Biography
Wendall Arneson is a painter and mixed media artist. "My work draws from an inventory of images that make multiple, yet varied reference s allowing content to shuffle, reinvent, and remake itself. Painting inhabits a place between the known and the unknown. Art, for me, does not provide answers, but provokes questions and seeks possibilities. As an image-maker, I am interested in the intersection of figuration and abstraction. In the process of making I discover resolution by seeking clarity of an idea while honoring mystery and ambiguity."
Wendall Arneson is a Wisconsin native, earning a BA in studio art from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa and a MFA from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Post-graduate studies include classes with Nathan Oliveira and Gregory Amenoff at the Santa Fe Institute Institute of Fine Arts.
Arneson was appointed to the faculty of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1978 where he holds the position as a Professor Emeritus of Art. He maintains an active exhibition schedule, with work represented by Groveland Gallery (Minneapolis, MN), Idea Gallery (Egg Harbor, WI), and Moberg Gallery (Des Moines, IA). His work is held by an extensive number of private, corporate, and public collections. (Statement from artist, 2021)
Source of Biography
Reflections (gallery brochure), Steensland Art Museum, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, 2001;
Marquis Who’s Who in American Art, New Providence, NJ, 2001-02;
personal résumé