February 11 - Koo Schadler

Koo Schadler
Egg Tempera Paintings and Silverpoint Drawings
562 Alstead Center Road
Alstead, NH 03602
603.835.2937
www.kooschadler.com
info@kooschadler.com

Biography: Koo Schadler is a popular workshop instructor, and has taught egg tempera and old master painting classes around the US and abroad. Her exquisitely detailed egg tempera paintings and silverpoint drawings are in more than 400 private and corporate collections worldwide, and in the permanent collections of over 10 museums. Schadler is a master painter of the Copley Society of Art in Boston, MA, a board member of The Society of Tempera Painters, and a contributing editor to The Artists’ Magazine. Her work is represented by the Arden Gallery, Boston, MA, J. Cacciola Gallery in New York, NY, and Tree’s Place, in Orleans, MA. Her comprehensive book on egg tempera has been described as “one of the most concise and useful books on the art of egg tempera painting…should be on the bookshelf of every serious artist”. For more information, visit www.kooschadler.com.

Artist’s Statement: I became a painter because of my love for craftsmanship and my love for old master painting. My love for the natural world gives me my subject matter. These inspirations are fundamental, and sufficient to explain all the artwork I produce. Nonetheless I will say a bit more about what I do.

Egg tempera painting consists of three simple ingredients: powdered pigments, egg yolk and water. Paints are made fresh daily and applied to a panel covered with traditional, homemade gesso made from rabbit skin glue and chalk. The paint is applied in very thin, often transparent coats of pure color that dry to the touch within seconds. Scores of layers are needed to build up an image, and the result is a rich and luminous surface of many interacting hues. I finish my egg tempera paintings with oil glazes. When the work is nearly complete I apply several thin coats of oil paint atop the tempera. These glazes saturate and deepen the color and create a richer surface. In spite of the oil-like appearance, my paintings are composed of nearly all egg tempera.

I also work in silverpoint. The ubiquitous pencil (a piece of graphite placed inside a tube of wood) wasn’t an option for a Renaissance draftsman – it hadn’t been invented yet. Instead most early artists learned to draw using a nib of silver stuck in a stylus. Traditional gesso has sufficient tooth and a pleasingly smooth drawing surface, and makes an ideal ground for silverpoint. The gesso is first toned with powdered pigments and then applied to a panel. The silverpoint line is delicate. It cannot be erased. As with tempera, it is generally built up in many, many carefully applied layers.

My artwork gives me the opportunity to quietly observe nature. I place these observations in settings inspired by the work of Northern and Italian Renaissance painters. I borrow liberally from the design of these masters. However the central cast of biblical characters is replaced by birds, bugs, frogs, terrapins, rabbits, or any other “fellow mortal” who endears himself to me. Animals, particularly the quiet and inconspicuous varieties, are among my favorite subjects. They are visually interesting and beautifully patterned; mysterious and unknowable; of infinite value to humans and the world at large. I enjoy placing them at center stage.

I often incorporate lettering into my work. Arrange letters into words and they convey meaning. However letters are also fundamentally visual. Like other artists past and present I am drawn to them because of how they look: strong, straight lines and expressive curves, arranged within the geometry of circles, squares, and triangles. As did medieval manuscript illuminators, I combine letters with the minutiae of nature. The critters and natural creations that adorn our world serve a practical function, for which I am appreciative – but, as with letters, I am equally drawn to them purely for their visual beauty. To me there is nothing as visually well designed as the alphabet, as geometrically pure as a seashell, as visually graceful as a flower, or as decorative as a spotted bunny.

Finally, I do figurative work as well. People do not come naturally arrayed in the wonderful fur, feathers and patterns of the animal kingdom, but the subtleties of flesh, facial expressions and gesturing hands can be equally beautiful. As with the animals, I place my human models in traditional settings. I chose such settings not out of an abstract loyalty to the past, but simply out of love for the great beauty of old master painting. My hope in all my artwork is to convey not only something of the character of the subject, but also to render a purely pleasing feast for the eyes.