Chai Wolfman

Hello and nice to meet you! My name is Chai, which is pronounced like the tea but with a K sound.

I am passionate about making paintings that imagine more colorful, connected, and peaceful worlds.

My imagined landscapes draw inspiration from my growing up in Wisconsin and my current life in Chicago, Illinois. Architectural shapes, elements of the forest preserve, and the waves of Lake Michigan often find their way into my work.

Over the years, I’ve developed a painting process that includes countless layers of watercolor, acrylic, and thread. The process of cutting and tearing paintings and stitching them back together is inspired by crazy quilting and the idea that something beautiful can come from the scraps. It can take a long time, but I love the process and the continuing evolution of working in this way. Other motifs such as cityscapes, light strings, roots, and trees all add layers of meaning.

As a woman with identities of queer, Jewish, mother, and someone who tends toward seeing the darker side of things, the world can feel like a hateful place with endless reasons to worry. It would be easy to succumb to apathy or depression, but it is central to all my identities to be intentional about the life I am creating. I embrace practices that help me stay grounded and intentional on a daily basis and my creative practice is a part of that. It is one way that I work to make the world a more loving and beautiful place.

Collectors often say that my work makes them feel inspired, hopeful, and at peace. I am dedicated to bringing about more feelings of connection and encouraging others to consider their place in the community of all things large and small, and in relation to the past, present, and future.

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Since creating the Found Painting Project in 2014, I have been posting small paintings on trees for people to discover and take home. Follow @chaiwolfman and #foundpaintingproject on social media to find out more and see where we've been and where we're going. Click on The Found Painting Project to see images of all the paintings in the project so far.