Wendi Schneider is an American artist widely known for her ongoing series of hand gilded photographs – States of Grace. Drawn to the transcendence she finds in the sinuous elegance of organic forms, she creates illuminated impressions of vanishing beauty in our vulnerable natural world. Layering color, texture, and gold leaf, Schneider’s process creates ephemeral illusions that seemingly dance on the paper’s surface amidst reflections of light on precious metals, creating a synthesis of technique and subject.
Her interest in photography germinated in the early 1980s with the use of a camera to reference models for oil paintings. Mesmerized by the possibilities of the photographic art form and the alchemy of the darkroom, yet missing the sensuousness of oils, she began to layer paint on photographs to manipulate the boundaries between the real and the imagined. This process laid the groundwork for the unique layering and gilding that would become the foundation of ‘States of Grace’, which she began in 2012.
Schneider’s work is influenced by her collection of turn-of-the-twentieth-century art and objects, the lush landscapes of Memphis, New Orleans and New York, and a background in painting, art history, design, art direction and editorial and advertising photography. Her photographs are held in the permanent collections of The Asheville Art Museum, The New Orleans Museum of Art, The Center for Creative Photography, The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, and Auburn University Library Special Collections, among others. Schneider is represented by A Gallery for Fine Photography (New Orleans); Arnika Dawkins Gallery (Atlanta); Catherine Couturier Gallery (Houston), Etherton Gallery (Tucson). PhotoGraphic Gallery (San Miguel de Allende), Rick Wester Fine Art (New York); Vision Gallery (Jerusalem), and Wach Gallery (Cleveland). She is an active board member of the Colorado Photographic Arts Center.
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