I paint as a healing practice to explore queer joy, reconciliation of trauma, chosen family, and the freedom of autonomy. As a queer artist living with CPTSD, I translate fragments of my unfurling aftermath, experiences, memories, and dreams into a cohesive whole.
Like many of us, my queerness was identified, rejected and suppressed long before I recognized it within myself. My survival depended on queer expression through nonverbal language. Through paint, I reconstruct a home in which my identity is welcome as I meditate on the impact of trauma on the ebb and flow of my relationships. I build cryptic still lives, secret little love notes, nestled into chromatic elements that hold the naturality, joy, tenderness, simplicity, and heartache of authentic love.
In oil paintings that draw together chromatic hope and contrasting devastation, I argue that the sum of a queer life lived authentically is vast and can hold space for our greatest dreams and biggest challenges. This evolving investigation takes physical form in paintings, drawings, photography and collages that layer cross-sections of personal narrative.
Biography
Originally from West Chester, Pennsylvania, Meg now resides in Philadelphia. In addition to being a visual artist, they specialize in creating art and design educational opportunities as the Managing Director of Continuing Education at Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They have a range of experience organizing and participating in public arts programming as a curator, juror, visiting artist, guest speaker, art history lecturer, and as a hands-on arts educator specializing in fine arts foundations and advanced oil/watercolor painting techniques. In their previous role as a Project Manager at Mural Arts Philadelphia, they worked to facilitate trauma-informed art-focused educational experiences for high-risk youth, young adults, and incarcerated parents. Outside of creating and working, Meg lends professional curatorial, grant-writing, art handling, and arts nonprofit administration strategy services to other queer artists, students, organizations and initiatives.
Education
2014-2016
MS, Arts Administration, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
2010-2014
BFA, Painting, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Residencies, Fellowships & Awards
2022
Juror, Abington Art Center 2022 Juried Exhibition, Abington Art Center, Abington PA
2020
Juror, All That is Purple: 5th Annual Chester County Student Art Contest, Domestic Violence Center of ChesterCounty, Exton PA
2019
Alumni Council Member & Alumni Scholarship Committee Member, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Alumni Studio Fellow, PAFA Alumni Studio Program 2019-2020, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
2018
Resident Artist, Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh PA
Resident Artist, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia PA
2017
Curator, More Delicate Things, Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh PA
Special Notice in "Strength" and "Tenderness" Award Categories, Brob Din Gnag International, Phoenixville PA
Alumni Studio Fellow, PAFA Alumni Studio Program 2017-2018 , Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Resident Artist, Bunker Projects Artist Residency Program, Pittsburgh PA
Maurice Freed Memorial Prize for Oil or Mixed Media, 76th Juried Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum
2016
Alumni Studio Fellow, PAFA Alumni Studio Program 2016-2017 , Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Honorable Mention, 2016 PHOTOgraphy Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia Sketch Club
2015
Best In Show: Third Award,152nd Small Oil Painting Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia Sketch Club
Karen Murdoch Memorial Scholarship, Arts Administration MS Program, Drexel University
2014 & Before
Dean's Fellowship Award, Westphal College of Media Arts and Design, Drexel University
Deena Gu Watercolor Award, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Selected Speaker & Artist for PAFA 2013 Bacchanal Fundraiser, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Thouron Prizes: Student Vote, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Charles Toppan Prizes: Non-curricular, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Susan H. Macdowell Figure Painting Competition: Second Place, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Packard Prizes: First Place, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
PAFA BFA Merit Scholarship, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
PAFA Academy BFA Scholarship, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Caldwell Scholarship, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Professional Experience
2019—present
Moore College of Art & Design, Managing Director of Continuing Education, Continuing Education Program Manager
2016—2019
Mural Arts Philadelphia, Exhibition, Administrative, & Restorative Justice, Project Manager Father’s and Children Together (FACT) Educator
2015—2016
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Visitor Services Assistant
2014—2015
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Visitor Experience Associate & Development, Events Intern
2013—2014
Larry Becker Contemporary Art, Gallery Intern
2010—present
Freelancer, Curator, Teacher, Juror, Mentor, Writer, Auction Coordinator, Exhibition Manager, Board &Committee Member, Art Handler, etc.
Solo Exhibitions
2019
Paintings by Meg Wolensky, A Novel Idea, Philadelphia, PA
2016
Artifact, Eckhaus Gallery, Kutztown, PA
2015
Meg Wolensky, Saxbys University City, Philadelphia PA
Group Exhibitions
2022
at home: depictions of queer domestic life, Main Line Art Center, Haverford PA
at home: depictions of queer domestic life, Pearlstein Gallery at Drexel University, Philadelphia PA
2021
Do You Mind If I Exist? Womxn Who Paint II, University City Arts League, Philadelphia PA
Do You Mind If I Exist? Womxn Who Paint II, University of Pennsylvania Saxbys, Philadelphia PA
Streets Dept Walls, Fashion District Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA (Mural Project)
2020
Virtual First Friday Exhibition & Live Artist Talk, Women's Caucus for Art Philadelphia Chapter, Philadelphia PA
Streets Dept Walls, Fashion District Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA (Mural Project)
2019
14th Annual Juried Exhibition, William Way LGBT Community Center, Philadelphia PA
Works on View, Root Market, Philadelphia PA
Streets Dept Walls, Fashion District Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA (Mural Project)
Brick by Brick: Juried Exhibition Celebrating Stonewall 50, Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Frank's, Philadelphia PA
2018
The "What's Happening?" Happening, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia PA
In Process: Work by Resident Artists, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia PA
Opening Up: Sponsored by the Women's Caucus for Art Philadelphia Chapter, High Five Gallery, Philadelphia PA
Face to Face: Portraits by Women featuring works from the Linda Lee Alter Collection, William Way LGBT
Community Center, Philadelphia PA
Paintings by Santiago Galeas and Meg Wolensky, Presented by the Mayor's Office of LGBT Affairs, Imperfect
Gallery, Germantown PA
Being Seen: Paintings by Santiago Galeas and Meg Wolensky, 40th Street Artist-in-Residence Program,
Philadelphia PA
Down to Earth, Plays and Players Gallery, Philadelphia PA
155th Annual Exhibition of Small Oil Painting Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia PA
Life / Death, House Puppo Gallery, Philadelphia PA
2017
Hello Girls! Material Girls at No Vacancy 3, Alt Escape Platform, Brooklyn NY
Of An Age/In These Times, The Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia PA
Strong, Tender, and True, Brob Din Gnag International, Phoenixville PA
Transformation, Plays and Players Gallery, Philadelphia PA
Fall/Winter 2017 Exhibition, PAFA Northwest, Chestnut Hill PA
Staff Exhibition, Mural Arts Philadelphia, Thomas Eakins House, Philadelphia PA
2017 National Juried Painting Exhibition, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg MS
Wall Ball 2017, Mural Arts Philadelphia, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA, curated by Conrad Benner
Woodmere Annual: 76th Juried Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia PA, curated by Harry Philbrick
14th Annual AAGA Art Auction, Drexel University, Philadelphia PA
154th Annual Small Oil Painting Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia PA
More Delicate Things, Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh PA
2016
Close and Lost: Works by Laren Wilcox and Meg Wolensky, Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh PA
2016 PHOTOgraphy Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia PA
Summer Group Exhibition, Rodger LaPelle Galleries, Philadelphia PA
153rd Annual Small Oil Painting Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia PA
Paths That Cross, Cameron Street Gallery, Winchester VA
DNCC Installation, Democratic National Convention Committee Main Offices, Philadelphia PA
Made In Philly: 13th Annual AAGA Art Auction, Drexel University, Philadelphia PA
2015
Reflections: November/December Group Exhibition, Rodger LaPelle Galleries, Philadelphia PA
Eraserhood Forever, PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia PA
Paper Dolls, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia PA
Annual Emerging Artists Exhibition, Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia PA
Resident Emergency Fund Annual Resident & Alumni Exhibition, International House, Philadelphia PA
152nd Annual Small Oil Painting Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia PA
12th Annual Arts Administration Graduate Association Art Auction, Drexel University, Philadelphia PA
2014 & Before
Insider Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA
113th Annual Student Exhibition, Fischer-Brooks Gallery, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA
112th Annual Student Exhibition, Frances A. Maguire Gallery & Gallery 128, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine
Arts, Philadelphia PA
111th Annual Student Exhibition, Fischer-Brooks Gallery, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA
Returning Students Exhibition, Gallery 128, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA
Anatomy/Academy: Juried Exhibition, Gallery 128, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA
