Wendy Westlake

Invitation, Reflection

Wendy Westlake is an American painter whose work explores the interaction of shape, color and space through large-scale abstract compositions. Born in Washington state, she trained in the visual arts at Pima College in Tucson, Arizona, where she earned an Associate of Applied Arts and studied oils, printmaking and ceramics. Her early training in watercolor and continued study of color relationships inform a practice that blends the immediacy of wet media with the scale and physicality of acrylic and oil on canvas. After relocating to Minnesota, Westlake established a studio in Zumbrota and became an active presence in the regional arts community. She served on the board of the Minnesota Watercolor Society and was president of the organization from 2014 to 2016. In addition to her community leadership, she ran the 535 Gallery, curating exhibitions and supporting fellow artists. Westlake’s paintings are characterized by confident, gestural marks and layered surfaces where fields of color shift subtly as shapes meet and overlap. Influenced by American Abstract Expressionism and contemporary color-field approaches, she often begins with small studies or digital sketches and resolves compositions at a large scale, allowing texture and brushwork to play a central role in how forms read across the canvas. Her work aims to create perceptual tension: simple elements become dynamically interrelated so that color and edge alter the viewer’s sense of depth and motion. Over the past decade Westlake has exhibited widely across the United States and Canada. She has been represented by several galleries, including Veronique Wantz Gallery, Merritt Gallery, LaFontsee Galleries and Galerie Blanche in Montréal. Her solo and group shows include projects that emphasize fresh starts and ongoing formal inquiry, with exhibition titles reflecting themes of initiation, undercurrents and reverence. Westlake continues to paint from her Minnesota studio, showing work, teaching occasionally, and participating in regional arts initiatives. Her practice remains committed to making large, contemplative abstractions that invite close looking and sustained engagement.