ABOUT
Natalie Wargin is a nature and landscape painter based in Cottekill, New York. Her paintings are narratives, each telling a story of the Hudson Valley landscape, focusing especially on the birds and animals that cross her path daily and the sense of inclusiveness in wild nature that these encounters create. Following a move from Chicago to upstate New York she discovered a completely different and surprising environment. Concrete and highrises gave way to woodland and farmland and mountains. The connection Natalie feels to her new home and to all the creatures moving around her not only places her firmly in the wide world but has also taught her to open her eyes and connect.
Her work is influenced by naturalists and nature writers like Henry Beston, Richard Louv, John Muir and John Burroughs, and explores her personal encounters with nature, birds, and animals.
Natalie received a BA in Communications Design from the University of Illinois. She had a graphic design studio in Chicago for over twenty years, working with both corporate and non-profit clients, designing for product and print. She began painting in 2013 and began exhibiting her work in 2017.
STATEMENT
I have entered a world of connectedness, where wildness survives and I live in balance with it. I do not feel like a superior creature. Instead I feel a kinship with all of nature, especially the wild birds and animals. The Hudson Valley landscape has given this to me. This is what I paint.
EXHIBITIONS
2023
88th Annual National Juried Art Exhibition, Cooperstown Art Association, Cooperstown, NY. July 7 - August 11.
Art Of New York, Arkell Museum, Canajoharie, NY. May 12 - July 23.
2022
Solo Exhibition, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY. May 21 - July 5.
Made In New York, Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, NY. March 26 - May 15.
Small Works Juried Exhibition, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY. January 28 - March 13.
2021
Small Works Show, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY. July 30 - September 12.
2020
New Folk, The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, NY. June 13 - November 8.
Art Keeps Us Strong, Banner Project, Woodstock Artists Association, Woodstock, NY. May-June.
Fresh Snow, Honorable Mention Award, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY. February 1 - March 1.
2019
Radius 50, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY. September 7 - September 29.
2018
Radius 50, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY. September 1 - October 7.
Focus: Surveying the Landscape, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY. July 21 - August 26.
2017
A Hudson Valley Journal, Solo Exhibition, Gardiner Public Library, Gardiner, NY. November 14 - December 30.