Artist: Thea Schrack
Title: Sunken Garden, Filoli
Edition Size: 195
Medium: Giclee on Sumerset Paper
Image Dimensions: 15.75" x 39"
About the Art: Thea spent her childhood on a Nebraska wheat ranch where she experienced the solitude inherent in Mid Western landscape. There she also developed a sensibility for the light, at times, subtle and frequently dramatic, that plays across the land. Formal studies in Colorado and San Francisco, gave her the vehicles with which to express her impressions of nature. Her original intent upon completion of her art education was to pursue fashion photography, but it wasn't long before she found herself far from that goal and involved in photographing historical monuments. Various cameras, films and camera techniques have been employed by the artist to balance the actual with the ever changing and to capture the essence of her subject matter. Thea's hand is present in the entire process of creating her photographs. She develops all her film. Then by adding sepia tones and fragile colors with oil paints to her photographs she enhances the images. Ultimately her photographs contain an aura of mystery and other worldliness. The preciseness of photography is artfully interpreted to the point where reality and imagination converge. Thea Schrack has photographed numerous estate gardens around the world; among them are Hitcote Manor Garden, England, Allerton Estate, Kaui, and Burchart Gardens, B.C.