the studio covered in paint, studying how color can create the illusion of light and movement. I double-majored in Anthropology and Studio Art, but painting was where I felt most alive. A few years after college, I suddenly lost my mom. And a canvas no longer felt big enough. My mom loved in a way that felt boundless, effortless, expansive. She loved me like I was the only person in the room and somehow loved everyone else the same way. I didn’t feel a painting could capture that- which is when the idea for koro loko - my first large-scale sculpture - appeared. I had never built a monumental sculpture before. I didn’t know the materials. I didn’t know anything about engineering. I only knew the piece had to exist. So I learned. And that’s how koro loko became my first three-dimensional work - a larger-than-life heart designed to embody unbounded love. I brought that sculpture to Burning Man in 2019. Since then, people have asked me to make more sculptures, and I started to- every year doubling the amount of work from the year before- until I got where I am now- with over 20 different sculptures that I’ve toured all over the US and even overseas.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
Material is everything. When I began thinking about building something three-dimensional, I approached it the same way I approached painting. I spent months studying what other artists were using - steel, wood, glass, reclaimed objects, polished metal, upcycled fragments. I studied everything I could find. But I kept feeling stuck. Most of the materials I was seeing were primarily structural. They gave form but didn’t give experience. I wanted something that could feel expansive, alive, shifting. After months of looking, I came across dichroic material. I remember the first time I held it up to the light. It shifted. Changed. Refused to stay one color. What looked blue from one angle turned into gold from another. What felt solid dissolved into a spectrum. I became completely obsessed. Years earlier, I had been a painter, obsessed with how color could create the illusion of movement across a flat canvas. I didn’t just want to apply pigment; I wanted to make light move. Dichroic felt like the same conversation - just in three dimensions. It became an atmosphere. Even now, after building larger and more complex works, the obsession hasn’t changed. I don’t think of myself as someone who moved from painting to sculpture. I think I simply stepped off the canvas. I’ve always been working at the intersection of light and color.
Q What are you working on right now?
Right now I am working on a new project for Burning Man 2026 - “the weight of light.” It’s a massive lightning bolt installation exploring both the wonder and the cost of electrical energy. The central structure is a monumental lightning bolt rising from the ground, a jagged bridge between the heavens and the earth.
By day, the piece behaves like a prismatic crystal. Its surface is made from upcycled dichroic panels, which fracture sunlight into shifting colors. By night, the sculpture changes. LEDs pulse with a quiet resting glow, until participants fully activate it. Then the piece erupts into a brilliant vertical strike of light accompanied by the boom of thunder. Around the main structure, eight lightning shards form a 50-foot circle, each containing small interactive works that trace a narrative journey which explores our relationship with electrical energy.
Q What’s your style?
There are 6 pillars that are essential in all of the work that I do:
1 Instant connection: Iconographic forms that instantly strike hearts
2 Amazing beauty: Dichroic materials that come alive with natural and digital light, day and night
3 Joy and optimism: A perspective of optimism in igniting human connection and our relationship with nature
4 Experience: Creating art as an extraordinary experience, a moment of joy and wonder, a chance to connect to each other and reflect on our relationships with the natural world.
5 Innovation and science: Innovating in materials science and LED technology, and with cultural geography perspective on people and their relationship to the environment
6 Environmental sustainability: Using upcycled materials and solar powered studio.
One of my recent artworks represents this perfectly: polychroma. polychroma is a monumentally-sized dichroic rainbow- a form that folks instantly love and relate to, and that looks stunning with its shifting colors during the day and LED programming at night. polychroma is about the beauty of diversity- but it draws you in before bringing that message home. What would the world be like if it were monotone? What would the world be with no rainbows? The differences between us all- all the thousands of colors- is what makes the world a beautiful and interesting place to live in. polychroma takes advantage of a prismatic triangle to gather and reflect natural and digital light- arranged in perfect mathematical form around a truss. All of the dichroic panels on it were upcycled, and it was built in our 100% solar-powered studio.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I wish I could spend 100% of my time making art instead of also having to dedicate time to selling the art as well!
Q What is frustrating you right now?
The bureaucratic work that comes along with running a studio is a very involved process that takes a lot of my time. It is so important to keep the business running, but I wish I could spend more of my time making art!
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Social media.
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I spent 10 years in graduate school getting a PhD! I won't say that I regret it, because I had something (climate change) that I really wanted to understand as fully as possible, and I felt that getting a PhD was the way to do that. What I know from that experience absolutely informs the work I do now- it's why I like to present social and environmental issues in my artwork with a perspective of hope and optimism. But, I wish I had started my career as a sculpture artist earlier, because starting in my mid-30's was really a challenge!
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
How can I survive as an artist in this world, which seems to be constantly changing, and possibly falling apart at the seams? How can I fulfill the dreams, the ideas I have in my heart and mind, while still running a business that will allow me and my family to get by?
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I'm always looking for folks in the creative world who are interested in bringing in art experiences to events and places permanently as well. Sometimes this is in the public world- permanent public art pieces, cities that run light festivals. But I've also done work and would love to do more work for corporate event producers and music festival producers. I also love collaborating with other artists, so if there's anyone out there that's interested, let's dream!
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
My ideal client has an exciting show coming up that they want some art experiences for. They let me know what they're budget and vibe is for the event, I pitch them a few of our art pieces, and we get it booked. Folks at the event are just lining up to take photos with our artwork, and having an amazing time interacting with them. The client comes back again for more!
Or! Another ideal client is someone who wants a permanent piece, approaches me with a budget, and I get to dream something big for their space and make it a reality!
Q: What is your rate?
It varies greatly depending on the size and complexity of the artwork, and the location.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Please shoot me an email if you're interested in working together! Let's make some magic happen :)
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Kate Raudenbush
Jen Lewin
Dana Albany
The Flaming Lotus Girls
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Fantasizing, daring, collaborating, soul-searching, letting go, never giving up.
This member profile was originally published in May 2026.