Golden Bees

(2008 - Present)

The Golden Bees is an ongoing body of work created in response to the recent, unexplained disappearance of the Western Honeybee.

The project was started in 2008 and will continue until its completion in 2012. The final installation will be comprised of forty five images. This study addresses the environment, but it is a natural progression from Wilde's past AIDS work. The disappearance of the honeybee and AIDS have a parallel, both are unresolved scientific challenges.

"Seeing only what is fair,
Sipping only what is sweet,
Thou dost mock at fate and care."
Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Source: To the Humble Bee

Liturgical Commission

(2008 - 2010)

Wilde's stylized and meditative work lends itself to religious iconography. Her first liturgical commission for the Chapel of Saint John's Cathedral in Boise, Idaho is made up of four panels. Over a period of eighteen months, Wilde created two large panels referencing the historical imagery of the Nine Orders of Angels and two smaller panels, the doors of the Tabernacle, depicting Archangels Gabriel and Michael. When commissioned, Wilde chose the subject matter, patterns, and colors through research of the importance of symbolism both in subject and imagery of the Catholic faith.

Harmed

(2002 - 2009)

Harmed is about greed and the corporate world. The work started out as a response to idle gossip in Wilde's hometown. This gossip involved a local corporate CEO and his wife misusing their power in the mid 1990's, making national headlines.

Wilde began to conceive of images that would depict the debauchery, the excess, and the glee of those in power as they controlled and manipulated. She also included images portraying those who were the losers in this corporate game and disregarded so easily. The ripple effect of this behavior was, and is terrifying. These corporate deceptions destroyed the lives and financial stability of these individuals. In the end, it is about loss: moral, financial, and maybe most disheartening: loss of faith in the corporate world.

During the seven year period while working on the project Tyco, Enron, and Arthur Anderson all were involved in these corporate fiascos. Now there are successors AIG, Wall Street, the banking system, the three major auto companies, and then the culmination: the Madoff scandal - all misusing positions of power. Those who were hurt most by this behavior are now the ones being asked to carry the burden.

"Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor" ―- Thomas Jefferson

AIDS

(1983 - Present)

For three decades, Wilde has investigated the social impact of the AIDS epidemic. In 1982, her son was born with a rare blood disorder. The parallels between the complications of his disease and AIDS propelled the artist into an unplanned journey.

Her first body of work, Plague Series (1983-1987) explored the parallels between AIDS and the Black Plague, specifically how people live through a time of great numbers dying: reacting with fear, denial, and blame. Six drawing were created that depict our unchanged reactions as humans centuries later when faced with death, sickness, and the unknown.

A second body of work, AIDS in Africa (1987-1990) is about the plight in Africa and the staggering numbers of those infected with AIDS. In 1990, Wilde traveled to Gambia, West Africa to observe the disease firsthand. After returning, she created Slim, a portfolio containing her first color plate etchings.

Her most recent etching project is AIDS Forms the Tally from 2008. Imagery from the suite represents the mounting numbers of those infected, individuals living longer, and ongoing research.

Wilde's work with AIDS is an ongoing process. A limited edition book, Half a Life is in development and is documentation of Wilde's work and the timeline of AIDS.