Catori. Theresa Reuter, artist
By Gina Malone
As a young art school graduate, Theresa Reuter got a job in the advertising field illustrating vegetables and flowers for the Harris Seed Company. It was a great start for her, she says, but she knew that it wasn’t what she wanted to do long-term. “I looked into teaching because when I was in college I was asked to take my portfolio to a group of high school students to inspire them to come to art school, and I remember how fun it was to see them light up when I showed them my work,” she says. She had discovered her own love for art in an oil painting class when she was seven years old, and thereafter art classes in school were her favorite times, especially in high school. “I had a special desk that was just mine in the art room,” she says. She fed her creative urge by writing poetry and spending a lot of time in nature.
Signs of Spring. Theresa Reuter, artist
“I realized at some point that I was motivated to capture the life within the subjects that I was drawing or painting,” Reuter says. “I did a series of trees my senior year in college and I painted them without leaves in order to see the structure and growth patterns in the branches and trunks, like they were reaching or spiraling towards the sky. For many years, the feeling of movement has seemed to appear naturally in my work.”
After going back to college for her master’s, she got a job in the school district where she had received her own education. She taught for two years at the high school level before being asked to turn around the elementary school program that was in a bit of disarray. “I was scared to death,” she says. “600 students in a four-day rotation. The room was a mess when I got there, but I cleaned it up and that turned out to be an amazing experience. The kids were delightful and would applaud every time I did a demonstration and they were always so excited and eager to create.” In later years, she taught middle-schoolers and AP students. “I was very blessed to have the opportunity to teach every age level,” she says.
When she and her husband moved to Western North Carolina, she turned her focus full-time to her own artwork. She took a booth at her local farmers market in Brevard, selling jewelry and paintings and painting live during market hours. “The movement and activity there was so fun to capture and people really enjoyed watching me paint,” she says.
Matt with Son Tailgate. Theresa Reuter, artist
That sense of movement traversed into her style as she began playing with layers and softness in areas of focus. “I also did horse paintings where I repeated or did multiple horses to express the action or movement,” she says. “A few years after that, I thought ‘why not just throw the paint and let the paint be the movement’ and so I got more abstract. I played with color and used a simple silhouette of the horse and let the paint be seen as flowing through the body and beyond, holding the space of energy and suspension in the body of the horse.” She uses mixed media, with oil paint applied last.
“Painting can be very calming, but also frustrating at times,” Reuter says. “There will be times when I am painting that I will come to some realization about life that has nothing to do with the painting, but has more to do with the process which reveals to me epiphanies about life. The process of painting reveals to me how I think and keeps my ego in check. It is very humbling some days because some paintings come together in a few hours, and others I struggle for days with.”
And yet, she adds, there is a feeling of peace that comes from “the act of creating something that represents my connection to my heart and my senses. It takes doing many, many paintings to get just a few that really capture this. But going through the process is like going through life. There are so many parallels, and painting has taught me so much about myself.”
Mother and Child. Theresa Reuter, artist
The first piece of artwork she sold was a painting of a horse. “The woman who bought it came up to me sobbing with money in her hand,” Reuter says. “She was so moved by it because it reminded her of her horse that had died. I knew then that my art was important and that I was doing the right thing.”
There’s one painting that Reuter keeps close because of the feeling she had while creating it and the memory of that time. “It was one of the first paintings I did after moving to the mountains and my mother was visiting me,” she says. “She was watching me paint and sat very close to me as I painted each brushstroke. I would not have let anyone else sit this close. But I will never sell that painting because it reminds me of her being there next to me in full appreciation and support. She has always been my greatest fan.”
Contact Theresa Reuter at 828.606.9450 or at tarreuter@protonmail.com. Find her work at Blue Moon Gallery and Frame, 24 East Main Street, Brevard. Learn more at BlueMoonGalleryandFrame.com.
