art, design, poetry
book art & design
Recent projects include art design for anthologies and books by poets. I also create artist book mock-ups for my poetry and design occasional broadsides, poetry cards, posters, and other ephemera working with mixed media, monoprinting, letterpress, and collage.
poetry collections & anthologies
Reviews of Reliquary of Debt are available in Grab the Lapels, Portage Magazine and Whale Review. A sincere thank you to the reviewers.
selected writing online
poems
- Bramble Lit Magazine, June 2024
- Spirit Lake Review 2024
- Brain Mill Press, April 2023
- Bramble Lit Magazine, October 2022
- Poets.org, November 2021
- Poemeleon, Summer 2015
- E-Ratio, Winter 2015
- Truck, November 2014
- Museum of Americana, Issue Six (Summer 2014)
- Unsplendid, Summer 2014, Special Issue on Women & Form
- Verse Wisconsin 113-114, April 2014
- Midway Journal, Fall 2013
- New Verse News, Summer 2013
- Literary Bohemian, Summer 2013
- Verse Wisconsin 111, April 2013
- The Museum of Americana, Winter 2013
- Verse Wisconin 109, July 2012
- Mezzo Cammin, Winter 2012
- Prime Number 13, Fall 2011
- Poemeleon, Spring 2010
- Mezzo Cammin, Summer 2009
- qarrtsiluni, 2007 - 2013
essays
- Verse Wisconsin 113-114, 2014, (di)Verse Wisconsin: Community & Diversity, [with Sarah Busse]
- Verse Wisconsin 111, 2013, EveryMom: How—and Why—to Support Wisconsin Writers [with Sarah Busse]
- Verse Wisconsin 110, 2012, swaggacity in the heart land, or the hart that crosses a city street: notes from Hip Hop in the Heartland
- Verse Wisconsin 109, 2012, poetical economy/exchange: kitchens, coffee shops, cluttered tables, communities
- Verse Wisconsin 108, 2012, Our Expanding Dramaverse [with Greer DuBois]
- Verse Wisconsin 106, 2011, Poetic Justice: Books for Troubled Times, A Review-Essay
- Verse Wisconsin 105, 2011, Tradition & the Individual Sonnet, or Listen! Iambic Verse Has Variation
- Verse Wisconsin Main Street Issue, 2011, The Essay That I Begin Writing While Walking to the Wisconsin Capitol Trying to Discern the Right Question, 2/24/11
- Verse Wisconsin 104, 2010, god-xings: belief intersects Wisconsin poetry
interviews
- Profile of Margaret Rozga, Wisconsin People & Ideas, Winter 2019
- Brenda Cárdenas, in Verse Wisconsin 109 (July 2012)
- Kimberly Blaeser, in Verse Wisconsin 107 (November 2011)
- Marilyn L. Taylor, in Verse Wisconsin 105 (March 2011)
- John Koethe, in Verse Wisconsin 104 (Fall 2010)
- Martín Espada, in Verse Wisconsin 103 (Summer 2010)
- Matthea Harvey, in Verse Wisconsin 102 (Spring 2010)
- Todd Boss, in Verse Wisconsin 101(Winter 2010)—excerpt here
- Farrideh Hassanzadeh-Mostafavi, in Eclectica Jan 2009
bio
Wendy Vardaman, PhD, has a day job as a digital media specialist— managing websites, editing, and visualizing data. She holds degrees in structural engineering, English, and graphic design. In addition to being a poet and the author of three published poetry collections, her creative practice includes editing, prose writing, illustration, printmaking, and design. She enjoys learning new skills; exploring materials, media, and tools; doing research; making, mixing, coloring, and collaborating.
With Sarah Sadie she published Verse Wisconsin from 2009 to 2013, created a micro-press called Cowfeather that published seven books including their two co-edited anthologies, and served as Madison poets laureate from 2012 to 2015.
She has a lifelong love of art and volunteers for arts organizations as a designer, artist, and editor. In 2024, she received the Dick Scuglik Memorial Fellowship and residency for writing about art from Write On, Door County.
See a list of creative & academic publications, a resume, or an art & design portfolio for more information and work.
