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Biography
Wendy Klemperer earned a bachelor’s in biochemistry at Harvard before moving to NYC to pursue art full time, earning a B.F.A. in sculpture at Pratt Institute in 1983. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY and Nelson, NH. She is represented in Maine by June LaCombe. Residency grants include: the Skowhegan School, ME, MacDowell Colony, NH, Ucross Foundation, WY, Sculpture Space, NY, IKONS, in Newfoundland, Denali National Park in Alaska, and Stanislaus National Forest in Sonora, CA. Exhibitions in NY and throughout the US include Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY, Bridgewater-Lustberg Gallery, NY, NY, Pratt Institute Sculpture Park, Brooklyn, NY, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT, and UNH Museum, Durham, NH. She has had comprehensive solo shows at Maine Audubon, Freeport, and Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, organized by June LaCombe. Large scale permanent installations include: Somersby Landing Sculpture Park in Newburyport, MA, Portland International Jetport, ME, Martin’s Point Bridge in Falmouth, ME, College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, Lay Sculpture Park in Missouri, Great Falls International Airport, MT, Farmingdale State College, Farmingdale, NY, and SIAS University, Xinzheng, China. Klemperer has taught welded sculpture workshops for over a decade at several venues, including the Educational Alliance and #rd Ward, both in NYC, and the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center in West Rutland, VT. She has been a visiting artist and lectured about her work at universities throughout the United States.
Artist Statement
The imagery that pervades my work reflects a lifelong fascination with animals. To make the large scale sculptures I search scrap yards for industrial refuse ravaged by usage and demolition. Bent and twisted, such pieces contain energy and potential new life. My welding process is a kind of three dimensional gesture drawing. A network of steel lines builds a skeletal form containing both presence and absence. I investigate the body language of animals to express a feeling or state of being, with motion conveying emotion. Focusing on the animal realm seems no less important to me than on that of humans- observing the continuity between all forms of life on earth.
Recent Shows and/or Exhibitions
2024 Sculpture at the Mount, Group Show at The Mount, Lenox, MA
Birth of a Shadow, Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA
2023 - 2025 Wrought Taxonomies, solo show at Vanderbilt Museum, Centerport, NY
Salvaged Beasts, solo show at Diehl Gallery, Jackson, WY
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, The James Museum, St. Petersburg, FL
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, The Gibbes Museum, Charleston, SC
Going Outside, Curated by Dan Devine, Sculpture Space Hudson, Hudson, NY
2022 There Goes the Neighborhood, The Art Center at Duck Creek, Easthampton, NY
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, The Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
Bright and Beautiful Vl, Diehl Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Viridis, Red Fox Gallery, Pound Ridge, NY
Shelter, curated by Melinda Stickney-Gibson, Byrdcliffe Woodstock Artists Guild, Woodstock, NY
2021 Wendy Klemperer: Artist at Sea, UNH Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
Famous Artists, Store 4 Rent Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Spring Awakening, Hawk Ridge Farm, June LaCombe/SCULPTURE,Pownal, ME
2020 INSTINCT, Red Fox Gallery, Pound Ridge, NY
Clarity, Hawk Ridge Farm, June LaCombe/SCULPTURE,Pownal, ME
Wendy Klemperer earned a bachelor’s in biochemistry at Harvard before moving to NYC to pursue art full time, earning a B.F.A. in sculpture at Pratt Institute in 1983. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY and Nelson, NH. She is represented in Maine by June LaCombe. Residency grants include: the Skowhegan School, ME, MacDowell Colony, NH, Ucross Foundation, WY, Sculpture Space, NY, IKONS, in Newfoundland, Denali National Park in Alaska, and Stanislaus National Forest in Sonora, CA. Exhibitions in NY and throughout the US include Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY, Bridgewater-Lustberg Gallery, NY, NY, Pratt Institute Sculpture Park, Brooklyn, NY, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT, and UNH Museum, Durham, NH. She has had comprehensive solo shows at Maine Audubon, Freeport, and Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, organized by June LaCombe. Large scale permanent installations include: Somersby Landing Sculpture Park in Newburyport, MA, Portland International Jetport, ME, Martin’s Point Bridge in Falmouth, ME, College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, Lay Sculpture Park in Missouri, Great Falls International Airport, MT, Farmingdale State College, Farmingdale, NY, and SIAS University, Xinzheng, China. Klemperer has taught welded sculpture workshops for over a decade at several venues, including the Educational Alliance and #rd Ward, both in NYC, and the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center in West Rutland, VT. She has been a visiting artist and lectured about her work at universities throughout the United States.
Artist Statement
The imagery that pervades my work reflects a lifelong fascination with animals. To make the large scale sculptures I search scrap yards for industrial refuse ravaged by usage and demolition. Bent and twisted, such pieces contain energy and potential new life. My welding process is a kind of three dimensional gesture drawing. A network of steel lines builds a skeletal form containing both presence and absence. I investigate the body language of animals to express a feeling or state of being, with motion conveying emotion. Focusing on the animal realm seems no less important to me than on that of humans- observing the continuity between all forms of life on earth.
Recent Shows and/or Exhibitions
2024 Sculpture at the Mount, Group Show at The Mount, Lenox, MA
Birth of a Shadow, Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA
2023 - 2025 Wrought Taxonomies, solo show at Vanderbilt Museum, Centerport, NY
Salvaged Beasts, solo show at Diehl Gallery, Jackson, WY
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, The James Museum, St. Petersburg, FL
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, The Gibbes Museum, Charleston, SC
Going Outside, Curated by Dan Devine, Sculpture Space Hudson, Hudson, NY
2022 There Goes the Neighborhood, The Art Center at Duck Creek, Easthampton, NY
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, The Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
Bright and Beautiful Vl, Diehl Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Viridis, Red Fox Gallery, Pound Ridge, NY
Shelter, curated by Melinda Stickney-Gibson, Byrdcliffe Woodstock Artists Guild, Woodstock, NY
2021 Wendy Klemperer: Artist at Sea, UNH Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
Famous Artists, Store 4 Rent Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Spring Awakening, Hawk Ridge Farm, June LaCombe/SCULPTURE,Pownal, ME
2020 INSTINCT, Red Fox Gallery, Pound Ridge, NY
Clarity, Hawk Ridge Farm, June LaCombe/SCULPTURE,Pownal, ME