April Werle

b. 1995, USA

April Werle is a narrative painter based in Missoula, Montana, whose work explores mixed-race identity, family, and belonging. Her recent solo exhibitions include Secret Life of a Multicultural Couple, Bell Projects, Denver, CO; Halo-Halo: The Mixed Children, ZACC, Missoula, MT; and Mga Hunghong Sa Diwata (Whispers of Spirits), Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT. 

Werle is the recipient of the Emerging Artist Residency at Centrum Foundation (2024). She was honored with the Creative West BIPOC Artist Fund Award (2024), the Montana Arts Council Strategic Investment Grant (2023), and the Montana Arts Council ARPA Grant (2022). Werle’s work has been published in Create! Magazine, New Visionary Magazine, and Mahalaya.

  • April Werle paints tableaus of black-and-white hands acting out quotes from intimate, everyday scenes of her mixed Filipino American family. Her autobiographical work narrates how culture is internalized and negotiated by mixed-race individuals and multicultural families through small, impactful moments. Werle sets scenes with visual metaphors—displacing hands from their roots, combining brown stain and whitewash, and perpetually other-ing her rendered characters from their simplified, colorful, and tactile environments.

  • 2024 Mixed Messages April Werle: “I forced myself to feel things, getting used to those parts of myself again”

    2024 Artwork Archive Why This Artist's "Hands-on" Depiction of Mixed Race Stories is So Powerful

    2024 Art Squat Magazine Issue 9, Featured Artist: April Werle

    2024 Mahalaya Between Manila and Montana: April Werle’s artistic exploration of mixed-race identity, belonging, and family

    2024 Montana Arts Council’s State of the Arts Painter: April Werle

    2023 New Visionary Magazine Issue 8

    2023 Creatr Storytelling Through Art: April Werle on Cultural Identity and Artistic Practice

    2023 Bold Journey Meet April Werle

    2023 CanvasRebel Meet April Werle

    2023 Kapwa Magazine In Her Hands: Q+A with Artist April Werle

    2023 Missoulian Missoula Artist Explores Mixed Racial Identity in New Paintings

    2023 Americans for the Arts Interview with April Werle

    2021 Partially Pinoy Episode 9: Filipino Montanan Artist and Muralist

    2021 The Filipino American Woman Project Episode 094: Unpacking the intersectional experience of being a mixed Pinay with April Werle

    2019 Missoulian Monday’s Montanan: April Werle Brings International Mural Experience to Missoula

    2019 American Vulgaria The Art and Identity of April Werle

  • Solo Exhibitions
    2024     Secret Life of a Multicultural Couple, Bell Projects, Denver, CO
    2023     Halo-Halo: The Mixed Children, Zootown Arts Community Center, Missoula, MT
    2022 Mga Hunghong Sa Diwata (Whispers of Spirits), Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT

    Selected Group Exhibitions
    2024     Co-Flourish Touring Exhibition by Open AIR, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT
    2023     Acts of Liberation, The Other Art Fair LA, Santa Monica, CA
    2023 Identity, Allez!, Missoula, MT
    2023 Spiritual Visions, The Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery, Saint Louis, MO
    2023 Co-Flourish Touring Exhibition by Open AIR, Hockaday Museum, Kalispell, MT
    2023 Co-Flourish Touring Exhibition by Open AIR, Mondak Heritage Center, Sidney, MT
    2022 Imaging the Sacred, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT
    2022 Co-Flourish Touring Exhibition by Open AIR, Schoolhouse History & Art Center, Colstrip, MT
    2021 Colfax Canvas, The People's Building, Aurora, CO
    2021 Feeling Welcome, Zootown Arts Community Center, Missoula, MT
    2021 Montana Medley, Art Mobile of Montana
    2020 The Current Condition: Visions of the Contemporary West, Art Mobile of Montana
    2020 Grounded in Modern Abstraction, Aquila Projects, Irvine, CA
    2018 Exist in Color, Dimebox Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
    2018 While Supplies Last Pop Up, Studio E Gallery, Seattle, WA
    2017 Flesh & Food, University Center Gallery, Missoula, MT
    2016 Studio Lanjutan Catan, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Perak, Malaysia

    Art Fairs
    2023     The Other Art Fair LA, Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, CA

    Selected Awards
    2024     Emerging Artist Residency, Centrum
    2024 BIPOC Artist Fund Award, Creative West
    2023 Strategic Investment Grant, Montana Arts Council
    2023 Honorable Mention Award, The Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery
    2023 Museum As Megaphone Residency, Missoula Art Museum
    2022 Arts Missoula Star Award, Arts Missoula
    2022 BIPOC Artist Grant, KALICO Art Center
    2022 ARPA Grant, Montana Arts Council
    2020 CoLab:MT+ Residency, Open AIR

    Selected Bibliography
    2024 Create! Magazine, Issue 47
    2024 Artwork Archive, Why This Artist's "Hands-on" Depiction of Mixed Race Stories is So Powerful
    2024 Art Squat Magazine, Issue 9
    2024 Mahalaya, Between Manila and Montana: April Werle’s artistic exploration of mixed-race identity, belonging, and family
    2024 Montana Arts Council: State of the Arts, Winter Issue
    2023 New Visionary Magazine, Issue 8
    2023 Kapwa Magazine, In Her Hands: Q+A with Artist April Werle
    2023 Americans for the Arts, Interview with April Werle
    2023 Missoulian, Missoula Artist Explores Mixed Racial Identity in New Paintings
    2021 Partially Pinoy, Episode 9: Filipino Montanan Artist and Muralist
    2021 Missoulian, 'Feeling Welcome' Murals and Art Show Spotlight Underrepresented Voices
    2021 The Filipino American Woman Project, Episode 094: Unpacking the intersectional experience of being a mixed Pinay with April Werle
    2020 Missoulian, Mural Alley Showcases BIPOC Art in Downtown Missoula
    2020 American Vulgaria, The Art and Identity of April Werle
    2019 Missoulian, Monday’s Montanan: April Werle Brings International Mural Experience to Missoula

    Artist Talks/Visits
    2024 Asian Student Interracial Association, Montana State University

    Education
    2017     BFA, University of Montana
    2016 Study Abroad, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Perak, Malaysia