Lia Stillhard 1980
Painting
BIOGRAPHY
"I have always been on a inspiring adventure to gain new insights by creating artistic works through various mediums, specially painting (and composing melodies).
My drawings and paintings are known for their ability to capture the essence of a subject with minimal brushstrokes and splashes of color.
The works depict places I have been to on my travels or topics that occupy me, especially our relationship with environment, animals and nature.
Discover the influences of my idols Paul Cézanne or Franz Marc in some of my proudest works.
Sharing my art with you is what drives me, and I can't wait for you to experience it all.
Please get in touch if you would like to work with me."
The early years
The Connection
to Painting
The Years after studying
Lia Stillhard grew up as the second oldest of six siblings on an idyllic farm above Lake Thun in Switzerland.
Since there was no television during her youth and childhood, she often painted and played the piano, played outside with friends and siblings and spent a lot of time with animals in the great outdoors.
She was praised early on at school for her drawing achievements, for writing and reading poems and essays, and for composing her own short piano pieces.
Lia also went to piano lessons, but she found it difficult to learn music.
That's why later, after she and her mother and five siblings moved to the French-speaking part of Switzerland, she took piano lessons to improvise blues and jazz music.
While at school, Lia was praised by some teachers for her sense of colour and exceptional creativity and originality.
After starting an apprenticeship as a stone sculptor, which was physically too hard, she completed the preliminary design course in Biel\Bienne and later the 4 year fine arts degree course in Zurich.
Before, during and after studying, she worked numerous different jobs to make ends meet, and so she was not able to devote her full time to art, as she would have liked.
But she has not lost her passion for painting and playing the piano to this day.
It remains her innermost conviction and her highest goal to pass on constructive values and ultimately try to practice positive things because she enjoys it and seems important to her.
Even though during her studies, contemporary art was identified alongside classical art history as a contemporary art movement that should be practiced.
Lia never stopped painting and chose painting as her main direction during her studies.
Her diploma thesis included a series of landscape paintings that were reminiscent of human moods and conditions, painted on wood.
The high-ranking jury and mentors attested to her visual intelligence and the acquisition of her own visual language.
The federal diploma, qualified freelance artist, now entitles her to teach in all subjects she has learned.
Especially today, Lia Stillhard thinks that painting should not have had its day.
Regarding her works, they are inspired by impressionism and expressionism, sometimes with abstract elements (especially in landscapes, but also in portraits of people and animals).
With her minimalist way of working, she aims to capture the essence of a subject with just a few but precise strokes.
Leaving the viewer his own possibilities of interpretation and space in which only something is hinted at, for example a root or a rain cloud, is another criterion that, in her opinion, distinguishes painting from normal photography or what would make a good photograph. Some of her greatest role models in painting are Paul Cesanne, in literature Honoré de Balzac and in music Otis Spann.
After completing her studies, Lia Stillhard lived in Zurich for ten years and worked as a marketing assistant and in technical services.
She and her boyfriend then bought a small house in the Jura countryside.
In this region she was employed by large companies and also she also ran a her own small independent graphics and advertising agency.
In addition to several trips to France and Italy, England, Ireland and Scandinavia, she also painted and played the piano whenever she had time.
Since the house was in the hills of the Jura, where there was a lot of snow in winter, it was often impossible for her to travel to Laufen or Rheinach to work.
Their dog named 'Tiny' brought them a lot of joy.
Now Lia has space again in her current adopted home in Ireland, where she lives and works with her family not far from the capital Dublin.
She lives in a cottage, which they are renovating themselves, close to nature and, in addition to French and German, she also speaks English better and better.
She appreciates the beautiful Irish landscapes that she can immerse herself in.
Lia also enjoys reading, listening to music, to eat vegan and trying out new recipes. She loves plants and the garden.
She is also committed to nature and animal protection.
At the moment, courses in painting and drawing as well as exhibitions and a new series of paintings called “Light Shimmer“ are being planned.
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