Renascence and Waves, an exhibition of work by Wendi Kent, will be on display at Arts + Literature Laboratory from Tuesday, November 15 to Thursday, December 22. The opening reception will be Friday, November 18 at 6:00pm.
Wendi Kent is a queer artist, photographer, and teacher hailing from Austin, Texas, currently residing in Edgerton, Wisconsin. Her paintings are portraits of emotions and are often completed in one session. All pieces are mixed media consisting of acrylic paint, charcoal, graphite, pastel, and spray paint. These are visual representations of her feelings so they may be shared with and viewed by others. The process and results are a therapeutic experience of reliving and releasing these sensations in order to make a healthy and conducive space for new ones.
She is an outspoken advocate for de-stigmatizing mental illness and raising awareness of invisible disabilities. Wendi highly values being a mentor to Madison youth whether it be through art education, emotional support, facilitating valuable relationships, or activist initiatives. She aims to arm artists with what they may need to build coping skills through their technique. Sharing her process also works to supply viewers with the insight necessary to experience abstract art in new and innovative ways. She resides on a farm with her wife, 2 children, 2 dogs, a snake, and numerous other wild creatures, some welcome, some not so much.
Renascence and Waves is a collection of mixed media works all started and completed in the first half of 2021. It explores the emotions and experiences of new beginnings in middle age, love during a pandemic, and major life paths being drastically altered and intensely reborn. As someone with mental illness, I experience a great deal of emotional and psychological turbulence. As a physically disabled, neurodiverse person, chronic interruptions in my comfort make for an even wider range of unique lived experiences. The range of size, color saturation, textures, and tone, directly reflect this. These pieces are visual versions of sentiments so they may be shared with others. The process and results are a therapeutic experience of reliving and releasing these feelings in order to make a healthy and conducive space for new ones.
As a whole, this collection is meant to encourage viewers to acknowledge, accept, and welcome their immediate emotional reactions rather than working to find images that resemble familiar materializations. I hope to guide spectators through a brief journey of this notable period in my life. As a result, I believe they will depart with a new insight and the tools they need to continue their own journeys empathetically and better prepared.