BANTAM, who was raised in the Nebraska Sandhills, exhibits her paintings internationally and lectures on creativity and critical thinking. Her paintings radiate breathtaking color with the visual imagery of magical science fiction story telling.
Bantam grew up in a part of the Nebraska Sandhills called the Mirage Flats and hails the landscape of her childhood. She creates an otherworldly realism of secret gardens and extinct animals who, once lost, are found~embedded in the rich texture of Bantam’s paint. Each painting hides clues to the narrative of an unfolding story.
Bantam studied fiction writing under Kent Haruf, author of Plainsong, at Nebraska Wesleyan University and later transferred to the University of Kansas to complete her studies in painting with professors of painting; Roger Shimomura, and Robert O. Wright. She received her Master of Fine Art from the University of Nebraska where she worked with painter, Keith Jacobshagen, art historian, Christin Mamiya, and Sheldon Museum curator, Dan Siedell.
Extensive research in painting and storytelling has taken her to Indonesia, England, Turkey, Greece,
and throughout the United States. Bantam’s solo exhibitions began in her early 20’s, the largest of these held at the Sheldon Museum of Art where her work is now part of the permanent collection.
Since, she has received the Alumni Achievement Award in Art from the University of Nebraska~Lincoln and created The Wendy Jane Bantam Outlook Award for tenacious artists in need. As part of The Outlook Project, she brings artists from around the world to exhibit, experiment, and lecture.
A teacher and lecturer on creative and critical thinking with training in performance art and the visual arts, Bantam has held residencies in Indonesia, England, Turkey, and across the United States through the Nebraska Arts Council and Dana Foundation/Kennedy Center as a Lied Center Teaching Artist. Invited by Warren Buffett, she has also been the representing artist for Berkshire Hathaway’s Shareholders Convention.
Working to create and implement public art projects to revitalize communities at home and overseas, Bantam signed to serve as a Volunteer in Service to America through AmeriCorps. She served Nebraska where she created lasting community development projects for Urban Development, refugees, and students of Upward Bound at the University of Nebraska. She continues to bring together neighborhood associations and creates group projects in troubled areas through the development of gardens and public art. Bantam is recognized by the NeighborWorks America Headquarters in Washington D.C. as a National Leader for Communities.
Bantam’s home studio is in Nebraska.
