PUBLIC ART

STREET PAINTING

As a senior in high school, I was recruited from a community college drawing class to assist with executing a large-scale chalk piece at the renowned I Madonnari Street Painting Festival in Santa Barbara, CA, which raises funds for arts programming in county public schools through the Children’s Creative Project.

What started as my first paid art gig became a lifelong passion and sparked my broader public art practice. Creating art live for a pleasant crowd of passerbys brings a responsive, adaptive inspiration to my work that makes it as meaningful as it is temporal.

I returned year after year from whatever part of the globe I was living, drawing solo or working with a team. I am now local to Santa Barbara, allowing me a deeper and more frequent connection with our integrated arts community. To find more local public art, check out this map and mural guide!

Pastel na Praia

2024 . I Madonnari Chalk Painting Festival . Santa Barbara, CA . Co-artist Robert Pester.

Sister City Vista

2024 . I Madonnari Festival . Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco, Mexico

Free Spirit

2023 . I Madonnari Chalk Painting Festival . Santa Barbara, CA . Co-artist Robert Pester.

Common Ground

2022 . I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, Santa Barbara, CA . 16’x12’ . Collaborative piece with artist Amber Roe (Wentzel's half on the left, Roe's half on the right)

Desert Bloom Chalk Mural

Desert Bloom . 2022, Henderson, NV . Pastel chalk on concrete courtyard, 5’x14’; Laser printed postcards on semi-gloss stock, 4”x6” | Time lapse video by @arnoldplacencia-flores4528

For my 40th birthday, I founded the Desert Bloom Art Scholarship to provide annual awards to undergraduate students with a declared minor in art. To celebrate the occasion and new initiative, I designed and led a team of professional and youth artists in executing a commemorative chalk mural on the main campus courtyard. I created a series of postcards featuring my desert flora photography to expand the experience for guests and participants, many of whom also contributed to the fund.

Missing the View / Awaiting the Tide

2021 . I Madonnari VIRTUAL Italian Street Painting Festival, Goleta, CA . 10’x16’

Keeping the Lights On

2020 . I Madonnari VIRTUAL Italian Street Painting Festival, Fort Irwin, CA . 8’x8’

I Feel the Night Behind Me

2019 . I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, Santa Barbara, CA . 8’x8’

Source

2018 . I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, Santa Barbara, CA . 8’x8’ . Co-artist Amber Roe.

Amalfi Coast

2017 . I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, Santa Barbara, CA . 12’x8’

Temple Gate

2012 . I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, Santa Barbara, CA . 8’x8’

The Great Wave of Kanagawa (Hokusai)

2008 . I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, Santa Barbara, CA . 12’x8’

Beacon (Edward Hopper)

2005 . I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, Santa Barbara, CA . 8’x8’

Venetian Masks

2002 . Chalk La Strada, San Diego, CA . 9’x12’

MEDIA COVERAGE FOR “COMMON GROUND”

“Amber Roe and Claire Wentzel teamed up to create two joined squares full of deeper meaning. Each explained the concept. Amber created the lone figure who is a female and a rock face to represent the creative power of the individual. And Claire Wentzel created the complementary section representing the power of community. The two sections are joined by the flow of water.”

— Robert Bernstein, EdHat (https://www.edhat.com/news/viewing-this-years-i-madonnari-chalk-painting-festival/)

CULTURE BOARDS

Nevada State University (then College) was my professional home from 2016 to 2019, when I served the in-house marketing department with content creation, brand standard development, art direction, editing, and graphic design. Since resuming work with the institution in a consulting role since 2021, the Division of Culture, Planning, and Policy has empowered me to create engagement pieces to amplify their president’s pillars and passion for the people who serve the students. The series rotates seasonally, staying attuned to their cultural zeitgeist and sparking new connections across the organization.

ÚNICA

2018, Las Vegas, NV . Installation, live painting & interactive art experience

When a salon and spa offered me the opportunity to exhibit my work in their space for my first solo show, I went beyond hanging art on their walls.

Stylists are artists, too, and I wanted to honor their workspace and respond personally. I visited with each stylist and wellness provider as they sat for one-on-one sketching sessions in the waiting atrium, which I used as a reference to create personal portraits (acrylic & ink on canvas board) as a gift to display at their individual stations. As I curated my existing work to install throughout the various spaces, I selected pieces that reflected the living art, beauty, and unique stories they elicit daily from their clients.

During the opening reception, I created live paintings and portraits for guests and clients. I provided a self-guided lesson on blind contour drawings that attendees could follow to contribute to a communal sketchbook.

OPEN STUDIO & SELF-CARE SERIES

Fort Irwin, California, home of the US Army National Training Center, is an isolated installation in the middle of the Mojave desert. With limited access to affordable, accessible multi-generational creative events in a harsh desert environment and high-stress tactical culture, I saw a need for community members to gather more flexibly and connect outside their unit activities.

Partnering with The Villages at Fort Irwin housing office, I created a year-long monthly Open Studio series with seasonally responsive project prompts and the invitation to be together and create. We held our first and only event on March 13, 2020, as the installation entered the initial pandemic lockdown on March 16.

As gathering restrictions began to expand, I pivoted to offer two distance-friendly art workshops to community members as part of their Self-Care Series. Using techniques developed through my years of practice, the events were designed to be accessible for any age and skill level so that anyone could experience the healing benefits of artistic self-expression.

Outdoor Art: Get outside to express what's inside with chalk art for adults! We're stuck at home a lot, so let's expand our view and get outside to connect with the broader landscape. Express your mood through color and enlarge the details of your life with a few simple tricks and techniques.

Art of Self-Reflection: It's common in our culture to pass the harshest judgments on ourselves, not only on how we see view our bodies, and but also on how we rate and value our creative expressions. We'll explore a simple any-skill drawing exercise and visual journaling practice that can help you embrace and enhance your personal narrative in a positive light.

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