Small black oval marks repeat on coiled strips of paper, wood, and lithograph prints. White paper cutouts of George School box elder and red oak leaves are caught between lines of thread. These sights are all part of “Learning Repetition: Works on Paper by Wendy Wolf,” an exhibit that explores repetitive mark making and the shapes of leaves found at George School and other locations.

The exhibit will be on view at George School in the Class of 1956 Gallery at the Mollie Dodd Anderson Library until Friday, October 8, 2010. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m.–6:30 p.m.; Friday, 9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 1:00–5:00 p.m.

At a gallery talk and reception on Thursday, September 23, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., George School arts students will hear Wendy speak about her work. Such lectures by guest artists are open to all George School students and are also part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Visual Arts Seminar, a required course for students preparing to take the IB exam in visual arts.

The exhibit brings together two series of Wendy Wolf’s works, both created between 2005 and 2010 using a restrained structure of repeated marks or processes. One series, “Examined Repetition,” involves repeated marks made with a brush in a variety of media. The earliest pieces in the series are prints made through aluminum plate lithography, copier toner, and denatured alcohol. Wendy said, “I enjoy playing within my self-made structure with color, marks, and lines, and seeing what these basic elements can create.”

The other series, “Natural Repetition,” features shapes traced from leaves collected in a variety of places, including the George School campus. In many of the works, leaf shapes have been cut out of a translucent white material—yupo or waxed masa paper. Layers of the paper with leaf-shaped holes are mounted on black archival boards to produce overlapping leaf silhouettes in black and gray. Other pieces in the series have much smaller shapes cut out of the white paper, traced from holes that insects ate into leaves.

“The beautiful grounds of George School were very inspiring to me as I created many of these pieces this summer,” said Wendy. She used leaves from George School red oak, box elder, swamp white oak, and turkey oak trees for several of the layered works. George School leaves also inspired an installation of paper leaves caught in threads strung between two gallery walls. Other works depict leaves from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin; Washington Square Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Austin, Texas.

“She traced the leaves, then hand cut the tracings,” explained George School photography teacher Danielle Picard-Sheehan, coordinator of the Anderson Gallery. “These were then layered and combined to create very unique compositions revealing a wonderful sense of repetition as well as the juxtaposition of positive and negative space.”

Wendy said, “Making work specifically for this space—using inspiration from George School—I am hoping to encourage a personal connection to my primary audience, the people who live, work, and are educated here. This is my interpretation and connection to your place.”

Wendy has had solo exhibitions and installations at locations in Austin, Texas, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin; Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona; and the Pearson Art Gallery in White Plains, New York. She has also participated in over a dozen select group exhibitions, held an artist residency at Taliesin West, and served as a visiting artist at Taliesin. She holds an MFA from Tyler School of Art and a BFA from Alfred University School of Art and Design.

“Learning Repetition” is one of eight exhibitions organized by the George School Arts Department during the 2010-11 year. The Arts Department offers twenty-eight arts courses in ten different visual and performing arts forms, with Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate course options.

About George School
Founded in 1893 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), George School, a rigorous coed boarding and day school for grades nine through twelve, educates students from twenty-one states, thirty-seven foreign countries, and a variety of ethnic, racial, religious, and economic backgrounds. Through its commitment to diversity and the Quaker values of equality, integrity, and peacemaking, George School inspires students to be led by their own truths while respecting and appreciating opinions and beliefs different from their own. George School was one of the first schools in the United States to implement an International Baccalaureate diploma program. For information about admission, please call 215.579.6547 or visit http://www.georgeschool.org.