April Werle (b. 1995) is a narrative painter based in Missoula, Montana, exploring identity formation by reimagining memories of grief, anxiety, and cultural and racial awareness through a distorted, nostalgic lens.

Werle’s recent solo exhibitions include I Live With a Ghost, PlatteForum; My Other Half, The Chase Gallery; and Secret Life of a Multicultural Couple, Bell Projects. Her work has also been featured in the Montana Museum of Art and Culture, The Holter Museum of Art, and Missoula Art Museum.

Werle was selected as a PlatteForum Artist-in-Residence and for the Emerging Artist Residency at Centrum Foundation. She was honored with the Creative West Artist Fund Award, as well as the ARPA Grant and Strategic Investment Grant from the Montana Arts Council. Werle’s work has been published in Create! Magazine, New Visionary Magazine, and Mahalaya.

Solo Exhibitions
2026 (forthcoming) Our Sometimes Home, Glacier Art Museum, Kalispell, MT
2025 I Live With a Ghost, PlatteForum, Denver, CO
2025 My Other Half, Chase Gallery, Spokane, WA
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
2026 Mixed Feelings: Existing in the Space Between, Brea Gallery, Brea, CA
2025 Brown Palms, Yellow Balms: Reinventing Caregivers of Color, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA; curated by O.M. France Viana
2025 19 Under 39, Montana Museum of Art and Culture, Missoula, MT
2024 - 2022 Co-Flourish Touring Exhibition by Open AIR
2023 Acts of Liberation, The Other Art Fair LA, Santa Monica, CA; curated by Taylor Bythewood-Porter
2022 Imaging the Sacred, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT

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

Selected Awards
2025 Artist-in-Residence, PlatteForum
2024 Emerging Artist Residency, Centrum
2024 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 State of the Arts, Winter Issue. Montana Arts Council
2023 New Visionary Magazine, Issue 8

Selected Artist Talks/Visits
2025 Artist Talk, 19 Under 39 Exhibition, Montana Museum of Art and Culture
2024 Keynote Speaker, Asian Student Interracial Association, Montana State University

Education
2017 BFA, University of Montana