Today we’d like to introduce you to Angilee Wilkerson.
Hi Angilee, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I suppose my life as a creative and nature-based artist was first influenced by the travels and people of my childhood; I can recall losing myself in awe and wonder when the thick fog would rise up off the Northern Sea of Scotland and blanket the small seaside village we called home or wandering the wild woods of my grandparents’ land in rural Oklahoma. People close to me played their part in directing me towards a creative life. As a kid, I watched my grandfather paint with oils, my grandmother quilt elaborate patterns of color and texture, my mom crafts short stories and poetry and my aunt, who runs a flower shop, make masterful arrangements from flowers and greenery. My dad was perhaps the biggest influence, he always had his camera with him, and eventually, I too had a camera in hand, making compositions on film through the lens of my modest SLR Pentax. Experiences like this seeded in me a desire to be in nature and to reflect what I was feeling and seeing into some kind of artistic expression.
My life as a creative has been an amalgam of so many roads: educator, visual artist, commercial photographer, creative director, curator, with each interest influencing the other. In my professional career, I worked as an entrepreneur and commercial photographer and now serve as the Director of Creative Services at the University of North Texas where I lead a team of photographers, videographers, and designers. In tandem with my professional pursuits, I received my MFA and went on to dedicate my time to creating photo-based and mixed-media artworks, which I have enjoyed the honor of exhibiting both nationally and internationally.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Sure, there’s struggle, but if you love what you do, the struggle feels less like work and more like a challenge you’re eager to take on. Exhibiting work, receiving accolades, and completing projects are rewarding, but the thrill is in the doing, rather than the final result. The searching, the deconstructing (over and over again) and the reforming are where the magic happens, and all that struggle turns out, is the good stuff.
I doubt anyone can say life is a smooth road—we all have our challenges. About two and half years ago I faced my biggest challenge, hit with a life-threatening health crisis I was left wondering if would eat or speak again. But through self-recovery, I’ve learned the depth of human resilience and along the way, I designed a tool that allowed me to eat again and regain my strength. I just launched a website with this story and the tool I created, and I’m hoping it will be helpful for others with a similar disability as mine. You can check it out or pass it on to anyone struggling: http://www.tougles.com/.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At the core of my creative curiosity lives the wilderness; she is a constant influence in my work. And in wildness, there is always a sense of otherness. This is what draws me, I’m seduced by it, I crave it and consequently, I spend my free time in nature being with it, photographing and moving through it. As an artist, my focus is directed to the subtle but no less sublime, quiet spaces of the landscape and within our inner selves. Both in my “Wondrous Prairie” series and in the self-portrait tableaus of the “Perform La Femme” series that are featured here, I create works that are ambiguously in flux or undefined around the edges–like the thick cold Haar over the Scottish sea, hr epresence is undeniable and the absence of what she hides is no less captivating.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Probably the most important lesson I’ve learned is that when one stands at a precipice where radical change is an inevitable jump or fall, the ground you land on is where you come to know yourself from a new perspective. Collapse and renewal are part of the game. We can’t control it and we often don’t expect it, but we can get through it if we nurture the light within us and others. And like a reptile shedding its skin so that it may expand or an artist working her medium—through perseverance, a beautiful, new form takes shape.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.angileewilkerson.com
- Other: www.performlafemme.com
Image Credits
Angilee Wilkerson
Jana C. Perez
