Thomas W. Schaller

"Chiesa del Purgatorio" - Watercolor of Church in Cefalu in Sicily Italy

2020

Thomas W. Schaller is an award-winning artist, architect, and author based in Los Angeles. As a renowned architectural artist, he received a Graham Foundation Grant and was a two-time recipient of the Hugh Ferriss Memorial Prize. His work is collected world-wide and is part of a number of permanent collections including The Johhan Museum: Shanghai: The Watermark Museum; Fabriano: The Tchoban Foundation; Berlin: The Pacific Arts Foundation; Newport Beach, The Museum of Watercolor, Mexico City. His artwork has been featured in prestigious International Watercolor Masters exhibitions in over twenty countries. He received the Abu Rawash Masters Award in 2019 and in 2017, he was a finalist for the Lynx Prize for Contemporary Art; Trieste. His paintings and writing have been featured in many books, magazines, and arts publications including The Artist Magazine, Watercolor Artist, Southwest Art, The Art of Watercolour, Practique des Arts, Los Angeles Magazine, International Artist, and a series of the books, Splash: the Best of Watercolor by North Light Books from 2011 - 2020. A Signature Member of many arts organizations including the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, Tom was recently elected to the International Masters of Watercolor Alliance, and to the receive Master Signature Status by the California Watercolor Association. Thomas writes, "In many ways, why we paint is more important than what or how we paint. What we create is more than just something we do, it expresses who we are. My work is a study in contrasts: light and dark, vertical and horizontal, warm and cool, the real and the imagined, and elements of the past, present, and future. I design with conflicting elements - allowing them to find balance and resolution on the surface of the paper in unexpected and expressive ways. I try never to paint just what I look at, but rather how I interpret my responses to the world I see around me and within. The results are reflections of my attempt at becoming more fully present in the creative process. And I invite you to take part in this process - not to listen to any potential narrative of mine, but to help you to find and develop the artistic voice that is yours alone."