Carrie Wendt Exhibit: Last Chance This Weekend

By Kristine Kostuck
Contributing Writer

Carrie Wendt’s art is displayed at Atomic Coffee downtown for one more week. If you happen to catch the show, it can bring you right back to your childhood. If you are a girl, you can see yourself. Most of her work resembles cameo necklaces that tell a story about being a young girl or woman.

If the name cameo is unfamiliar to you, it is a small mirror silhouette of a woman. The figure looks like a person from the 1800s or early 1900s. Many are jade or pearly pink, giving the necklace a classic beauty look. Wendt remembered her mother’s. “It [using this idea] was perfect for this show,” she said. “I am always drawing pictures of women’s faces.” Many pieces Wendt creates feature women. She is fascinated, she allows, by their complex nature.

Wendt’s displayed work at Atomic is a way for her to communicate emotions, struggles and self-uncertainty. “I have always been self-conscious, sometimes I feel like I am not getting what I really want to say out,” she said. “My art is a way to communicate with people. It is personal to me, especially in this show. And every woman I meet seems to relate to them.”

The pieces displayed do not show marked variation between them. The parts that are different are subtle. They are of paper, cut then pasted together like a scrapbooking piece. All in a frame that resembles the cameo necklace or a mirror. Many of the girls inside have black hair and not one of them smiling.

Looks are deceiving; her work is one-of-a-kind. “She has more than one story,” for example. The piece looks simple, a couple of books and a girl. The meaning of it is much deeper. It is a reflection of Wendt’s past, her move that brought her from her hometown in California to Moorhead. “I think everyone has a story or a past that has changed them,” she said. Others are based on motherhood, her favorite quotes or music.

Most of her work currently displayed is sold. However, this is not the only show Wendt has in store for Fargo. In this show, she introduces the public to an artistic side she hid for many years. “I stuck to what I thought people wanted me to do, people-pleaser that I am, but I realized I am doing this work anyways and it took a long time for me to just let go. That way you can find out what you are capable of and have better opportunities arise for you to inspire others.”

Wendt says that since she has “opened the door, I won’t be able to stop,” and will in time reveal her love for all areas of art. “I am an ADHD artist,” she said. “I have gone through so many different phases of it, I am internally a student forever.” 

Her interests include photo manipulations, calling Photoshop her “personal coloring book;” three-dimensional works and portraits. She has explored fashion, other forms of design, and is influenced by the L.A. art scene.

If you are interested in Wendt’s art but will not have time to see her work before it is taken down from Atomic, check out Gallery 4 downtown or her blog at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Many pieces are displayed there too.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
       
If You Go

What: Carrie Wendt
Where: Atomic Coffee
When: Through May 31
Info: 701.478.6160