From the time I was quite young, I was interested in nature and natural forms. This interest and curiosity was initiated through Saturday morning children’s classes at RISD and continued to develop through my fascination with Spooky the owl at the Boston Science Museum and the dinosaur dioramas in the mysterious darkened rooms and hallways of the NY Museum of Natural History. When I was older, I was enchanted by both the dramatic landscape which surrounded me in upstate NY while attending college as well as the seasonal fluctuations during my residencies at the Vermont Studio Center.

My work is concerned mostly with the feeling or temperament of a place be it a landscape or an interior. With the landscape I’m interested in capturing fleeting moments through changes in light and atmosphere. With the interiors, I hope to convey what makes these spaces personal, what gives them character, what feeling they evoke. What came before or what may come next? How does one capture a sense of their particular story?

With both inner and outer “landscapes”, the character or sense of place is more meaningful to me than reproducing an exact likeness. I feel that these pieces reflect both a sense of time, brief as it may be, and a sense of timelessness as well as a reflection of an emotional state.

The landscape becomes a point of departure. From it I attempt to distill what is mysterious, ephemeral and often dreamlike---nuances of fog, rain and quickly changing weather, or the play of dark form/mass against brilliant light. Most, therefore, are portraits of a place or time of day where or when shadows are deep and the light is intense, uncommon or fleeting.The experience of working on-site in these constantly changing conditions becomes an integral part of the piece.
While working on a series of night scenes, both rural and urban, objects and images which by daylight seem incidental and commonplace, become simplified and extraordinary at night under limited or artificial light. These result in compositions that speak as much about form and abstract shape as they do about atmosphere and essence..
Structural, man-made elements have become increasingly important in my work as well---old garages, mills; long-used, intimate or messy work spaces. These often provide a sharp contrast to the sometimes overwhelming beauty of the landscape.

Wendy Goldberg’s work is included in the Achenbach Collection of Prints and Drawings of the Legion of Honor Museum, Stanford Hospital/Health Systems, the Haas Collection, Genentech Corp, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artist’s Gallery, New York Drawing Center Viewing Program, Loyola Marymount Health Center, Chicago; Berkman, Bottger & Rodd , LLP, NY, as well as many other private and public collections throughout the country and abroad.

Portfolio: