Artist Statement
There is potential in what might otherwise be discarded. Reinterpreting, editing, reconstructing—this ethical repurposing of materials and narratives drives my creative process.
Working rhizomatically across materials and disciplines, I follow questions wherever they lead: I mull watercolors from mineral pigments - the same crystals as the beads I stitch into my weavings - and trail them across cotton paper, the same fiber as the threads with which I warp my loom. I salvage my old paintings, rediscovering moments worth saving in experiments and styles I’ve outgrown. Rather than discarding these forgotten works, I create jewelry and collages from their bones. Retelling stories, both ancient and my own, I make meaning through a kaleidoscopic understanding of our natural world, history, and present context. My process is nonlinear: One material suggests another. One question births several more. I’ve learned to surrender to my intuition and trust the path these connections forge.
My work seeks resonance over resolution. Its abstract nature invites viewers to layer their own interpretations, memories, and retellings. By sharing our stories, we validate ourselves and others. What began as a practice of slowing down and returning to myself has become a practice of building community and resisting the pressure to settle.
At the core of this practice is an impulse to forage and deconstruct that which appears whole: finished paintings; familiar tales; photos, diaries, and poems that document seasons of girlhood and matrescence lived by my former selves. I unmake existing forms to understand their origins and structures; then rebuild, transforming and recontextualizing them into forms new yet reminiscent, still holding the potential to evolve.
Bio
Mindy Wara (b. 1986) is an AuDHD artist, writer, designer, and educator based in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Education, with emphases in creative writing, literary analysis, and theatre. After years of working as a teacher, social justice advocate, and nonprofit marketing director, Wara returned to her creative practice in 2020, when, after the loss of two family members during the pandemic, she was forced to slow down and was reminded that tomorrow isn't guaranteed. Her work has been exhibited locally and nationally and featured in Neurokind Magazine, HNDL Magazine, and Neighbors of Windsor DeForest Magazine.
Working across watercolor, fiber, multimedia collage, wearable art, and writing, Wara draws on personal archives, ancient myths and legends, and natural materials to explore the patterns that connect personal memories and experiences to our natural world, history, and present context. Her process is guided by ethical repurposing, both materially and narratively, seeing potential in what might otherwise be discarded and in deconstructing distinctions between finished/unfinished, art/craft, personal/political.
While still in lockdown and exploring her recent AuDHD diagnosis, Wara co-founded the Neurodivergent Artist-Mother Collective, an online community that celebrates and supports the shared experiences of neurodivergent artists navigating creative careers and parenthood. She also applies creative storytelling to her design and education work with mental health organizations, amplifying issues surrounding neurodivergence and perinatal mental health. She has taught workshops on mindfulness through intuitive painting at the 2025 NeuroNest Retreat; spoken on the power of storytelling as a plenary speaker at the 2022 Alliance for Innovations on Maternal Health (AIM) conference; served as a guest expert on webinars including Tuesday Tea with Touchstone and AIM's Technical Assistance Presentation (TAP) Series; and written for The Touchstone Institute, Mom's Mental Health Initiative, Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care, and contributed to Ember: A Creative Workbook for Mothers. Her creative approach to advocacy earned her a 2022 ATHENA Award nomination.