THEA WEISS
Australian based artist, Thea Weiss, was born in Denver, Colorado.
Her early passions were fashion and journalism and she graduated from Parsons The New School for Design (formerly Parsons School of Design) in New York (1972).
Thea received a Scholarship from Parsons to represent the School at the prestigious Central Saint Martins (formerly St Martin's School of Art) in London (1973), which culminated in a 20 year career in fashion illustration and writing.
An interest in fine arts led to her return to university in Sydney for a BFA in painting (2006) at the National Art School and an MA in printmaking at UNSW Art & Design (formerly COFA), graduating in 2012.
Thea has been a member of Sydney Printmakers for many years and has exhibited with them at Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Gallery Lane Cove and around regional Australia.
Thea has had solo exhibitions in Jewish and Holocaust museums in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, Wellington, New Zealand and in the U.S. in Richmond, Virginia and Houston, Texas. Her prints have been exhibited in group shows in Australia, China and Taiwan.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Thea is a studio-based printmaker and painter. Her printing methods concentrate on etchings, both on zinc and caustic soda on linoleum. Her paintings utilise encaustic and oils on wafer board.
Nature has had a meditative effect on Thea. She is drawn to the natural world, in particular, trees - seeking out and examining the trunks
and the personality each one reveals. The absence of bark on White Flooded Gum may represent the loss of memories or life; peeling back the multiple, dense layers of the Paperbark can unleash a history of emotions. For her, the roots of the tree hark back to stability and a place in time. These same roots reflect her connection with the heritage of her Jewish American mother and Czech born, Holocaust survivor, mother-in-law.
Roots reach out for sustenance and nourishment in the same way that these relationships have enriched her life.
