Meet Wesley Terpstra

We had the good fortune of connecting with Wesley Terpstra and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Wesley, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I grew up in Minnesota and appreciate a lot about Midwestern culture. I was raised with an emphasis on frugality, generosity, and self-sufficiency. Work hard to provide for your needs so that you can provide for those of others. From a very young age, there was always conversation about what we now term “DIY” living. Along with this was the idea of owning your education. If you want to learn something, there are resources to teach yourself. Curiosity and desire for growth were instilled as lifelong pursuits. None of this has diminished throughout my life and it is, in large part, the reason I’ve accomplished anything I have.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Painting is a form of thinking. Often, the image of a painter is someone driven by indiscernible forces that is expressive in a primal way. I understand the origin and continuation of this caricature but it does not fit with my experience of painting. The necessary methods and considerations of the physical material of paint are grounding for me. They are a structure within which the exploration of ideas mixes with the practice of a skill. This is a refining action for my ideas. On my own, I paint slowly expanding themes of overlooked subject. I think of the images I paint like a diary and conversation.

It’s not an easy idea to take a personal diary, one that may seem only personally significant, and place it in such a way as to be appreciated by others. But, seeing all art as part of a long conversation connects individual thoughts to a much larger network of ideas. I see this as being a very important part of the pursuit of a meaningful experience both personally and professionally.

I also love the collaboration of murals I work on with my wife under the name Owl&Wren. Being able to combine thoughts in such a way that individual marks become less important than the mutual achievement is a really fun and liberating experience.

In both areas, I am thrilled to bring something of a fun, vibrant, and engaging conversation into the lives of others. Art can really help facilitate connections and that’s always rewarding!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
A great day in Atlanta, for me, would include a tour of galleries like Kai Lin, Marcia Wood, Sandler Hudson, and Whitespace. It would end at the fantastic collection of the High Museum. I love visiting the High Museum alone or with friends. It’s guaranteed to promote interesting conversation!

I also love gardening and the outdoors. The Atlanta Botanical Garden is so lovely. The variety and arrangement is both calming and exciting. Venturing farther north, walks along the Chattahoochee, the Silver Comet Trail, and all the way up to Kennesaw Mountain are worth a trip.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
It’s safe to say that my life, as it is, would not look the way it does were it not for two huge influences. The first, and most significant, is my wife, Ashley. Our relationship has been years of collaborating ideas, sharing adventures, supporting each other through pain, and looking to fill the lives of others with joy. I don’t want to imagine my life without this wonderful partnership! The second is the school that originally brought me to Georgia, the Savannah College of Art and Design. Moving from Minnesota to the South was, of course, a big change. An immersive experience that called upon my own comfort with risk and self-sufficiency and bolstered my approach to life. This is, also, the school at which I now teach and get to encourage this experience in so many students.

Website: wesleyterpstra.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wesley.terpstra/

Image Credits
Yu Kai Lin