ARTtalk is a series of four events offering intimate, behind-the-scenes discussions with select artists from the visual and performing arts worlds appearing on the summer series. ARTtalks include:
July 3 at 5pm — “Threading Communities,” Kelsey Merreck Wagner
Introducing Kelsey Merreck Wagner’s artist’s residency at the Jim Thompson Farm in the Pak Thong Chai District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand in 2024. Wagner will discuss a selection of the exhibiting artists in Threading: Contemporary Art of Thailand, on view at the Turchin Center July 3-Dec 6.
About the artist
Kelsey Merreck Wagner (b. 1990) is a fiber artist, educator, curator, and anthropologist. She defines herself as an eco-artivist (art + activism). She lives and works between the United States and Thailand. She completed her B.A. (Studio Arts; focus: printmaking) at Western Michigan University, her M.A. (Cultural Studies & Sustainability; focus: community-engaged arts) at Appalachian State University, and received her Ph.D. at Michigan State University (Anthropology; focus: environmental activism and art in Thailand). Her unique artwork has spanned printmaking to ceramics to book-making to textiles. Since 2019, her current body of work comprises small and large-scale weavings made entirely from plastic and other recycled materials, which she collects from her household, community, and trash clean-ups. Her practice is both research-based and community-engaged, and centers art-making that is collaborative, encourages solidarity, and raises awareness about environmental issues including endangered species, animal welfare, and plastic pollution.
Her work has been exhibited in art galleries, museums, and institutions: internationally in Cambodia, Thailand, Canada, Malaysia and Italy; as well as across the United States including Illinois, Texas, Ohio, New York, North Carolina, and Michigan. She has been awarded multiple fellowships for her arts-based research/creation; completed numerous commissions; and her work is in a variety of private and public collections, including multiple galleries as well as Michigan State University, Grand Valley State University, and University of North Carolina-Wilmington. She has participated in residency programs in the United States, and was most recently the Artist-in-Residence at the Jim Thompson Art Center/Jim Thompson Farm in Thailand, and is currently a SEEK Fellow for Raleigh Arts. She is a committee member of the Blue Ridge Fiber Arts (North Carolina), and a founding member of the Arts Worms-Mekong Artist Collective (Thailand). As an educator, she has taught a wide range of trash-art projects for high-school students, college students, and community members, and also mentors undergraduate students.
