Meet the Fodder School 5 Teachers: Wendy Shragg

Wendy Shragg is a contemporary mixed media artist, designer, instructor, and the illustrator of the multi-award-winning family book Be Nice. The End. Simple Wisdom of the Playground Kids. Her artwork combines painting, collage, photography, digital art, and gel plate printing to create richly layered compositions that celebrate color, texture, shape, and personal storytelling.

One of Wendy's greatest artistic passions is gel plate printing. After discovering the process more than seven years ago, she quickly fell in love with its endless possibilities and now regularly incorporates her handmade gel prints into her mixed media work. She finds inspiration in the everyday—interesting lines, unexpected shapes, architectural details, and the negative spaces that often go unnoticed.

We're excited to welcome Wendy as one of the featured instructors in Fodder School 5, where she'll share both practical techniques and creative approaches that encourage artists to experiment, play, and tell their own stories through mixed media.

Fodder School is an online mixed media art school where artists of every experience level explore collage, art journaling, handmade books, printmaking, painting, and creative techniques from a diverse team of professional instructors. Every lesson offers a new perspective, helping students build confidence while discovering their own unique artistic voice.

Experimentation has always been at the heart of Wendy's creative practice. Rather than striving for perfection, she embraces discovery, allowing each layer to reveal something unexpected. She hopes her artwork encourages viewers to slow down and find moments of surprise hidden within the details.

Throughout her creative career, Wendy has explored many artistic disciplines, each one contributing to the artist she is today. At the center of it all is a belief in the power of creativity to bring people together.

"I will never be too old to play, to learn, and to explore. I dream, I create, and I hope to inspire."

For Fodder Challenge 2025, Wendy is taking a slightly different approach by sharing her Top 10 Tips for Successful Gel Plate Printing. Rather than focusing on a single finished project, these lessons are designed to help artists improve their gel printing skills, whether they're pulling their very first print or already have years of experience. Since gel plate printing appears throughout many Fodder School projects, these practical techniques will become valuable tools you'll return to again and again.

In Fodder School 5, Wendy invites students on a deeply personal creative journey with a special project that unfolds over two months. The first half focuses on creating and curating collage fodder that reflects your own experiences, memories, and interests. Wendy uses her childhood as inspiration, but you'll have the freedom to explore whatever story feels meaningful to you—family memories, treasured places, important life events, or an entirely original theme.

Once you've built your collection of personal imagery and handmade papers, Wendy will guide you through the art of composition, demonstrating how thoughtful layering, arrangement, and visual storytelling can transform individual pieces into a cohesive mixed media artwork filled with meaning.

If you've ever wanted to create art that feels more personal while strengthening your collage and composition skills, Wendy's lessons offer both the technical guidance and creative encouragement to help you get there.

And if you've ever looked at layered mixed media artwork and thought, "I could never create something like that," Fodder School is here to change your mind. We break techniques into approachable lessons, encourage curiosity over perfection, and make mixed media art accessible, inspiring, and incredibly fun.