24. March - 21. April 2024
Oda Walendy.
SEIDENMALEREI /
SILK PAINTING
We invite you to the opening on
Sunday, the 24th of Märch 2024 at 4 p.m.
Oda Walendy comes from a family that made textiles for generations. Materials and fabrics were fixed and at the same time fascinating concepts from early childhood. However, her own creative sense also emerged very early on and it was clear from her childhood that she wanted to be a painter and nothing else.
Nevertheless, after studying free painting with Jo Strahn in Düsseldorf (1904 - 1997), it took some necessary detours and intermediate stops to find her actual subject and theme. Oda Walendy completed her studies as a qualified designer in 1967 at the Krefeld Textile Engineering School and worked for a few years as a designer in the Krefeld textile industry.
In Krefeld, the former city of velvet and silk, she discovered her own fascination with silk. During the training at the textile engineering school, she had the opportunity to experiment with the color samples developed by the textile chemists, including for silk. Oda Walendy realized that she was breaking new ground. There were no textbooks, guidelines or role models. Historically, silk painting existed in China, but it was a completely different pasty technique.
For Germany, Oda Walendy was to become a pioneer of this profession. From 1977 onwards she had the courage and security and became self-employed as a freelance artist and textile designer with silk painting. An appearance on Robert Lembke's popular television show "What am I?" in 1982 brought the professional breakthrough.
With the industrial production of colors for silk painting at about the same time, there was a real hype, which, however, also produced a lot of questionable and kitsch things and gave silk painting the later image of “housewife art”. Oda Walendy has always distanced herself from this. Her preoccupation with philosophy and Zen Buddhism, basic artistic skills and self-image as a painter, but also sound technical expertise became the basis of her personal and unmistakable style.
From 1977 onwards, Oda Walendy realized a large number of exhibitions and projects at home and abroad. Important stops included South Africa, the USA, England, Japan, but also the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland.
A sentence from Oda Walendy, with which she outlines her creative credo, makes this exhibition so relevant and necessary, especially at this time
“I strive for harmony in my painting. Harmony means a lot to me, but especially joy. With my work I want to show the beauty, everyone knows about the difficulties.”