Wilson, Wendell E.
Wendell Eugene Wilson was born in Minnesota in 1946, and began collecting minerals in 1956. A life-long artist, he studied at the Minneapolis Institute of Art while still in high school and began selling his artworks as a young teenager. He won numerous awards in art, including first place in a statewide cartooning competition in 1959. In college he pursued a double-major in Fine Art and Geology at the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1969. He earned his M.S. in Mineralogy (1972) from Arizona State University, while field-collecting extensively in Arizona's many abandoned mines and famous mineral localities. After obtaining his PhD in Mineralogy (1976) from the University of Minnesota, he was hired by the Mineralogical Record as full-time Editor and eventually rose to the positions of Editor-in-Chief, Publisher and corporation CEO.
In addition to collecting minerals, Wilson has built substantial collections of mining artifacts of all kinds, and published four books on antique miners' lamps, containing hundreds of hand-drawn pen-and-ink illustrations of miners' oil-wick “frog” lamps, candleholders, and carbide cap lamps. Some of his collectibles appear as props in his paintings of underground scenes. His first mineral painting appeared on the cover of the November-December 1972 issue of Mineralogical Record. His series of fantasy mineral-collecting scenes now numbers 14, and he has produced numerous specimen portraits in oil on canvas, watercolor, India ink and mixed media, as well as a number of highly detailed mining still life paintings in oil on canvas, oil on copper, and India ink.
Over the years Wilson has continued to produce artworks regularly as time permits. He has published over 1,000 mineral and mining artworks, and over 6,500 mineral photographs. His publications include over 270 journal articles in mineralogy, over 400 shorter works (book reviews, etc.), and nearly 2,000 biographies of mineralogists and other people in the mineral world. He also founded the Antiquarian Reprint Series as a method of preserving and distributing very rare, early illustrated mineral books, featuring mineral art from before the age of photography.
The new mineral species wendwilsonite was named in his honor in 1987; he was elected a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America in 1989; he was presented with the Carnegie Mineralogical Award for 2001 (“in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of mineralogy”); and his mineral collection won the Paul E. Desautels Memorial Trophy (the highest honor in mineral collecting) in 2013. Wilson continues to publish the Mineralogical Record and to write about, paint, research, photograph and collect minerals in Tucson, Arizona (e-mail: minrecord@comcast.net).
References:
Mitchell, R. S. (1988) Who's who in mineral names: Wendell Eugene Wilson, Jr. and Ignacio Domeyko. Rocks & Minerals, 63, 400-402.
Robinson, S. (1987) Mineral art today. Rocks & Minerals, 62, 328-343.
Robinson, S. (1987) Of mines and men: a look at art that depicts mining. Rocks & Minerals, 64, 476-495.
The Great Tsumeb Azurite Pocket
Watercolor and prismacolor pencil on art paper, 9 x 12 inches (1983). From the artist’s “Fantasy Underground Collecting Scenes” series. A small number (less than 10) of hand-colored prints were produced. Xerographically reproduced as signed and numbered prints on cotton paper, edition of 200, distributed with the 1984 Mineralogical Record Christmas card. Copyright 1983 Wendell E. Wilson.
The Great Tsumeb Dioptase Pocket
Watercolor and prismacolor pencil on art paper, 9 x 12 inches (2002). From the artist’s “Fantasy Underground Collecting Scenes” series. A variation on “The Great Tsumeb Azurite Pocket” produced at the request of Bob Cook; published with his “Connoisseur’s Choice” column in the May-June 2002 Rocks & Minerals. Copyright 2002 Wendell E. Wilson.
Why Chinese Cinnabar is So Expensive
Watercolor and prismacolor pencil on art paper, 9 x 12 inches (2004). From the artist’s “Fantasy Underground Collecting Scenes” series. Xerographically reproduced as signed and numbered prints on cotton paper, edition of 250, distributed with the 2004 Mineralogical Record Christmas card. Also published in the January-February 2005 Rocks & Minerals, and utilized by Martin Zinn (who purchased the original) for his 2005 Tucson Show advertising. Copyright 2004 Wendell E. Wilson.
Fantasy at San Pedro Corrallitos
Watercolor and prismacolor pencil on art board, 11 x 14 inches (1991). From the artist’s “Fantasy Underground Collecting Scenes” series. Painted on commission from Martin Zinn and reproduced by him as a poster for the 1992 Springfield Show. Copyright 1991 Wendell E. Wilson.
Ambigram for ”Mineralogy & Art”
India ink on paper, 8 x 8 inches (2003). An ambigram is a word written in such a way that it reads the same up-side-down as it does right-side-up. In this case each of the three components (Art, +, and Mineralogy) is an ambigram individually, although strictly speaking the whole composition is not, because it reads “Art + Mineralogy” one way and “Mineralogy + Art” when viewed up-side down (see figure below).
“Blue-Cap” Elbaite rom the Tourmaline Queen Mine, California
India ink on paper (1973), commissioned by Bill Larson for his ad, based on a specimen he collected. Published in Mineralogical Record. vol. 4, no. 2, page 83.
Elbaite from the Himalaya Mine, California
India ink on paper (1977), commissioned by Bill Larson for his ad, based on a specimen in his collection. Published in Mineralogical Record. vol. 8, no. 4, page 285.
Wulfenite from the Red Cloud Mine, Arizona
India ink on paper (1972), commissioned by Gene Schlepp for his ad, based on a specimen in the Smithsonian collection. Published in Mineralogical Record. vol. 3, no. 5, page 240.
Rob Lavinsky, Wendell Wilson, and Susan Robinson.