Artist statement
I have lived a long life and making art has played a significant role in it.Throughout the years, I have used my painting to move me through my disappointments and grief as well as my accomplishments and joy.It is the very process of art making that brings me to a better understanding of myself and a greater appreciation of my life.
I paint from different moments in my life, and my move to Harlem ten years ago has inspired this series of collage paintings. Using the format of a quilt, and African fabrics, paper and paint, I create rich textured compositions reflecting my love of living and working here.
bio
Thea Cohen is an abstract painter who lives and works in NYC.In her early years, she attended the Art Students League and studied drawing and painting. She continued her studies with the figurative and landscape painter Bertram Goodman. In 1974, she received a BA in Fine Arts at Brooklyn College, and in 1979 she received an MA in Art Therapy. For 25 years she used her artistic skills and knowledge of psychology to inspire and motivate disabled and emotionally impaired adolescents in the NYC school system. Upon retirement, she studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Sonia Gectoff, a renowned west coast abstract painter, which prepared her for a career as a full time artist.