Artist Statement
I paint bold abstracts emphasizing color and complex, tactile surfaces. I use oil paint modified with cold wax as my medium. With a variety of found and home made tools, I add and subtract as I build up layer after layer. The result is a slow dance between me and the work. Throughout, I remain open and experimental, trusting my process and working intuitively.
My current work is centered in three ongoing series. They arise as recurring questions of a life lived: what I consume and what I give back; what I find within when I go quiet; and what moves through me and demands release. They are The Cost of Making, Soundings, and Weather.
The Cost of Making is about reckoning. In the face of global climate change and rampant consumerism, what role do I play? How do I confront the economic privilege and environmental toll of art-making itself? The series draws attention to these questions by using the recycled wrappings and cartons of my art supplies as substrate and material.
In the series, Soundings, gestural loops, scratched lines, and cursive-like marks hint of broken and buried bits of script or notation. These marks, hovering between writing and drawing, give the work its voice. The calligraphic gestures are a transcription of something sensed rather than seen. I am mapping truths that lie deep within myself, offering you a glimpse of my soul.
Weather, speaks to forces that arise, burst forth, and flow through me. These pieces are more elemental and outward directed than Soundings. They are explosive and energetic.
The work in Soundings and Weather is polished and professional, ready to hang and enjoy. These pieces can be appreciated simply for their beauty as well as their emotional resonance. They are created with the finest archival materials and are investments to be treasured. The Cost of Making is raw and confrontational. The work is intentionally less packaged, more immediate, and very affordable from first piece to last.
Exhibits and Publications
Paris Art Show Juried Exhibition, Paris, Texas, juror Diego Loya, 2026-05-15 - 2026-05-16
The Female Gaze, r/Town Gallery, Grapevine, TX, 2026-03-01 - 2026-03-31 (closed jury)
The Abstract National Exhibition, Mark Arts, Wichita, KS, juror Joan Fullerton, 2026-01-09 - 2026-03-11
Teravarna Gallery’s Artsy International Juried Art Competition 2025 (closed jury)
Teravarna Gallery’s 15th Abstract International Competition, 2025-12-08 - 2026-01-07 (closed jury)
Featured Artist, ArtsyShark, 2025-10-21 (juried)
Le Salon des Artistes, Denison Arts Council 2025, juror Susan Roth Romans and Jordan Roth of Ro2 Art Gallery, Dallas, Texas, 2025-10-03 - 2025-11-14
Paris Junior Collage Alumni Show, juror Lena Spoonamore, 2025-09-02 - 2025-10-03
Bonham Creative Arts Center Annual Juried Show, juror Lisa Temple, 2025-09-05 - 2025-09-30
Tebbs Contemporary Gallery - Book Project, juror Kirstie Tebbs, 2022-06-01
Tebbs Contemporary Gallery - Process, juror Kirstie Tebbs, 2022-03-15 - 2022-04-14
Tebbs Contemporary Gallery - Dreamscapes, juror Kirstie Tebbs, 2021-11-15 - 2021-12-14
Tebbs Contemporary Gallery - Photography, juror Kirstie Tebbs, 2021-08-15 - 2021-09-14
Midwest Center for Photography - Abstract, 2021-04-02 (closed jury)
Tied to Light Vol. 1, 2021-03-15
Texas Photographic Society Listening to the Land, juror Joel Salcido, 2020-09-08 - 2020-11-20
Ghost Town Arts Collective Member Show, Summer 2020, 2020-06-01
Ghost Town Arts Collective, Apparitions Journal, The 67th year, 2020-05-06
Texas Photographic Society eZine Feature, The 67th Year, juror Susan Edgley, 2020-04
Ghost Town Arts Collective, Life of the Ghost Town, 2020-02-28
A Smith Gallery - Small Works, 2020-01-10 - 2020-03-08 (juried)
Photo Place Gallery - Abstraction, juror Kirsten Hoving, 2020-01-02 - 2020-01-22
Ghost Town Arts Collective - Member Show, 2019-11-23 - 2019-12-31
Ghost Town Arts Collective, Apparitions Journal, PoP Chemigram, 2019-12-19
Midwest Center for Photography - Ten by Ten, 2019-11-10 (closed jury)
Texas Photographic Society 32nd Annual Members Show, juror Catherine Couturier, 2019-09-20
Ghost Town Arts Collective - Call and Response, 2019-08-01 - 2019-08-31
Texas Photographic Society TPS 28 International Competition, juror Arthur Meyerson, 2019-07-27
Shots Magazine Issue #143 Spring 2019, Ordinary Magic, 2019-03-01
Don't Take Pictures - The Photographer in the Frame, 2019-02-20 - 2019-05-21
Midwest Center for Photography - Flora , 2019-02-15 (closed jury)
The Hand Magazine Issue #23, 2018-11-30
The Hand Magazine Issue #19, 2017-11-30
Don't Take Pictures - Birds of a Feather, 2017-11-22 - 2018-02-20
Anything But Digital, 2017-10-05
What Brings You Here, juror Amy Holmes George, 2016-10-28 - 2016-11-11
Video Interviews
Her NFT: Heylayer, 2022-03-24, Female Super Power
Tebbs Contemporary Gallery, Photography, 2021-09-08, Artist Talk
Copyright© 2025 Wanda Oliver. All rights reserved.
Member and founder, the Windom Art School.