WENDY MACMILLAN | THE WORK
STATEMENT
The core elements of MacMillan’s work is the body and politics, and these are analysed through the psychological and philosophical exchange of power; abuse, desire or absence.
Subject matter interconnects within the parameters of science, religion and belief, the vulnerability of the individual, complexities of the personal, institutional and social power structures.
Works may focus on current events yet also continue long term thematic schemes. This interest in the concept of power and its movement can extend from a foetal heartbeat to the global economic melt down.
Inevitably, implicit in this fabric of power emerge issues of fear, and the tract of human response to mortality, through belief and/or denial, facets that are entrenched in her work, as is the issue of control and power in death and birth. This has fed into her looking at the secular to the theocratic, and parturition and nurture.
MacMillan’s work is often a response to political events, whether current or a century old. There is also humour and irony in some pieces: playing on words or emblematic figures, considered intention breathes life into the subject, refreshing it and initiating a reaction. She seeks to stimulate thought and debate through a wide variety of materials. One of the joys of the work is the ability to express her conceptual concerns in such a range of mediums, any material has the potential to embody ideas, from feathers to figurines and it is such an approach that embodies her signature as an artist.
CV
EDUCATION
1994-1995 MA Art & Architecture (Commendation) UEL, London
1993-1994 Repin Academy of Art, St Petersburg, Russia.
1989-1992 BA (Hon) Fine Art 2:1 University for the Creative Arts.
EXHIBITIONS
2012 Tokarska Gallery, London
Vestry House Museum, London
Trace, Bristol
Islington Arts Factory Summer Salon, London
Survival of the Fittest, London Olympics Park
Make Yourself at Home, London
Modern Madonnas, Surrey, UK
Plan Open, Arbeit Gallery, London
2011 E17 Art Trail, London
2010 St Michaels & All Angels, Solo exhibition, London
2010 100sqft exhibition, Invited artist, New Orleans, USA
2008 Invited artist, Stockwell Studios Annual Show
2007 E17 Art Trail, London
2007 No Artist is an Island, Theatre Project, London
2007 Holden Gallery, Manchester
2005 EuroArt International Festival, London
2005 Selection and Management Committee, EuroArt Festival, London
2004 N17 Artists, London
2003 Lucius Gallery Solo Exhibition, London.
2002 Lucius Gallery Group Exhibition, London
2000 Invited artist, Sculpture Symposium Wroclaw Poland.
1996 Tidal Basin, Docklands London.
1994 Repin Academy, St Petersburg, Russia
2007 Changing Room Gallery, London
AWARDS
Year, Award, Name, Location
2021 Associate: Royal British Society of Sculptors
1994 Association of University Women; Postgraduate Award.
1993 SCIAR Russian Study Award.
1994 S.E.D Postgraduate Study Award
1993 James Milne Travel Award. Scotland
1992/93 Prince’s Trust Travel Award (2years)
1991/92 KIAD Bronze Foundry Award (2 years)
PUBLICATIONS
2001 The Brit Art Directory Henry Mayhew