INTERVIEW: Antoinette Prien Schultze | Ogunquit Art Association (OAA) Showcase Artist

Antoinette Prien Schultze is an Ogunquit Art Association member-artist (Sculptor) and one of our 6 Showcase Artists at Barn Gallery for the 2023 Season.

Prien Schultze’s Showcase at Barn Gallery will run from May 24th – June 24th, 2023 with an Opening Reception on Saturday, May 27th (from 4PM – 7:30PM) and a Gallery Talk (along with Painter, Dustan Knight) on Thursday, June 8, at 6 PM.

Learn more about the Barn Gallery 2023 Schedule: barngallery.org/2023-season

featured image above: Antoinette Prien Schultze; “Vessel”; cherrywood, glass, steel, spruce; 61.5″x25″x25″.

Continue reading below for some excerpts from a discussion we had with Antoinette Prien Schultze about her background and work.

Can you give us a little background information on your art career?

I discovered my need to express myself creating art, along with my ability at 17, while living in NYC. I visited museums and sat in on history classes at Columbia where my husband was a student. I worked with clay, than wood, and on to marble. I worked daily for years.

I was juried into the Ogunquit Art Association in 1981. In 1983 I won my first public commission. In 1986 I won the commission to create Manchester NH’s “Mill Girl”, a 10 ft. bronze figure. In 1988 I completed “Life Entwined” the large marble sculpture that is in the permanent collection of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA) in Ogunquit, Maine.

My work is in University collections, Botanical Gardens, and Museums, most recently my 15 ft black granite sculpture “Remembrance” was purchased for the Jule Collins Smith Museum at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.

How have your work and process evolved over the years?

My early figurative work relates to my latest artwork in my desire to express human emotions.

My new work uses materials and color to express human emotions in place of the human body.

The natural materials that I use, and love, inspire me, and speak directly to my desire to create (make tangible) an expression of my reverence for the dignity and beauty of our earth.

Can you share some information about what you’ve been working on most recently?

I am now working on a piece dear to me personally for Portsmouth NH.

I have also received a large commission for a sculpture that will pay homage to an historic building in Boston MA. This will keep me busy for a couple of years.

Where can people learn more about you and the work you create?

Those who would like to learn more about my work can visit me online at antoinettepschultze.com.

Photos of Work by Antoinette Prien Schultze.

Additional Information: Antoinette Prien Schultze

Artist Statement

I have been carving since 1969. My sculptures have evolved from realistic to abstraction, with my philosophical focus and medium of expression remaining constant. In 2006 I was able to build a large studio behind my home. It is here that I strive to create forms that are visually beautiful and comfortable in the landscape, exhibiting strength along with the frailty that I see in existence.

I use the natural and eternal presentation that stone affects to carve abstract forms that reflect our common humanity and express the wonder and beauty that is of our world. I flag each sculpture with ethereal colored glass that sparkles with light and throws reflections of color onto the surrounding surfaces of the sculpture. The stone and wood that I carve project a feeling of strength and stability, and the addition of glass (representing our passions and feelings) renders a vulnerable and fragile quality to my art. This quality of opposites, strength and fragility, is a reminder of the beautiful balancing act that is ever present in nature.

I use an electric angle grinder and an impact drill with diamond blades and bits, along with hand tools such as chisels and hammer and rasps to shape and finish each sculpture. The caste glass is broken into shape with a hammer and chisel.

LEARN MORE: antoinettepschultze.com

Learn more about the Barn Gallery 2023 Schedule: barngallery.org/2023-season

Interview by Dustan Knight.