Artist bio and cv
ARTIST STATEMENT
I have used many mediums to make art over the past 40 years including ceramics, paint, textiles, and stitch. Most of my work is inspired by landscapes and skyscapes both real and imagined. The fields of Minnesota, the plains of the Dakotas, the night sky, and the tidelands of Puget Sound often find a place in my work. Much of my recent work has a feeling of age reminiscent of memories and buried treasure. I love to incorporate color and texture in my work. I have been deeply influenced by the Asian aesthetic and abstract expressionist painters.
ART EXHIBITIONS
2023 Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA, national juried show on Healing and Repair.
2023 Two person show, Mavi Contemporary Art Gallery, Gig Harbor, WA
2022 The Washington Athletic Club, 21 works in a solo show
2021-2022, Northwind Art Gallery, juried “Small Treasure” group show
2021, Bainbridge Arts and Crafts, juried “Fresh Talent” group show
2018, The Blend, Key Center, one-person show
2014-15, Sea Hags, Gig Harbor, WA, 2014
2013,The Mighty Tieton, Juried 10”x 10” group show, Tieton, WA
2001, Art Museum of the Americas, Reston, VA, Juried Group Show
2000, Greater Reston Center for the Arts, Reston, VA, Juried Group Tile Show
2001, The Middle Street Gallery, Washington VA
1999, The Tile Heritage Foundation, Group Exhibition, Healdsburg, CA
1998 -2002, The Blue Peach, The Plains, VA
2000-2001, Rare Finds, Washington, VA
1996-1998, A. L. Morency Gallery, Warrenton, VA
1993-1995, Alex Gallery, Washington D. C
1990-1991, New Canyon Gallery, Topanga, CA, multiple shows
1989-1991, A Little Piece of Art, Constance Kay original art greeting cards
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
1998-1999, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, Richmond, VA; 8-foot diameter fountain
1999, The Plains, VA; water-wall, architectural ceramics
1999, Private Garden, water-wall, architectural ceramics, Washington, D.C.
PUBLICATIONS BY ROBERTA WAGNER
2021, Come Walk with Me: Exploring Why Art Matters, 168 pages, 98 images, available on Amazon.com.
1997-2000, Clay Times, a national ceramics magazine, multiple articles including a feature article on making the fountain for the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in the July/August 2000 issue.
INTERVIEWS AND PUBLICATIONS ABOUT ROBERTA WAGNER
2022, Artist Talk, Washington Athletic Club
2022 “Artists Inspired by Landscape”, Textile Artist.org, www.textileartist.org/landscape-textile-art
2022 Washington Athletic Club Magazine, Featured Artist, Roberta Wagner
2021, Friday Feature Artist online interview/book review from the Australian owner/founder of Fibre Arts Take Two, Angela Truscott, https://youtu.be/4r4iWbWVtiM,
2021, The Left-Brain Artist, Talking Business with Artists podcast interview from the creator and host Suzanne Redmond, https://suzanneredmond.com/226-roberta-wagner-textile-artist/
2021, Artist talk, Bainbridge Arts and Crafts, Bainbridge WA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMdUWmtGmxA&t=80s
REVIEWS
Reviews of Come Walk with Me: Exploring Why Art Matters:
“Come Walk with Me by Roberta Wagner is the most nourishing, nurturing book I’ve read in a long time. I found I was racing through it because I was enjoying it so much. I tried to slow down to savor the meditative pages, so beautifully written and illustrated with Roberta’s exquisite art. While reading her book, I recognized parallels in my life and have had several epiphanies about my art practice and life, which helped me to grasp where I am going on my own journey.”
Robyn Gordon, South African artist and curator of quotes on art and life posted on Facebook and Instagram
“Roberta Wagner has composed a moving, impressionistic odyssey of her creative life and search for meaning in Come Walk with Me: Exploring Why Art Matters. Ceramics, textiles and paintings thread through this elegant book, reflecting life’s seasons as Roberta explores love, loss and the redemptive power of art.”
Nancy Hillis, Best Selling Author, The Artist’s Journey
“To walk with Roberta through the pages of her book is a journey of discovery and an opportunity to relish her story and her art. I enjoyed the story and the imagery in equal measure. I found myself flipping back and forth to revisit favorite phrases and photos. This book will resonate with anyone who has loved fiercely and said goodbye too soon. I can imagine gifting this book to a young woman starting her own journey. Truly a gem to be enjoyed over and over.”
Laurie Stewart, CEO/President, Sound Community Bank, Seattle, WA Past Chair, American Bankers Association
“Wagner has delivered a trove of timeless moments, inviting the reader to discover life on the art side.”
Gail Ferguson, Author, “Cracking the Intuition Code”
other reviews
Eleanor Kennelly, who writes for Art and Auction magazine, said in a review of Wagner’s show at the Alex Gallery,
“. . . (she) gives us images of landscape, places imagined, and places remembered . . . soft washes of color traced with luminescence become the shifting tones of an evening sky, a marsh at dawn, or a prairie. Emotion and a strong sense of mystery (on earth and beyond) pervade Wagner's work.”
A Topanga, CA newspaper when reviewing a group show called her work,
“Wagner has an excellent sense of color which she has dashed together to create fields of sensuous, abstracted hues.”
EDUCATION
2013-present, Numerous workshops with Shelley Rhodes, Cordula Cagemann, Jane Dunnewold, Mark Eanes, Lorna Crane, Gail Harker, and others.
2003-2005 The Barnes Foundation, Two Year Art Education Program,
1999-2001 Masters of Art, The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Thesis on the Spirituality of Art
1980s and 1990s Pottery studies with Vally Possony, master Potter with a one person show at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
1980-2000, Numerous clay workshops with Peter King and other notable ceramic artists
1975, Bachelor of Arts, International Relations with a concentration in Economics, Hamline University, St. Paul, MN,