Rhea Edge’s Painting and Printmaking Studio

Rhea’s art as activism is focused on bird and wildlife conservation. Her large-scale environmental paintings, intaglio etchings and woodcuts address habitat destruction and the role of predatory behaviors on species survival. The work is informed by a lifelong interest in biology and natural history, as well as continued museum studies and direct exposure to human/animal conflicts. Live observation and nature study in the tropics informs her process. Rhea believes that increasing biodiversity and maintaining ecological balance is of great significance, encouraging urgency for people to act both locally and globally to promote preservation.

Recent work explores mythological and religious histories, archeological artifacts and feminist perspectives. In her work, Rhea will continue to combine the relationship of animal and habitat destruction with the impact of predatory human behaviors.

In Mclean County, Illinois, Rhea’s early work can be viewed at the Uptown Normal Transportation Center, third floor, the Illinois State University Milner Library Special collections floor, and in the auditorium at ISU’s Bone Student Center. Rhea has provided leadership at Eureka College as a Professor of Art, Associate Dean of the Faculty, Chair of Fine & Performing Arts, Arts & Education Chair and Director of the Burgess Memorial Hall Art Gallery. She was president and then vice-president of the John Wesley Powell Audubon Society, a local chapter of National Audubon, on the Board of the Watercolor Honor Society, twice a YWCA woman of distinction nominee, and a recipient of the City of Bloomington’s Cultural District Art Commission. Her work has been widely exhibited and is included in numerous collections.