Sophia Krupsha
About
Born in Kingston, PA in 1998, Sophia Krupsha currently lives and maintains a studio in Seattle, WA. She completed her BFA in Drawing & Painting from the Pennsylvania State University in 2021. Her work has been represented nationally in gallery exhibitions on both sides of the United States from Portland, OR to New York, NY, and internationally in Belfast, Ireland. In her free time, she is an avid birdwatcher and wildlife photographer, both hobbies heavily influencing her practice.
Artist
Statement
My painting practice explores the deep interconnectedness between human experience and the natural world. Through these pieces, I create a narrative that traces the parallels between cycles of nature and the rhythms of memory, growth, and change that define our lives. My work, once based on the industry-scarred remnants of my Appalachian hometown, now reaches beyond specific landscapes to reflect the broader tension of how we are shaped by the pushes and pulls in our lives.
Birds appear as central and grounding figures in my paintings and sketches, realistically rendered yet placed in surreal, dreamlike settings. Their presence evokes a sense of both witness and memory. As my focus has evolved, so too has my use of color: my palette has become more saturated, vibrant, and emotionally charged, mirroring the intensity of the realities and emotions I depict. In my studio, I embrace both traditional and intuitive methods through layering, wet-on-wet blending, and using spray bottles to keep surfaces alive and reactive. This approach allows the image to remain mercurial, shifting as it develops, much like the ever-changing landscapes I seek to capture.
Through this work, I hope to create visual spaces that invite reflection on the universal experiences of transformation and the complex entanglement of our outer and inner worlds.