Anneke Wilder

A biologist gone rogue, Anneke Wilder’s visual art is based in a desire to communicate the astonishing intricacies and complexity of life on earth, inspire curiosity and reflection, and cultivate devotion to our human and nonhuman communities. Originally from rural South Carolina, she received her degree in Biology from College of Charleston with a minor in Studio Art. As an undergraduate, she was awarded grants to study the effects of anthropogenic changes to the environment on amphibian populations in the low country of South Carolina. The latest chapter of her story takes place in Seattle, WA. After completing a program in Natural Science Illustration at the University of Washington, she spent recent years continuing to develop her artistic practice. She works primarily in watercolor and digital illustration, and she borrows from the aesthetics of traditional scientific illustration, inviting the viewer to consider the subjects outside of their traditional context. Her paintings investigate the human (and nonhuman) condition, often through the lens of modern scientific concepts of life, death, and ecological interconnectedness. She illustrates the connection between human beings and their environment, and places man alongside all other living organisms striving for collective survival. More recently, she has been integrating fiber work and experimentation with natural dyes and pigments into her artistic practice. This experimentation gives me the opportunity to strengthen the physical connection between her art and the subjects that she represents, and also strengthens her own personal connection to the environments that she inhabits.