Theresa Mather has been a professional artist since 1989.   Her work previous to entering the field of fantasy art was largely in the carousel field including restoration work on a number of operating antique machines.   Theresa specializes in painting scenery panels to replace lost or damaged originals, working in a style that has been mistaken for antique in carousel publications.

According to Theresa, "My goal when doing carousel work is to enhance the carvings and figures. The paintings become part of the ambience of the carousel, not a focal point.   Often, I must create new scenes appropriate to the machine from whole cloth, trying to imagine what might have been present while bearing in mind the new location for the ride.   For instance, when painting the scenes for the Santa Barbara machine, local tribes requested that all scenes depicting Native Americans accurately represent local Santa Barbara tribes, even though there are two Plains Indian style horses on the carousel.   Other machines require detective work.   While I had part of the Winslow Homer inspired original paintings to work from for the Media City Center carousel, other panels had to be recreated after examining 1890's era photographs of the carousel with a magnifying glass.   Each machine presents unique challenges, not the least of which is painting dozens of large scale paintings in a very short period of time.   It's very rewarding work, though largely anonymous".

In the fantasy field, Theresa primarily shows her work at science fiction convention art shows across the United States.   She has won numerous awards including Popular Choice Best Of Show at the 2002 World Science Fiction Convention.

Visit her Website and Check out her Gallery at http://www.rockfeatherscissors.com