Written on the Wind: The Art of Wendy Wischer

Your Memory is Already Fading, an acrylic-resin sculpture by Wendy Wischer.

As a young girl in Wisconsin, Wendy Wischer remembers spending summer nights staring up at the stars. The natural world was an important part of her upbringing and her identity. But when she moved to Miami as an adult, she realized not everyone grew up admiring a pristinely clear night sky as she had. In urban environments, she realized, the moon, the stars, and the darkness of night are obscured and often overlooked. This important realization has influenced her career as an artist and as a Professor of Sculpture Intermedia at the University of Utah. Today, Wendy creates work in a variety of media from sculpture, to installation, video, sound and public works. Her art has been exhibited both nationally and internationally in galleries, in public spaces and in contemporary art museums and natural history museums. Wendy’s work can often be touched, heard, manipulated and experienced in ways that defy the art world’s tendency to hold the viewer back as a passive observer. It sometimes asks the audience to participate in the art and always encourages them to consider our relationship to and experience with nature.

Wendy Wischer was kind enough to meet with Nature Links participants today to show us her work and answer our questions about the materials she uses and what she hopes her viewers will take away from experiencing her art. One of the first works Wendy showed us is called Full to Wailing and Back Again from 2002. The piece features an image of the moon, projected against a public building in Miami. The image changed concurrently with the lunar cycle, projecting 28 days of our waxing and waning moon for all to see. In her work, Wendy skillfully blends man-made, constructed materials and objects with imagery and ideas from the natural world. About this piece she explained, “Some people say technology takes us away from nature. Perhaps it does, but could technology also bring us closer to nature?” If the moon couldn’t be seen with regularity among the buildings crowding downtown Miami, Wendy would take the moon to the city. Nature Links participants reflected on this work, explaining that many people who live in rural areas take their experience with nature for granted. “We see the moon all the time,” one said. “You forget that people in urban areas don’t experience that.”

Another of Wendy’s pieces that many Nature Links participants absolutely loved is called Still Searching. It features a group of trees with long jellyfish-like tentacles. Wendy imagined these trees as nomadic beings, no longer in need of soil or a permanent home. The trees are constructed from mylar, the polyester film used for electronics, packaging and those darn balloons you see caught in actual trees well after the accompanying birthday party has ended.

Still Searching by Wendy Wischer

One of Wendy’s most recent installations has been exhibited at the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City. Written on the Wind is a multi-media, multi-sensory experience that features a 17-foot spiral room full of cloud-like bean bags. On the walls, the viewer is taken on a journey from darkness into light and light into darkness through video projection and sound featuring images of flowers, plants, insects, space, and the night sky. Viewers can experience 24-hours on Earth in 24 minutes, from sunrise to sunset. The piece began through her collaboration with 4th-grade students at an Elementary school in Salt Lake City. Students reflected on their connection with the natural world and created poems about how nature makes them feel. The work brilliantly merges the ethereal, poetic beauty we experience in nature and the concrete scientific facts we desperately need to save it.

Viewers experiencing Written on the Wind, a multi-sensory installation by Wendy Wischer

One Nature Links participant wanted to know what inspired Wendy to begin making art about the environment. Her answer helps sum up why her work resonates with so many people, regardless of age, ability or prior experience with contemporary or conceptual art. She explained, “I was always making art about my identity and my own affection for the planet. As the climate crisis really started it felt like, how can I be making art about nature without addressing these issues that are extremely urgent? I started working with scientists who have more data and information about these issues…we all know the joy and pleasure of being in nature, but I’m also interested in doing things that will help people understand the science behind what’s happening. I want to connect people more deeply to their environments and to each other.”

Wendy’s art resonated profoundly with Nature Links participants today, especially as global citizens who are passionate about their environment. We thank Wendy Wischer for taking the time to teach us about her work and for creating such thought-provoking, influential and experiential works of art. Thank you, Wendy!

Angels and Ancestors III