I bring ideas to my studio every morning. There in my workshop I weave together on canvas memories of childhood with images collected from modern culture and life today.
My sense of color was formed by everything from early color television to children’s book illustrations to prairie landscapes and the billboards along the Texas highways where I grew up.
The work expands the boundaries of conventional still life painting. Ordinary and unordinary objects exist together, often times misplaced intentionally. The combination of milky pastels and saturated hues are used to focus attention and invoke emotion.
Selected Exhibitions (*denotes solo exhibition)
2012 "Saturation of Color," Giabobbe Fritz Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico*
2012 Wendeline Matson, New Paintings, MA Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma*
2009 Wendeline S. Matson, New Works, GiacobbeFritz Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico*
2009 “Spring,” Jules Place, Boston, Massachusetts
2008 Wendeline Matson, New Paintings, M.A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma*
2008 “Radiance,” Jules Place, Boston, Massachusetts
2007 Wendeline S. Matson, New Works, Giacobbe Fritz Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico*
2007 “Female Colorists,” Bennett Street Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
2007 “Color in Motion,” Jules Place, Boston, Massachusetts
2006 Wendeline Matson, New Paintings, M.A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma*
2006 “Translating a Moment to Canvas,” W.A.R.D Gallery, Harbor Springs, Michigan
2006 March: “New Works by Vivian Jedzio & Wendeline Matson,” Lagerquist Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
2005 Festival of Trees, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma
2005 “Yellow Tablecloth: A Conversation with Light”, Blue Moon Art Gallery, Hot Springs, Arkansas*
2004 New Works by Wendeline S. Matson, Gallery B, Little Rock, Arkansas*
2004 Wendeline S. Matson and Kristy Lewis Andrew, M.A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma
2004 “New Challenges: Still-Life from an Artist’s Perspective,” Blue Moon Art Gallery, Hot Springs, Arkansas*
2004 “The Tulsa Artists’ Coalition Annual 5x5 Exhibit,” Tulsa Artists’ Coalition, Tulsa, Oklahoma
2003 “ A Small Works Show,” Arsagas East, Fayetteville, Arkansas*
2003 Annual Small Works Show, M.A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma
2003 “ The November Show: Works by Wendeline S. Matson,” Gallery B, Little Rock, Arkansas*
2002 Selected Paintings by Wendeline S. Matson, Gallery B, Little Rock, Arkansas*
2002 “New Works by Wendeline S. Matson,” The Fayetteville Town Center, Fayetteville, Arkansas*
2002 Group Show, The Jayne Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
2002 “Art by Wendeline Simpson,” Arsagas East, Fayetteville, Arkansas*
2001 Solo Exhibition, Gallery B, Little Rock, Arkansas*
1996 “Summer in Rome,” Anne Kitrell Gallery, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas
1994 Student Show, Texarkana Regional Art Center, Texarkana, Texas
Articles and Reviews
2007 Between the Lines, Southwest Art Magazine, September 2007
2007 Up Close & Personal, Tulsa People Magazine, October 2007
2007 Creative Space, Texarkana Gazette, Texarkana, Texas 11/18/07
2006 The Next Generation, “21 under 31,” Southwest Art Magazine, September 2006
2005 Wendeline Matson, Art Galleries and Artists of the South Magazine, Spring 2005
2005 Working Artists Inspire, Incite, Intrigue, The Sentinel-Record, Hot Spring, Arkansas 3/08/05
2004 Wendeline S. Matson, Localist Magazine, Little Rock, Arkansas, November 2004
2004 Pair of artists present two active views of the still life, Tulsa World, Tulsa, Oklahoma 6/24/04
2003 Northwest Arkansas Times, Fayetteville, Arkansas March 2004
2003 The classic still-life is an endless source of inspiration for this Fayetteville painter, At Home in Arkansas Magazine, March 2003
2002 Simply Wendeline: Artist puts furniture on canvas, The Morning News, Fayetteville, Arkansas 3/08/02
2002 Artist Focuses on bringing out ‘the best of a wall’, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Fayetteville, Arkansas 3/08/02
2002 Art by Wendeline Simpson, Fayetteville, Free Weekly, Fayetteville, Arkansas, March 2002
Education
1999 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas-- BA in Fine Arts
1996 University of Arkansas, Rome, Italy-- abroad study in sculpture, architecture, painting, drawing
I paint everyday. I do studies. I paint walls. My studio is canvas, wood, tools and paint. It is my laboratory. It is a place for me to paint fresh and allow my inspiration to flow. I bring ideas here. Ideas for my paintings evolve from the experiences I have, colors that inspire me, and the objects that surround me everyday. I take these and put them together as a still life. The still life setting is my outlet.
As a still life painter I abstract elements in each painting allowing other qualities to take on a stronger role. I combine these abstracted forms with realistic and expressionistic views of objects, shapes and color. Part of my inspiration is pushing the boundaries of what can be done from a two-dimensional perspective. I need objects to exist figuratively to the extent that they define the space of a setting. I am fascinated with this space and the way that it can hold objects together or pull them apart. It is with color and texture I shape the focus of a painting and frame the essence of a still life setting with the feeling of a place.