Overview
| First Name | Koo |
| Last Name | Schadler |
| Nickname | koo |
Basic Info
| Website | |
| Language | English |
Work and Education
| Genre | Animal portraiture, Figurative, Flower painting, Landscape, Portrait, Still life |
| Education | Private Atelier, Self-taught, University, Workshops |
| Work | Full-time |
| Sell | Galleries |
| Teach | Online, Workshops |
Details About You
| About You | Koo Schadler graduated from Tufts University in 1984 with a summa cum laude BA in Art History. After taking a history of painting workshop with artist Chester Arnold, then 3 years studying oil painting with Numael and Shirley Pulido, she became a full time artist. She is primarily self-taught in her main mediums of egg tempera and metalpoint. She also works in oil, casein, acrylic, and wood-working. Schadler has been a master painter of the Copley Society of Art, a board member of The Society of Tempera Painters, a contributing editor to The Artists’ Magazine, and is an egg tempera consultant on the MITRA forum. She has taught art workshops around the US and abroad for over 25 years. Her book Egg Tempera Painting, A Comprehensive Guide, has sold to artists in 49 US states and 34 countries; her book The Art and Craft of Metalpoint Drawing will be published in 2026. Her paintings and drawings are in more than 400 private, corporate and museum collections worldwide, including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Philadelphia Athenaeum, and the Huntington Museum of Art, WV. From her New Hampshire studio she continues to produce, write and teach painting and drawing, and how to incorporate traditional methods into 21st century art. |
| Artist Statement | I became an artist because of my love for beauty, craftsmanship and traditional working methods. My love of the natural world gives me subject matter. These inspirations are fundamental to my work. My primary mediums are egg tempera paint and metalpoint; both are developed gradually, through many, many thoughtfully applied layers. I am suited to the meditative, persistent layering required by these mediums. I approach my work as an opportunity to observe nature. I place my observations within designs inspired by old master imagery – not out of blind loyalty to the past, but rather simply from a life long love for an old-fashioned visual language. I believe the traditional visual language originates in the natural world. My central cast of characters includes birds, bugs, terrapins, rabbits and other “fellow mortals” – particularly quiet and inconspicuous types – who endear themselves to me. Animals are visually interesting and beautifully patterned, mysterious and unknowable, of infinite value. I like placing them center stage. I also enjoy portraiture, especially children because of their archetypal geometry. My goal as a painter is to respectfully convey something essential about my subjects as well as make a purely pleasing feast for the eyes. I am trying, as best as I’m able, to create unaffected, beautiful imagery. |