Erika Wanenmacher uses autobiography and visual storytelling to unravel universal narratives. The New Mexico-based artist’s studio practice is influenced by a punk and DIY ethos, with unexpected materials sourced from thrift stores, dumps, and walks through nearby arroyos—sites where history, memory, and imagination converge. In Wanenmacher's hands, time is cyclical, fragmented, and fluid—mirroring the materials she selects and the intuitive process that defines her work.

what Time Travel feels like, sometimes, is a non-linear allegory in the form of an exhibition, reflecting Wanenmacher’s guiding concepts such as cellular memory, science fiction, consciousness, witchcraft, and the intelligence of nature. The notion of "time travel" serves as a throughline, challenging conventional notions of both time and place.

On view is a selection of paintings, prints, sculptures, videos, and installations from the past seven years. The exhibition features Wanenmacher's latest monumental sculptures, crafted from found glass she gathered during meditative walks in the New Mexico landscape. These pieces of glass possess a distinctive iridescence, their colors forged when glass is buried in the earth over decades or is incinerated with metals. Each shard of aged glass becomes both medium and muse, maintaining links to the land and its pressured past. These artifacts—imbued with histories of utility, abandonment, and metamorphosis—materialize the temporal complexities of her layered process.

Wanenmacher's artistic process is unapologetically intertwined with her spiritual journey. Her works are not mere objects but vessels of intent, made to harbor a transformative power akin to casting spells. For her, art objects made with purpose “carry a resonance that can shift energy, power, and beliefs. Clear intent focused by will and imagination are the components of a spell. I make spells in the form of objects.”

THANK YOU

what Time Travel feels like, sometimes is co-presented by Meow Wolf Inc. and generously supported by the SITE SANTA FE Board of Directors, the SITE SANTA FE Exhibitions Fund, The FUNd at Albuquerque Community Foundation, Emily Goodfellow, Eleanor and Charlton Ames, Susanna Carlisle, and by the many gifts that were made in memory of Bruce Hamilton.

Additional support provided by the City of Santa Fe Arts and Culture Department and the 1% Lodgers Tax; and New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment of the Arts.