Jonathon Engelien

Minnesota

I’m a creative. People and ideas are at the forefront of everything I do and I live by this mission statement: “To be an explorer and host to the ideas and experiences that make us the most human.” Simple enough, right? No, it’s incredibly difficult; it’s like being both an extrovert and an introvert.

What do I mean by ideas and experiences? Well, almost everything. I’m fascinated with creating obscure connections and thoughtful understandings about the world we exist in. I do this as an artist. Every day I endeavor deeper into a two word phrase I came up with to describe my aesthetic: Apocalyptic Nostalgia. These words are an idea that cuts into our deep longing for something more to the human condition. Whether it’s the pain for the past, or whether it’s the idea that we destroy everything about the present to start fresh, both of these words strive for a reconstruction of our present moment.

I grew up in an industrial mill town in the valley of Central Wisconsin. I lived amongst the ruins of the “glory days” of the paper industry, but escape the doldrums, so to speak, of Wisconsin Rapids by moving to the Twin Cities of Minnesota. But, my past never left me and now I’m somehow at the whim of my ideas to reconstruct the narrative in the world around me.

What do I care deeply about? Humans. And I’m excited to do what I do best: I’m creative, adaptive, thoughtful, driven, empathetic, and stubborn to make what I find meaningful happen. I embrace the paradoxes of life, and oscillate between sorrow and joy, apathy and compassion, hope and hopelessness, with the idea it’ll make me more human and simply happier.

I am mature and I am also naive, and at 23 years old I just wonder what kind of world I can touch.

  • Work
    • Medtronic
  • Education
    • Bethel University