April 2008: Wendy Harmon & Ingrid Hendrix

Ingrid Hendrix creates ceramic sculptures with a combination of human and animal elements. She uses the female figure along with religious, mythical, and animal imagery to explore female stereotypes and to reveal those complexities. Her pieces transform from human to animal and from conscious to unconscious. “I find that there is much more to each individual than what is seen on the surface. While in fact, the extraordinary lies within every human being. We are complex creatures containing many opposing elements, which make us complete,” says Hendrix. “For instance, we contain both good and evil, male and female, and spiritual and material. We are not one or the other, we are both; we are a dichotomy. We are not stereotypes.”

Wendy Harmon paints with water-based paints and inks on wood. She includes a visual texture in her work in the form of carving into the wood. Her paintings are about a sixth sense; it involves color and texture, but makes a statement of its own: inspiration, creativity and composition. She works in groups, relying on instinct and experience. Most of the marks are very action-oriented. According to Harmon “I learned a lot about brush strokes from studying with Kazuaki Tanahashi during my year at a Zen Buddhist Monastery. There is no overarching philosophy, as my work is influenced by the many places I've lived and the things I've seen and done. What matters to me, in the end, is that they are visually compelling.”