Wendelin Glatzel: Taking Flight
/A delicate insect with four translucent wings that hovers and darts in the summer air, and then vanishes. Not a bird, not a plane, but a Dragonfly. This seasonal icon - unlike the dreaded green fly, horse fly or the ubiquitous mosquito (which it feasts on) that imperil our outdoor adventures. - the Dragonfly appears mysteriously, observes its surroundings, flutters its wings like eyelashes and then vanishes.
And why not celebrate this overlooked, seemingly innocuous insect thought artist Wendelin Glatzel when creating this year’s Swim for Life design - a creature with an unclear mission, unlike the heralded workhorse duties of the endangered honeybee. It reflects Wendelin’s mission to be inclusive.Raised in a strict Catholic family with four brothers and one sister in northern Germany near the Dutch border, Wendelin attended a Catholic monastery school - heavy in Greek and Latin and of course, soccer - before heading off to the art academy in Berlin. This was the early 1970s and post-war Germany was not exempt from the volatile changes going on across the globe, particularly the ant-Viet Nam war movement. Wendelin became a conscientious objector and did his civil service in a psychiatric hospital.A job at the premiere art fair Kassel creating video interviews with leading international artists expanded his understanding of art. With a government-funded grant he moved to the US and became a fellow at MIT’s experimental Center for Advanced Visual Studies under the direction of pioneer Otto Piene.
In Boston Wendelin met his wife, artist and writer Kathe Izzo, with whom he had three daughters. Living in New York City, Wendelin started a construction business that took him around the country building commercial retail stores.His home is a private oasis in North Truro, an expansive wet-Spring-fed green lawn that slopes down from a modest two story house with porches and a deck that welcome you to sit and talk and listen to the birds, the ambling dog and operatic background music.“We are all trying to navigate a life of uncertainties,” the artist states. “They invite us to look at ourselves in new ways. It is a lifelong process.” In a chaotic world, painting is Wendelin’s constant, his guide, one that “follows no orders and trends, but instead, moves the brush to make the invisible world visible.”The 26th annual Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla will be held on Saturday, September 7 at the Boatslip Resort. The Celebration of Life Concert will take place the evening before at the UU Meeting House. Beneficiaries include: AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, Helping Our Women, Outer Cape Health Services, Provincetown Rescue Squad, Lower Cape Ambulance, Soup Kitchen in Provincetown, the Academy at Provincetown School and The Compact Community Fund.Business sponsors include: Seamen’s Bank, Lead Sponsor; Provincetown Banner, Media Sponsor; Far Land Provisions; Boatslip Resort; Fanizzi’s Restaurant; Lobster Pot Restaurant; Crown & Anchor; Mussel Beach Health Club; Harbor Hotel and Marc Jacobs. The Swim is also funded in part by the Provincetown Tourism FundFor swimmer, kayak and volunteer information visit, www.swim4life.org.Take the Plunge!Wenedlin will be showing his paintings at Gallery Ehva on Aug 16-27, opening Aug 16, 6-8pm, 74 Shank Painter Rd, Provincetown
