Wendi Turchan Martin

For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by the idea of home, both as a place and a feeling. I am curious about what the idea of home means to different people, the things we choose to hold on to, how others decorate their spaces, and how this can reflect back on our identities. For me, home exists in two places. First through significant textiles; Items like quilts that have their own history and are imprinted with meaning over years as they live with people. And second, in the landscape. The outdoors have always given me a place of escape, possibility, comfort and a deeper connection to myself within the world.

In an ongoing series of work titled Thrive I am exploring connections between home & the landscape by merging fragments of plants with colors, textures & patterns reminiscent of interior fabrics and textiles. With these paintings, which I often refer to as quilted landscapes, I am trying to bring the outside in and give physical form to the feelings of these places. I am not sure if it is ever really possible to do so, but I will keep trying.

M.F.A. University of Oregon 2013
B.F.A. University of Wisconsin Oshkosh 2009

2018
Faculty Exhibition, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Gestures, Langdon Divers Gallery, Fond du Lac, WI.
Wisconsin Biennial, Museum of Wisconsin Art.
2017
UW Colleges Faculty Exhibition, Rahr-West Art Museum, Manitowoc, WI
UW Colleges Faculty Exhibition, Allen Priebe Art Gallery, Oshkosh, WI
2016
Wisconsin Biennial, Museum of Wisconsin Art
2015
Camoflage, James May Gallery, Algoma, Wisconsin
2014
Ritual Mother, Primopiano Gallery, Lecce, Italy
11th Annual Juried Exhibition, Ceres Gallery, New York
Shifting Plan, Art Space Collective, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
2013
Speaking Between, Disjecta, Portland, Oregon
Seventh Annual MASTERPIECES, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio