Artist's Statement

“My work is embedded in memories and experiences, growing up in the rural area of northwestern Oklahoma. I am proud of my upbringing and pioneering roots. I am driven to express myself and record these subjects in bronze and pastel.”

Venosdel was raised on a small farm in Oklahoma where the land run of 1893 rooted her family. She took a painting class from a local artist at the age of eight and knew then she wanted to become an artist.

Not realizing her dream until in her sixties, Venosdel has accomplished much in a very short time. Among the many highlights of her career are; the placing of a sculpture of Chief Set-T’ainte in the Fort Sill Indian Journey Museum, Lawton, Oklahoma; Being a Featured Artist’s Show at the Museum of Western Art, Kerrville, Texas; Participating in a three-woman Show at The Carriage Factory Art Gallery, Newton Kansas; The unveiling of a sculpture at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Hot Springs, Arkansas; Being selected instructor at 35th Western Art Academy, Schreiner University; And a solo Exhibit unveiling of Marshal McCully at the Sod House Historic Site Museum.

As a founding member of Preserving Arts in the Osage, Venosdel has helped organize and bring fine art shows to Pawhuska; helped establish the Ole’#1 FireHouse Arts Center; volunteered many hours to education, mentoring, and worked on the larger-than-life size monument of actor Ben Johnson for Bronze Horse Foundry, in Pawhuska.

Venosdel has taught sculpting at Echota Arts, Oklahoma Sculpture Society, the Sod House Museum, Tallgrass Art School, and the in the rotunda of the Woolaroc Museum near Bartlesville…greeting visitors from all over the world.

Venosdel has exhibited in five National Parks Historic Sites and Museums and two sculptures are part of permanent Collections at Fort Sill and Sod House. Her work has been exhibited in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Maryland, California, Arizona, and Colorado.