Art I Like: Wendy Wahl

High time I was back on this blog!  House building, Christmas and a heavy cold are my excuses for rather a long absence.   But now I must focus on my next Pathway Project,  around the theme Writing/Word.

Looking around at the work of artists who use writing and words in their work, I came across Wendy Wahl, (b 1961, Los Angeles, now living in Rhode Island) who creates fantastic and often large sculptures out of old copies of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.    Her website is here, including some of her works, also more here and yet more about her is on the Encyclopaedia Britannica blog (yes, there really is an EB Blog) here.

Wendy Wahl seven pieces, paper, yarn 95" x 60" x 36", 2001-2002

REBOUND: MIXED VOLUMES 3
Wendy Wahl
discarded/deconstructed/restructured encylopedia pages
40" x 16" x 17" ; 50" x 78" x 17" ; 60" x 95" x 17", 
2009


I like the structures themselves, for their obviously tactile appeal, and their simple but somehow organic shapes.  But most of all, I like that Wendy Wahl has found a way to translate (or perhaps transfer) the information and knowledge contained within the EB to new and visible forms.  The EB sits on many dusty library shelves, often unopened for years, and the contents are seen only by the eager searchers after knowledge.  her works expose the pages, individually and en masse, to a wider audience, who may wonder about their original meaning, while enjoying the fantastic shapes and swirls of her sculptures.