Wendy Ewalt, Storm Lake, Iowa
Biography:
I am fascinated by color and shape as reflected by both the natural world and the engineered world. Exploration of visual vibration, which arises on two-dimensional canvas when colors of widely varying wavelengths are placed together, is demonstrated in my work. The power of color schemes and shape to stimulate not only a physical response but also memory and emotional responses is interesting to me…that the viewer becomes part of this interactive process in the same way that she identifies and imagines her own experience while viewing representational art (for ex., the Mona Lisa or Wood’s American Gothic). For me, abstract painting opens a window to the viewer, allowing interpretation that germinates in emotional ideas before perceptive ones.
“Red Shoe” draws on techniques I learned while studying painters of the Abstract Expressionist movement in the 1960’s. The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in NYC offers a variety of on-line programs through Coursera on art, photography, and design that draw students from around the world. I produced “Red Shoe” for their Abstract Art course, which I took in 2018. The piece was selected and shown at MOMA in a six-week electronic exhibition of student works.
Other artists whose work has influenced me are Charline Von Heyl, a German artist who creates large-scale abstract constructions, and Piet Mondrian and Sonia Delaunay, both of whom are known for geometric color studies. “Boxed In” represents a view of life’s geometric realism.
In 2020, I became interested in microbiology, specifically, useful vs. pathogenic viruses, and form and function relationships. My piece called “Replication” conveys the prevalence of microbial life in our world.
Contact Wendy Ewalt at ewaltw@gmail.com for inquiries and pricing.
Wendy’s art will be displayed through July.