Degree: Fine Art
University: Arts University Bournemouth
Graduation Year: 2024
Drawing from the spectacle of female statue from ancient Greece and Rome and from mythology, literature and painting from these times, Thea Schultz's paintings aim to reclaim the autonomy of women who have been cast aside as art history’s passive muses. The subjects, radiating in divine golds and pensive blues, exist in worlds of painted allegory, surrounded by both natural and art-historical motifs. The recurring incorporation of lily pads and water in the artworks redefines traditional narratives, presenting these elements as sources of refuge rather than a site of tragedy as we acknowledge them in the infamous ‘Ophelia’ by John Everett Millais. Similarly, motifs of archways are ever-recurring within the paintings, evoking a glimpse of retreat and a place for private existence. Through embedding iconology of European art history into a female haven of nature, the artworks transform the passive female muse into an empowered subject through communion with the land. Schultz’s approach to materials is carefully considered to further reflect her research, opting for fluid mediums that slip around her canvas in spontaneous ways. Schultz creates multiple series of process led ink drawings to develop her image-based research, before re-imagining the potential of these women within the vivid and fluid application.
Drawing from the spectacle of female statue from ancient Greece and Rome and from mythology, literature and painting from these times, my paintings aim to reclaim the autonomy of women who have been cast aside as art history’s passive muses. The subjects within each painting radiate in gold and exist in worlds of painted allegory, surrounded by both natural and art-historical motifs. The recurring incorporation of lily pads and water in the artworks redefines traditional narratives, presenting these elements as sources of refuge rather than a site of tragedy as we acknowledge them in the infamous ‘Ophelia’ by John Everett Millais. Similarly, motifs of archways are ever-recurring within the paintings, evoking a glimpse of retreat and a place for private existence. Through embedding iconology of European art history into a female haven of nature, the artworks transform the passive female muse into an empowered subject through communion with the land.
My approach to materials is carefully considered to further reflect my research, opting for fluid mediums that slip around her canvas in spontaneous ways. I create multiple series of process led ink drawings to develop her image-based research, before re-imagining the potential of these women within the vivid and fluid application.