"I was deeply touched by your sculpture...It seemed to me like you had this vision of what my life has been and were able to capture the intensity of my being. I am flooded with many different emotions, from memories of losses to anticipation of the future every time I look at it. Your “Embrace” is a vehicle that speaks to us and brings us to voice all of our loves and fears."  - Ed Staal, Racine, Wisconsin

"Wentzell has a wonderful sensibility for the most delicate of natural forms and constructs them in such a way as to suggest analogies to the most delicate parts of human anatomy."  - Diane Levesque, Juror's Statement, UW-Parkside Student Show

About Me

I am sculptor of human emotions. My sculptures are a unique blend of the human figure and the natural world, where the boundaries between humankind and nature blur and dissolve, capturing and exalting
the human experience.   

   The path to my artistic career was not a straight and direct line, but a meandering journey with a destination that revealed itself to me slowly over time. Along the way, I raised a family, and helped to form and grow a family business. My creativity was mostly channeled into my family life, but as my three sons developed their independence my long time interest in art was reawakened. Beginning with a few evening classes, I embarked upon an odyssey which came to envelope me. My quest led eventually to university classes and an art degree at the age of fifty.

   Gaining confidence with experience, and ready to make major changes in my life, we sold our business in Wisconsin and moved to the Florida Panhandle in 2006, with its lush untamed scenery serving as backdrop and inspiration for my work.

    I have always felt a heightened awareness of the natural life around me, which led first to landscape paintings in pastels (which I continue to explore) and eventually to an exploration of the integration of nature with the human (female) form in three dimensions. With clay as my medium for sculpture, my process involves coil built forms, individually modeled and layered with natural stains, oxides and colorants to produce works that are one of a kind.

   Living and working in Port St. Joe, Florida, I feel fortunate to experience a way of life which is slower paced and hearkens back to an earlier and simpler time.