Wendy R. Walter is an artist and educator, with photography being her visual language.
After receiving a B.F.A. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Wendy embarked on a photographic journey that first took her to Jackson, Wyoming where she honed her extensive darkroom experience and became a custom color printer for Thomas D.Mangelsen and B/W printer for John Byrne Cooke using her ZBE enlarger and darkroom.
In 2003 Wendy was the recipient of the Sam Abell Project Workshop scholarship with her 10-year photographic essay of a Cuban Diva. This led her to filmmaking where she directed and produced her first documentary film, Cuba with Love.
In 2009 her film won Best Film under 30 minutes at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival and screened in other festivals and venues.
After a 15-year career at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, Wendy transitioned to a new career in education. As an educator, she has taught photography to children using Literacy Through Photography, a program created by Wendy Ewald in the 1970s whose aim was to use photography as a tool to promote literacy, creative expression, and critical thinking among children.
Wendy's work has been published by the Associated Press and exhibited in galleries across the United States and Cuba. Her photographs are in the permanent collection of Latin American Photography at Lehigh University.
Circle of Stars is her current photography project; a celebration of the art of circus and its performers.
She is a Resident Artist with Children's Creative Project teaching visual arts to elementary-aged children.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I got my first camera when I was eight years old and have been photographing ever since. I experience the world through images, whether or not I have a camera in hand. My photography is an extension of a feeling, an intuition. I am visually curious and use the camera to document a specific time and space. It draws me to people and places.
My photography projects have always been self-inspired and long-term. I like the tactile 2-dimensional printed photograph that holds a still moment. A photograph made today becomes part of our history tomorrow. I enjoy the ballet dance of street photography and the energy of musicians and performers. I endeavor to capture that energy, that feeling.
I see an image…
and then feel the photograph…
CURRICULUM VITAE
Awards
Permanent Collection at Lehigh University, Latin American Photography Collection
2024 I 2nd Runner Up, LENS 2024, Perspective Fine Art Photo Gallery, Evanston, Illinois. Juror: Aline Smithson. ‘Circus Shadows’
2009 | Best Film Under 30 Minutes, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
2003 | Project Workshop Scholarship with Sam Abell, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Exhibitions + Screenings
2024 I Praxis Gallery, The Shape of Things, Minneapolis, Minnesota
2024 I Perspective Fine Art Photography Gallery, LENS 2024, Evanston, Illinois
2017 | Phantom Pop Up Gallery, Women’s Work: SLO County Artists, San Luis Obispo, CA
2011 | 1906 Gallery, BURNed Garden, San Antonio, Texas
2010 | San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, Cuba with Love, San Luis Obispo, CA
2009 | Miami Short Film Festival, Cuba with Love
2009 | San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, Cuba with Love
2005 - 2007 | Viajeros - North American Artists Working in Cuba, a two-year traveling exhibit curated by Ricardo Viera
2003 | BAM space, Portraits, Jackson, Wyoming
2002 | Art West Gallery, The Havana Experience, Jackson, Wyoming
2001 | Teton County Library, We Are All From Somewhere Else, Jackson, Wyoming
2000 | La Fototeca, Street Photography, Havana, Cuba
Experience
Resident Artist at Children’s Creative Project Santa Barbara, CA
2022 – present
Resident Artist Workshops, Visual Artist
San Luis Obispo Museum of Art
San Luis Obispo, CA
2004 – 2019
Gallery Sales Manager and Registrar
Arts Outreach
Santa Ynez, CA
2003 – 2004
Photography instructor using ‘Literacy Through Photography’, a program created by Wendy Ewald in the 1970s whose aim was to use photography as a tool to promote literacy, creative expression, and critical thinking among children.
Jackson Hole Custom Color Lab
Jackson, Wyoming
1997 – 2003
Custom Color printer for Thomas D. Mangelsen and Henry Holdsworth
Custom B/W printer for rock and roll photographer John Byrne Cooke
B/W and C-41 film processing
4x5 internegs
Education
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography
Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
