EDUCATION
2025: Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Visual Anthropology; Michigan State University
2018: Master of Arts (M.A.) Appalachian Studies; Appalachian State University
2013: Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Studio Art; Western Michigan University
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS, INSTALLATIONS, AND PUBLIC ART
2025: Threads of Change II, UAB Building, Georgetown, Malaysia
2025: Trashed, Culture WS, Winston-Salem, NC
2025: Chromophobia, Abbotts Creek Community Center, Raleigh, NC
2025: Weight, Florence Thomas Art School, West Jefferson, NC
2025: Wavelengths, Center for Marine Science, Wilmington, NC
2024: Golden Land Project, Jim Thompson Farm, Korat, Thailand
2024: Threads of Change, Warin Lab Contemporary, Bangkok, Thailand
2024: You’re Not Really Seeing This, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL
2023: Trash Cube, Chiang Mai, Thailand
2023: Loom & Doom, Marathon Center for the Performing Arts, Findlay, OH
2022: Loom & Doom, Langley Arts Council, British Columbia, Canada
2022: Loom & Doom, East Lubbock Art House, Lubbock, TX
2022: Loom & Doom, Chenango Arts Council, Norwich, NY
2021: Losing Ground: Endangered Plants of Michigan, Beale Herbarium, East Lansing, MI
2020: UPSIDE DOWN/DOWNSIDE UP, Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Boone, NC
2019: Cambodian Marine Life, Nature Discovery Center, Siem Reap, Cambodia
2018: Birds of Cambodia, Fauna in Focus Nature Discovery Center, Siem Reap, Cambodia
2018: Banyan Tree of Life, Fauna in Focus Nature Discovery Center, Siem Reap, Cambodia
2018: Elephants of Cambodia, Fauna in Focus Nature Discovery Center, Siem Reap, Cambodia
2018: Elephantine & Anthropocene: A Global Timeline, Turchin Center, Boone, NC
2017: From Bangkok to Boone, Looking Glass Gallery, Boone, NC
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026: Mekong Fulcrum, Chiang Rai, Thailand (forthcoming)
2025: Weave the Wave, Central Slovak Gallery, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
2025: AAWS Spotlight, Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts, Winston-Salem, NC
2025: AAWS Fall/Winter Show, Benton Convention Center, Winston-Salem, NC
2025: Threaded: Contemporary Art of Thailand, Turchin Center, Boone, NC
2025: Found & Formed, Pullen Art Center, Raleigh, NC
2025: Climate Matters, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI
2024: Rift Drift, Alien Art Space, Khon Kaen, Thailand
2024: Crafting Appalachia, Floyd Center for the Arts, Floyd, VA
2024: Blue Ridge Fiber Guild Annual Show, Jones House Cultural Center, Boone, NC
2024: Earth First, Floyd Center for the Arts, Floyd, VA
2024: Art Worms Showcase, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Thailand
2022: ArtPrize, Gerald Ford Presidential Library, Grand Rapids, MI
2022: 1.5 Degrees Celsius, MSU Museum, East Lansing, MI
2021: Biophilia, E.E. Ford House, Grosse Pointe, MI
2021: Our Changing Climate, Huron Valley Council of Arts, Huron, MI
2021: ArtPrize, First United Church, Grand Rapids, MI
2021: Utopaphobia, The Green Exchange, Chicago, IL
2020: Catalyst, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
2020: What are You Voting for?, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
ARTIST-LED WORKSHOPS
2025: Community Trash Weaving x Art SHAC, Winston-Salem, NC
2025: Community Trash Weaving x Sawtooth Craft School, Winston-Salem, NC
2025: Community Trash Weaving x Think City, Penang, Malaysia
2025: Community Trash Weaving x Think City, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2025: Community Trash Weaving x SEEK Fellowship, Raleigh, NC
2025: Community Trash Weaving x Florence Thomas Art School, West Jefferson, NC
2024: Trash Weaving Workshop x Jim Thompson Farm, Korat Thailand
2024: Trash Weaving x Warin Lab, Bangkok, Thailand
2024: Trash Phant, Evanston, IL
2023: Mekong Monsters: River Clean-up and Trash Art, Nong Khai, Thailand
2023: (Un)visualizing Elephants: A Photovoice Project, Chiang Mai, Thailand
2023: Eco-Artivism: Weaving with Plastic Against Plastic IV, Chiang Rai, Thailand
2023: Trash Cube, Chiang Mai, Thailand
2022: Eco-Artivism: Weaving with Plastic Against Plastic II, East Lansing, MI
2022: Eco-Artivism: Weaving with Plastic Against Plastic I, East Lubbock, TX
2019: Plastic Project: Southern River Terrapin Installation & Video Art, Siem Reap, Cambodia
SELECTED CURATORIAL WORK
2025: Mekong Voices: Transnational River Justice in Mainland Southeast Asia, Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, MI
2025: Threaded: Contemporary Art of Thailand, Turchin Center, Boone, NC
2018: Creative Democracy: Mountain College, Turchin Center, Boone, NC
2017: Collective Vigilance: Speaking for The New River, Turchin Center, Boone, NC
RESIDENCIES
2024: Jim Thompson Farm, Korat, Thailand
2024: Edgewood Cottage, Blowing Rock, NC
2024: Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
SELECTED FELLOWSHIPS
2024: Raleigh SEEK, Raleigh, NC
2023: STEAMPower, East Lansing, MI
2022: Michigan State University Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, East Lansing, MI
2020: University of Wisconsin Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, Madison, WI
COLLECTIONS
Work is held in a variety of private and public collections, including the City of Raleigh, North Carolina; Jim Thompson Foundation; Kuiburi Bring Home the Elephant Project; Michigan State University; Grand Valley State University; and University of North Carolina-Wilmington.
REPRESENTATION
Wagner is represented internationally by Warin Lab Contemporary in Bangkok, Thailand; and in the United States by Artfolios in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
AFFILIATIONS
2025-present: Piedmont Craftsmen, Winston-Salem, NC (board member)
2023-present: Mekong Art Worms Collective, Thailand (founding member)
2018-2021: Fauna in Focus (board member)
2017-present: Blue Ridge Fiber Guild (committee member)
SELECTED PRESS
2025: Penang Monthly: “Weaving Waste Into Art”
2025: Broad Art Museum: “Mekong Voices”
2025: Kiri Post: ”Mekong Voices to Resonate in Anthropological Art Exhibition in Michigan”
2025: Mekong School: ”From Baan Had Bai to the International Stage: Tai Lue Weavers featured in Mekong Voices art exhibit at Michigan State University”
2025: Malay Mail: “Turning trash into art: KL's Bandar Tun Razak community learns from an American eco-artist”
2025: The Star: “US-based artist brings plastic weaving craft to KL public housing communities”
2025: Warisan KL: “Trash Weaving in Downtown KL”
2025: Watauga Democrat: “NRC, Florence Thomas Art School hosting 'Keepers of the New' event”
2025: Mountain Times: “First Friday: Kelsey Merreck Wagner”
2024: Jim Thompson Farm: “Golden Land Project”
2024: Bangkok Post: “Art highlights at Jim Thompson Farm”
2024: Bangkok Post: “Weaving a Greener Future”
2024: Burnaway: “In the Studio with Kelsey Merreck Wagner”
2024: The Visualist: “Kelsey Merreck Wagner: You’re Not Really Seeing This”
2024: Warp and Weft Magazine: “Field Notes: Kelsey Merreck Wagner”
2024: Michigan State University: “Ph.D. Candidate Kelsey Merreck Wagner Featured in Exhibit”
2024: Bangkok Art City: “Threads of Change”
2024: Watauga Democrat: “New Turchin Center exhibit, Fiber Art Gallery First Friday Art Crawl”
2022: Michigan State University: “Kelsey Merreck Wagner: Human-environment relationships and art as activism”
2018: Fauna in Focus: “Cambodia's Plastic Terrapin (Say No To Plastic!”
2018: Phnom Penh Post: “Nature in focus at inaugural film and photo festival”
2018: Appalachian State University: “Kelsey Merreck Wagner: The Elephantine in the Anthropocene”
2018: Watauga Democrat: “Gallery Times”
2018: Carolina Mountain Life: “Elephantine in the Anthropocene”