About Wendell Myers

Discovery

The artistic spirit has guided Wendell Myers through multiple creative incarnations. He first entered the public eye as bass guitarist for the noted Central Wisconsin blues/country-rock foursome "Cambridge." After several years of playing clubs, high school dances and backyard cookouts, he took the fateful step of leaving the band to attend art school, earning a BFA from Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He spent the next years as a professional studio potter, first in Milwaukee, and then in Rochester, New York, selling directly to the public out of his studio and at art fairs and shows in the Midwest and Northeast, and through shops and galleries in Wisconsin, New York and Kansas City. He accompanied his wife (the late pianist Pamela Howland) to Minnesota when she joined the music faculty at Winona State University, where he would later earn a second Bachelor's degree. The couple eventually relocated to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Wendell earned his MD from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He practiced medicine while maintaining his creative interests, returning to painting in 2009, working in acrylics. In 2015, he reduced his medical practice to half-time to devote more time to his art. At the end of 2022, he became a full-time artist for the second time in his life.

WENDELL MYERS STATEMENT:

As former potter, I find myself drawn to the unpredictable and spontaneous nature of art. In particular, I am fascinated by the creative power of improvisation and the incredible things that can happen when we let go of self-criticism, doubt, and fear. Jazz music, with its emphasis on emotion, improvisation, heart and creativity, has always been a source of inspiration for me.

Painting, with its immediacy and ability to produce results quickly, is an artform that I find particularly exciting. However, many of the concepts that were important to me as a potter continue to inform my work as a painter. Like working with clay, glazes, and the variable atmosphere of the kiln, painting is a process that can be influenced but not fully controlled. As artist, I see myself as both performer and audience, constantly reacting to the results of my actions and adjusting my approach accordingly.

My paintings are abstract landscapes that draw on memories of the places I have lived in and visited throughout my life. From the great plains and north woods of my youth to the mountains and seascapes of my adult life, and the desert Southwest, where I have frequently vacationed, my work is a reflection of the natural world and its ever-changing beauty. Through my art, I hope to capture the essence of these places and share my love of them with others.

Within the language of landscape, I am using motion, light, color and energy to evoke an emotional state, to create a sense of mystery. I am very interested in improvisation. I paint spontaneously, without a set plan, letting the painting take me where it will go. I start by applying color to the canvas and see what happens, I respond with more color or texture, watch, react, paint some more, respond. This is a lot like jazz; listening, reacting and playing simultaneously. My goal is not to totally control what emerges, but to influence it; to allow, to a degree, the paint to do what it will. Often, in music or art, it is the unexpected result which is the most expressive and most enjoyable.

Wendell Myers

Winston Salem, NC

Statement