Natalie Wadlington (b. 1992) is currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Born in Modesto, California, she completed her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in May of 2020.
Her practice consists of paintings based in story-telling and figuration. They are specific metaphors which communicate larger, archetypal narratives of love, conflict, and misunderstanding, specifically in our relationship to animals. In the paintings, characters come together in symbolic scenes which mirror our own complex struggles for mutual understanding.
Wadlington has exhibited both nationally and internationally, including a solo exhibition at The Dallas Contemporary Art Museum. She has been an artist in residence at Ox Bow School of Art, Arrowmont, The CCC at CSU Long Beach, and High Desert Test Sites. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA, The Beth DeWoody Collection, The Bentata Family Collection, The Weissman Family Art Collection, The Dan and Jennifer Gilbert Collection, and The Today Art Museum in Beijing, CH.
Born in Modesto, CA
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Links:
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Education
2020
Masters in Fine Arts, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2017
Bachelor in Fine Arts, California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, CA
2014
Associate's Degree in Fine Art, Modesto Junior College, Modesto, CA
Select Solo Exhibitions
2025
Pot Bound, Richard Heller, Los Angeles, CA
2024
Pollards, Library Street Collective, Detroit, MI
2023
Close to the Ground, ShopHouse, Hong Kong, HK
2022
Front Yards, Back Yards, Albertz Benda, NYC, NY
Places That Grow, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX
2021
Pooled, Library Street Collective, Detroit MI
Backyards, Louis Buhl & Co., Detroit, MI
2020
Anatomy, Library Street Collective, Detroit, MI
Select Group Exhibitions
2025
Self Portrait, Flowers, LA
XXS, Brintz County, Palm Beach, FL
2024
Expo Chicago, Library Street Collective, Chicago, IL
Dog Breath, Stop Gap Projects, Columbia, MO
When it Rains I Pour, Rusha & Co., Los Angeles, CA
2023
Ephemeral Pleasures, Richard Heller, Los Angeles,
LA Untitled Art Fair, Library Street Collective, Miami Beach, FL
Do You See Us, Albertz Benda, Los Angeles, LA
2022
Untitled Art Fair, Library Street Collective, Miami Beach, FL
It Takes a Village, Library Street Collective, Detroit, MI
Gala and Art Auction, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI
Unseen Threads, Martha’s Contemporary, Austin, TX
2021
Spiritual Advisory: Part Deux, Greenpointe Terminal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Fragmented Bodies, Albertz Benda Gallery, NYC, NY
POST, Wasserman Projects, Detroit, MI
2020
We Used to Gather, Library Street Collective, Detroit, MI
Rapid Response Fundraiser, Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI
Willing the Season, Far x Wide, Brooklyn, NY
Unit London, London, UK
AXA Art Prize Annual Juried Exhibition, New York Academy of Fine Art, NY
Cranbrook Academy of Art Scholarship Exhibition, DAM gallery, Detroit, MI
CrossRoads, River House Arts, Toledo, OH
Online Exhibition Show #63: Hoarders House, Field Projects, New York, NY
Residencies
2026
(forthcoming) Ceramics Winter Residency, Penland School of Craft, Bakersville, NC
2025
Pollinator, Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist Residency, Saugatuck, MI
2024
Artist in Residence, High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA
2023
Summer Visiting Artist, Center for Contemporary Ceramics at CSULB, Long Beach, CA
2021
Artist in Residence, Arrowmont School of Fine Art, Gatlinburg, TN
2020
Artist in Residence, Anderson Ranch, Snowmass Village, CO
2019
Artist Fellow, Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist Residency, Saugatuck, MI
Programs, Talks & Presentations
2025
BFA Visiting Artist and Artist Lecture, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
2024
BFA Visiting Artist and Artist Lecture, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO
2022
Artist Lecture, Dallas Contemporary Art Museum, Dallas, TX
2021
BA Visiting Artist and Artist Lecture, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Select Publication and Press
2025
The Screen and the Canvas: Pictorial Reflections in the Digital Era –- Comeras
2024
Natalie Wadlington: The Anthropomorphic Reflections of Interspecies Relationships — Art Plugged
“Pollards” by Natalie Wadlington — New Art Examiner
2023
From Kimsooja to Shubigi Rao: Here are 7 female artists in Hong Kong to look out for this art month —Tatler
2022
Natalie Wadlington: Places that Grow at the Dallas Contemporary — Glasstire
Natalie Wadlington: Front Yards, Back Yards —- Whitehot Magazine
Natalie Wadlington’s wide-eyed charming characters paint a picture… — Creative Boom
Art Dirt: Discussing Recent Exhibitions about America — Glasstire Podcast
Natalie Wadlington’s Domestic Explorations Come to Albertz Benda, NY — Wide Walls
I Have Seen the Future — Field Pod Podcast
2021
Natalie Wadlington: Pooled — Whitewall
Library Street Collective Gets into the studio Practice of Natalie Wadlington — Juxtapoz
Elephant’s Pick of October’s Essential Artists — Elephant
Pooled | In Conversation with Natalie Wadlington and Gina Beavers — Flaunt
Natalie Wadlington’s 'Pooled' explores fragility and crisis through bold and whimsical paintings — Metro Times
Natalie Wadlington’s Backyards at Louis Buhl & Co. — Whitehot Magazine
Charming paintings by Natalie Wadlington — Creative Boom
2020
Painting, Conceptually Speaking — Barbed Magazine, Detroit, MI
Oyedrum Volume 1 — Oye Drum Magazine, New York, NY
2019
New American Paintings — No. 141 Annual MFA issue
© 2014–2023 Natalie Wadlington