AboutAnna Schölch is a Swedish-born, German-raised artist who lives and works in Dallas, Texas. Her large format figurative pastels explore human connection through magical realist imagery. Drawing on personal snapshots for inspiration, she mixes distorted memories of people, animals, and objects to evoke familiar scenes and hidden secrets.
Schölch received her Master of Fine Art from the Institute of Art at New England College and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Illustration from New Hampshire Institute of Art. |
|
My large-scale pastel pieces are about everyday encounters with people that keep me up at night. I replay the conversations and observations in my head and add to them, reimagine them on paper. In the figurative compositions, people glow in ethereal light surrounded by darkness. I digitally collage environments, objects and animals for the portraits, so my pieces become visual poems.
For example, I chop my foot off and hang it in a room with my friends because living so far away from them feels like I only have one foot in the door of their lives. I transport someone to an entryway from my German childhood so his body is breathless in the golden morning light, the way it felt when we danced together. I used to paint myself holding cakes and now paint myself as cakes into other people’s portraits. People don’t look twice at what looks normal and expected but judge differences, so I create this mystery and sometimes a bit of silliness around my people who are unapologetically themselves because I want them to be seen. They are real and honest while their surroundings are distorted and unreal. It is both an elevation and celebration of their uniqueness and at the same time paints them in a normal light. |
CV
Education
MFA Visual Arts
Institute of Art and Design at New England College
2021-2023
Institute of Art and Design at New England College
2021-2023
BFA Creative Writing with Illustration Minor, summa cum laude
New Hampshire Institute of Art
2015-2019
New Hampshire Institute of Art
2015-2019
Exhibitions
2024
The Other Art Fair - New Futures, Dallas Market Hall, Dallas, TX
ART214 Biennial, Bath House Cultural Center, Moody Performance Hall, and Oak Cliff Cultural Center, Dallas, TX
2023
The Spells That Bind Us, Roger Williams Gallery, Manchester, NH
Five Artists in Search of the Future, The Factory on Willow, Manchester, NH
2022
125th Annual Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Open Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2021
5 Artists Face the Future, Brady Sullivan Tower, Manchester, NH
49th Annual Exhibition: Enduring Brilliance, Pastel Society of America, New York, NY
124th Annual Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Open Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2020
18th Biennial, Degas Pastel Society, Covington, LA
28th National Exhibition, Pastel Society of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Renaissance in Pastel, Connecticut Pastel Society, Weatogue, CT
2019
Annual BFA Exhibition, French Hall Gallery, Manchester, NH
2018
Solo Show: Colors of Change, Eye Gallery, Manchester, NH
Go Figure, French Gallery, Manchester. NH
2017
Letters for Hope, Vault Gallery, Manchester, NH
2016
Opera Tosca, Palace Theater, Manchester, NH
2015
LaBelle Winery, Amherst, NH
20 under 20, Blue House Too, Allen, TX
The Other Art Fair - New Futures, Dallas Market Hall, Dallas, TX
ART214 Biennial, Bath House Cultural Center, Moody Performance Hall, and Oak Cliff Cultural Center, Dallas, TX
2023
The Spells That Bind Us, Roger Williams Gallery, Manchester, NH
Five Artists in Search of the Future, The Factory on Willow, Manchester, NH
2022
125th Annual Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Open Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2021
5 Artists Face the Future, Brady Sullivan Tower, Manchester, NH
49th Annual Exhibition: Enduring Brilliance, Pastel Society of America, New York, NY
124th Annual Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Open Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2020
18th Biennial, Degas Pastel Society, Covington, LA
28th National Exhibition, Pastel Society of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Renaissance in Pastel, Connecticut Pastel Society, Weatogue, CT
2019
Annual BFA Exhibition, French Hall Gallery, Manchester, NH
2018
Solo Show: Colors of Change, Eye Gallery, Manchester, NH
Go Figure, French Gallery, Manchester. NH
2017
Letters for Hope, Vault Gallery, Manchester, NH
2016
Opera Tosca, Palace Theater, Manchester, NH
2015
LaBelle Winery, Amherst, NH
20 under 20, Blue House Too, Allen, TX
Awards
New Futures, The Other Art Fair, 2024, Dallas, TX
Flora Giffuni Award, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, 2022, New York, NY
Kenneth Wellner Memorial Award, Pastel Society of America, 2021, New York, NY
2nd place, Go Figure Juried Competition, 2018, Manchester, NH
1st place, Jerry’s Artarama Inktober Contest, 2019, Providence, RI
May Blum Sidore Gruber Scholarship for academic achievement, 2015, Manchester, NH
Flora Giffuni Award, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, 2022, New York, NY
Kenneth Wellner Memorial Award, Pastel Society of America, 2021, New York, NY
2nd place, Go Figure Juried Competition, 2018, Manchester, NH
1st place, Jerry’s Artarama Inktober Contest, 2019, Providence, RI
May Blum Sidore Gruber Scholarship for academic achievement, 2015, Manchester, NH
Publications
Change, 2020. Ayris Creative Arts Journal. Manchester, NH, https://www.ayris.org/change-issue/anna-scholch