Thea Mercer

About the member

Thea Mercer is an interdisciplinary botanical illustrator, researcher, and educator based in West Cork, Ireland. She earned a master’s of anthropology at University College Cork in Ireland and a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary arts, simultaneously completed Master of Fine Arts in Arts Leadership: Grant Writing, Marketing and the Arts, and Applied Research Seminar with a published case study titled 4Culture and achieved magna cum laude honours from Seattle University in the United States. During her scholarship, she relocated to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and conducted ethnographic studies on rural-urban migration in support of a vulnerable community and produced a short film. To date, she received awards for her botanical artwork in the United States. Recently, she served as an arts facilitator for a multi-generational watercolour painting workshop during Culture Night at the Skibbereen Library, with funding support from Cork County Council. Beginning in October 2024, she will join the Greywood Arts team as an active member of the Community Programming and Festival Management Mentorship.

Education

2023 Data Visualization for Storytellers, Berkeley Advanced Media Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA.
2023 In Situ Graduate School – Inland Waterways in the Anthropocene, Padova, Italy.
2022 – 2023 MA Anthropology University College Cork, County Cork, Ireland.
2018-20 Seattle University; BA Interdisciplinary Arts, magna cum laude, Seattle, WA, USA. Simultaneously completed Master of Fine Arts in Arts Leadership (MFAL)

Exhibitions

MIVAL Mercer Island Visual Arts League “12th annual Treasures in Miniature” and “Blue and Yellow” Exhibition, Mercer Island, WA, USA. March 30 – May 28, 2022
Light Space & Time Gallery Online – 12th annual “Botanicals” (Part 1) Overall and Painting and Other Media Categories, Merit and Special Recognition Category, Blue Ribbon Award, NM, USA. April 1 – 30, 2022
Grey Cube Gallery Online “Abstract Art Competition”, USA. January 14 – February 2, 2022
Art Room Gallery Online “Trees & Fields Art Competition”, USA. December 24 – January 5, 2022
Boxx Gallery “Images of the Shrub Steppe” Tieton, WA, USA. August 6 – 29, 2021

Thea
Mercer

A foundation in the visual arts informs Thea Mercer’s transdisciplinary approach as a researcher, educator, and botanical illustrator. Grounded in eco-minimalism, she captures the timelessness and fragility of flora. Through intricate stippling techniques, primarily using watercolour and ink, her work is fragmented in collage and placed on wood panels. Exploring delicate environments, she uses a digital microscope to reveal hidden patterns in plant life, translating these details into macro perspectives. During a residency at the Burren College of Art, she examined native flora, creating immersive, magnified prints that invite viewers to reflect on the fragile balance between human impact and the natural world.