Wendell was boorn and raised in Galesburg, Illinois. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Knox College in 1976. He started his artistic career in Chicago designing sets and stage lighting for stage plays for 5 years, then spend 23 years as director of marketing for Seagram Americas (the adult beverage giant) designing and implementing advertising campaigns, point-of-purchase materials, packaging, new consumer products, public relations efforts, special event marketing, and serving as product-placement liaison with movie and television companies. After this company was sold, he worked as a Director of Product Development for Wellpoint (the healthcare giant) for 4 years. Thereafter he has worked as a consultant for a local Harley Davidson dealer as well as concentrating on a growing professional art business.
Starting as a hobby, Wendell’s colored pencil work has burgeoned into a respectable business as he is widely recognized as one of the leading artists in this medium in the country. His work has been featured in competitions and galleries in Kansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, California, New Mexico, Baltimore, New York, and Nebraska as well as in foreign countries like England, Germany, Japan, and Australia. His work is prominently featured in the online, international drawing and painting exhibition at Upstreampeoplegallery.com. He is a signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America, a member of the most recent “Living Masters” pencil art series, a member of the Rio Rancho Art Association, a member of the Corrales Society of Artists, and a member of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists. His work has been featured in a number of publications, most recently as the cover artist for Sunshine Artist Magazine. He recently won awards at the CPSA art show at the Arts Alliance Gallery in Albuquerque and was chosen to design the American Marketing Association’s “Marketer of the Year” award. Wendell has appeared in a number of art shows and festivals including the New Mexico Masterworks show and Rio Grande Art Festivals.
Wendell’s pictures tell a story through vibrant color and hyperbole drawing from the natural world and the realm of pure imagination in equal measure."I believe that art is a way to do the impossible, visit other worlds, visit the microcosm or the macrocosm, allow the imagination to show us things and places we could never visit in reality. It also allows us to view that unreachable horizon, a view into another human's mind. Whether it is the artist's or the viewer and their reactions"
