ABOUT
BIO
Gaylia Wagner is a postmodern visual artist from the Mid-Atlantic region, currently living in Washington, DC. Her portfolio includes pieces in mixed media, sculpture, digital video, and guerilla art.
Gaylia is the recipient of numerous awards, including DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) Fellowship Program grants, and she has exhibited throughout the United States at locations including Touchstone Gallery in Washington, DC, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading, PA, Peters Valley School of Craft in Layton, NJ, and Monmouth Museum in Lincroft, NJ. Her work is in the permanent collection of private and public institutions, including the DCCAH Art Bank and the law firm of Goulston & Storrs. Commissions include a series of insectoid puppets for the Expressionist opera film Red Flag of the Future.
Gaylia holds a BFA in Product Design with a minor in Art History from Parsons School of Design in New York City, and a BA in English Literature from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA.
STATEMENT
I work primarily in abstract assemblage, creating wall mounted and free-standing sculptures from everyday items – such as recyclables, rubbish, surplus, and thrifted materials – incorporated with traditional media such as tape and paint. I employ a technique called bricolage, meaning that as much as possible I utilize what I already have on hand rather than acquiring new materials for a project. This allows environmental concerns to be the subtext of my work even when not the primary subject. Recent pieces contain items as varied as fabric string handmade from textile scraps, disassembled computer cables, discarded foam and pulp packaging, cardboard from shipping boxes, corrugated plastic from discarded theater props, and shredded dry “paint skin” from puddles of spilled paint.
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SELECTED EXHIBITIONS |
| 2026 |
International Puppet Fringe Festival 2026, New York, New York (official selection) |
| 2025 |
Telephone – an international game of intersemiotic translation for artists (online) Open Road Film Festival, Washington DC (official selection) |
| 2024 |
Iteration Reiteration, Touchstone Gallery, Washington, DC (jurors: Roya Amirsoleymani, Addoley Dzegede, Christopher Kardambikis) |
| 2023 |
Hue, Gallery 44, Frederick, MD Sequence, Touchstone Gallery, Washington, DC (jurors: Maleke Glee, Lauren Leving, Roddy Schrock) |
| 2022 |
DC Art Now 2022, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities’ I Street Gallery, Washington, DC Two-Person Exhibition, Fabricating Order, Howard County Center for the Arts, Ellicott City, MD (with artist Susan Hensel) Wallmountables 2022, DC Arts Center, Washington, DC Sculpture NOW 2022, Harmony Hall Arts Center, Fort Washington, MD (juror: Fitsum Shebeshe) |
| 2021 |
8th Annual Abstract Catalyst, Verum Ultimum Art Gallery, Portland, OR (online, catalogue) 1460 Wallmountables 2021, DC Arts Center, Washington, DC Tamar Hendel Gallery Juried Exhibition 2021, Tamar Hendel Gallery, Silver Spring, MD (online) |
| 2020 |
Newly Juried Artists 2020 Group Exhibition, Torpedo Factory Artists @ Mosaic, Fairfax, VA |
| 2019 |
GoggleWorks 13th Annual Juried Exhibition, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, PA Nuance: Craftsmanship, Imagination, and Innovation, Peters Valley School of Craft, Layton, NJ (catalogue) Lemonade Stand Small Works Juried Exhibit, Lemonade Stand Gallery, Key West, FL Five Points Small Works, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT 40th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ |
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AWARDS / GRANTS |
| 2019 – 2026 |
Grantee, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program, Washington, DC |
| 2025 |
Audience Favorite, Open Road Film Festival, Washington, DC |
| 2023 |
Grantee, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Program, Washington, DC |
| 2021, 2022 |
Grantee, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Relief & Recovery Fund, Washington, DC |
| 2021 |
Semi-finalist, Tamar Hendel Gallery Juried Exhibition 2021, Silver Spring, MD |
| 2020 |
Grantee, CAH-NEA Cares Act, Washington, DC |
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COMMISSIONS |
| 2022 – 2024 |
Commissioned to produce twenty insectoid puppets for the Expressionist puppet opera Red Flag of the Future, Washington, DC |
| 2017 |
Commissioned to produce 50 pieces of original art by the City of Alexandria Office of the Arts for their Community Supported Art (CSA) subscription box, Alexandria, VA |
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COLLECTIONS |
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District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank |
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Goulston & Storrs, Washington, DC |
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BIBLIOGRAPHY |
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Hue, exhibition catalogue, Frederick, MD |
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Mark Jenkins, “In the galleries: Using technology as a medium and an Inspiration,” The Washington Post, February 10, 2023 |
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8th Annual Abstract Catalyst, exhibition catalogue, Portland, OR |
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Nuance: Craftsmanship, Imagination, and Innovation, exhibition catalogue, Layton, NJ |
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PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS |
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Washington Sculptors Group |
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District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington, DC |
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EDUCATION |
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Parsons School of Design, New York, NY, BFA Product Design, Art History minor |
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Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, BA English Literature |