It was in November 2019 that we interviewed Wendy Shalen for a group of profiles on the creative people drawing inspiration and refreshment from living near Whatmore’s Lake (also known as Lake Whatmore) in Waccabuc. Now the artist has written to tell us about “Wendy Shalen/Becoming Abstract,” her new show of 35 to 40 paintings at the Prince Street Gallery in Manhattan through Oct. 30.
An instructor of drawing, painting and portfolio development at The Art Students League of New York in Manhattan since 2005, Shalen works in multiple media from observation and from her imagination, starting with watercolor, pastel and oil color landscape and portrait studies, which she then transposes into large pigmented handmade paper pulp landscapes and fused glass paintings.
Work in her current show will mix smaller, realistic and carefully observed pastel plein air landscapes of Martha’s Vineyard with large, abstract ocean views. The large, handmade paper seascapes are aerial views, some revealing embedded plastic ropes and debris, floating with the currents. Shalen’s work continues to be concerned with the degradation of our oceans and our environment due to floating plastic caused by human carelessness. Her watercolors of Vineyard seascapes are shown alongside kiln-formed and abstracted glass panels of ocean waves. There are also subtle, dramatic small glass panels – the results of Shalen experimenting with the chemical reactions among copper, sulfur and lead-infused glass in the kiln.
In the spring of 2018, Shalen began learning about kiln-formed glass. She initially experimented with sheet glass and powdered glass frit, using painting and collage techniques. Eventually she transposed her painted plein air landscapes and drawn portraits into glass underglaze drawings and glass frit paintings. After years of painting landscapes and portraits in pastel and watercolor, carefully from life, measuring proportions with a concern for extreme delicacy and accuracy, Shalen now lets the kiln’s heat work take over and alter her careful work. She marvels at the unpredictable results and enjoys the sense of freedom gained from departing from careful rendering.
For more, email wshalen@gmail.com.
