Alexa Wheeler
gefäße kartenlegung 1, 34 x 12 in
Opening Reception: Friday, September 4th, 5-8pm
"kept + carried" examines how care is inherited, performed, and remembered through the ordinary objects and rituals of domestic life. Drawing from family photographs, German folk traditions, household vessels, and stories gathered through community participation, the work considers the labor historically assigned to women: preserving, nourishing, mending, witnessing, and carrying memory forward. Layered textiles, translucent surfaces, printmaking, embroidery, sewing, and found materials function as an evolving archive where personal histories intersect with collective experience. Architectural forms, fences, jars, utensils, and suspended threads become metaphors for protection, containment, connection, and resilience. Audio recordings gathered through witness extend the work beyond the gallery, inviting visitors to contribute their own stories. Together, these works ask how acts of care become records of belonging that endure across generations.
About Alexa
I am an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and master printer whose work examines care, labor, memory, and the ways personal and collective histories are carried through objects, images, and inherited traditions. Working across printmaking, textiles, photography, artist books, installation, and digital processes, I create layered works that combine silkscreen, monoprint, engraving, transfer, sewing, embroidery, collage, and found materials. Rooted in domestic artifacts, vernacular histories, and inherited traditions, my practice considers how ordinary objects become repositories of care, resilience, and belonging.
Born in Minnesota and raised throughout the United States and Germany, I draw upon family histories, cultural traditions, and personal experience to explore themes of inheritance, identity, and remembrance. Preservation jars, utensils, textiles, household objects, and fragmented photographs recur throughout my work as vessels that carry traces of nourishment, obligation, grief, and hope across generations.
I received a BFA in Printmaking with Highest Honors from Pratt Institute, completed the Tamarind Master Printer Program, and earned an MFA in Electronic Art with Highest Distinction from the University of New Mexico. I have collaborated with numerous print studios, including Pyramid Atlantic Press, Flatbed Press, Jean-Yves Noble Serigraphy, and PaperPress in Germany. Working under my maiden name, Alexa Burns, I am credited as a printer on Richard Serra’s Leo in the National Gallery of Art’s records for Leo Castelli’s 90th Birthday Portfolio. My work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and I am the recipient of a Fulcrum Fund Grant from 516 Arts in New Mexico, supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. I am Principal Lecturer III of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico–Valencia, where I teach printmaking, photography, electronic art, and interdisciplinary studio practice.
Opening Reception, Friday, September 4th, 5:00-8:00pm
Exhibition dates: September 4 – 25, 2026
Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm