DAVID WELLS was raised in rural Wisconsin and received an interdisciplinary degree in cultural analysis before completing an MFA in installation sculpture at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA.  He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally over the past 25 years, individually and in collaborative projects.  He has also been a gallerist, exhibit designer, arts administrator and curator, curating numerous historical and contemporary art exhibitions in both the public and private sectors from Los Angeles to Portland, Maine. Recent exhibitions have been for Idyllwild Arts, Idyllwild, CA; UW-Madison Gallery of Design; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the Dubuque (IA) Museum of Art. Mr. Wells has also created environments for the Madison Symphony Orchestra and concert environments for Madison’s Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society (chamber music) concerts since 1995.  He currently is Executive Director of Edenfred, an interdisciplinary creative arts residency program in Madison, WI.

"I perceive my role as an artist to be a culture creator, bringing multiple contexts to my artworks.
I began this project with ideas about what to do with the violin -paint it, cut it up and reassemble it, turn it into some other kind of sound making device, etc.  Working on it approaching Christmas, I was struck by an off-hand comment by a musician that he was playing 21 out of 30 days in December (in addition to a full time business) and how his part in “The Nutcracker” became very tedious.  This in turn reminded me of how Mark Morris’s reinterpretation of the choreography,  “The Hard Nut,” reinvigorated the work for audiences, though with no changes to the music.  So my piece came to be about holiday imagery and tradition (musical and otherwise). “The Cracked Nut” is a bit of visual humor.  My own little wise-crack to brighten the spirit when Nutcracker season rolls around.”      David Wells