About Ricky Schaede
Ricky Schaede is an artist and art instructor living and working in Orangeville, Ontario Canada. Ricky’s work is an exploration of the imagination. His art explores cosmic imagery, includes lots of animals (his favourite subject), and features rich, vibrant colours. There is a unique narrative quality to the work, as if each piece is an image from a fairytale. For Ricky, art is a conversation with the creative essence of the universe, an outpouring of the soul. Some pieces are created fast, loose, and expressively, while others are meticulously detailed, created over hours and hours of contemplative work. Ricky aims to make real that which could only be imagined, and to share his perspective of the wonder and magnificence of the cosmos.
As an art instructor, Ricky’s mission is to cultivate the unique creative identity of each of his students. His teaching style communicates important concepts, theory, and techniques, while always leaving room for students to use their own artistic voice to make their work different. In his kids and youth classes, students follow a step by step prompt, but are encouraged to add their own style, symbols, and colours. In every class, each student creates their own original artwork, not just a carbon copy of his example. It is a space to feel safe making creative decisions and taking risks in art making. Imagination is highly encouraged. In his adult classes, students are invited to create art step by step long with Ricky, learning from start to finish how he approaches creating his drawings and paintings. He is able to clearly communicate concepts, demonstrate techniques, and create a safe learning environment where every student is encouraged and support in every step of the art making process.
Artist Statement
My artwork is rooted in a love for nature, fantasy, and the human experience, a love that has its roots way back in my early childhood. When I paint, I connect to my inner worlds and allow myself to explore, play, think, and feel, and create whatever comes through. Some images are completely spontaneous, while others are created with varying degrees of pre-planning and conceptualization. It is a dance with the essence of my spirit, an interplay between my subonscious mind, my emotions, and my thinking brain. I paint my fantasies, and often images that have come to me in dreams, or in flashes of inspiration and insight. I believe each person has their own unique imagination, an entire world inside filled with characters, feelings, colours, and experiences. As an artist, I have the privilege of exploring and sharing my world with others. I feel so lucky to be living this life of imagination and creativity through my art.
I work primarily with oils and acrylics, but I also love graphite and charcoal drawing, and sculpture. Paintings usually focus around a central character, and often include cosmic elements, landscapes, and a cast of supporting characters to create a storybook feeling, as if we are witnessing a snapshot of a moment in a fairytale. I love creative writing and often including a short story or description with my work, to connect viewers with the sense of narrative that I feel is integral to the work.
Extended Bio
Ricky Schaede was born in 1993 in Brampton, Ontario. His father introduced him to painting and drawing at a young age, and Ricky grew up with a love for art and the imagination. Ricky found his voice as a visual artist upon returning home from a series of sacred fire ceremonies in Guatemala at the age of 19.
Since discovering his passion for painting, Ricky has exhibited his work internationally, been featured in publications, won multiple awards, and sold pieces to collectors in Ontario and Quebec. In 2015 and 2016, Ricky traveled to Austria to study the Mische Technique with Philip Rubinov Jacobson and Mantra Cora, an early renaissance technique considered to be a sacred treasure, infusing paintings with ‘an inner light’. In 2015, Ricky joined the Canadian Society for Art of the Imagination, participating in their exhibit in Montreal in October 2015, and in Manhattan at ONE Art Space, in April 2017. Ricky's most recent solo show 'Freedom Flight' took place at the Noodle Gallery in the Alton Mill during the summer of 2022. Ricky's work also includes his private practice as an art instructor in Orangeville, Ontario. Ricky teaches a variety of classes for kids, youth and adults, both to groups and privately, he loves to share the joy of art with others. In 2019, Ricky was awarded the 'Painting with Water Media Award' at the Insights 40th Annual Juried Exhibition of Fine Art for his piece 'Cassiel'. Ricky is also a 2019 recipient of the Dufferin Art's Council's Reed T Cooper Bursary in Visual Arts to produce and self publish his first kid's book.
As he forges forward, his work continues to evolve and expand as he gains technical knowledge and skill, as well as life experience and wisdom. The fantastical world he explores in his paintings has only just begun to reveal itself to him, and he is always excited and surprised by what ends up on his canvas. Ricky's plans for the future are to continue creating and refining his body of work with the goal of seeking gallery representation and exhibiting his work more extensively internationally.