Bonnie Fillenwarth

Bonnie Fillenwarth is a native to central Indiana. Bonnie received her Bachelor’s degree in Painting from the IUPUI Herron School of Art and Design in 2009. Her work has been shown in various areas in the Indianapolis area as well as in Europe. She works mainly with oils and watercolor, but also does some sculptures as she considers herself an artist first and a painter second.

Among the greatest influences of her art is travel. In the summer of 2009 she traveled to Pont-Aven France to attend the Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art, living with a host family, spending time in the Bois d’ Amour, and doing various projects in the woods and in the studio. For the summer of 2008 she traveled to Athens and the Island of Paros in Greece. She studied at the Aegean Center of the Arts. It was, in part, her study of ancient Greek culture during this time that inspired the main theme of her artwork.

Bonnie’s current work deals with looking at the women portrayed in classical mythology and neoclassical artwork. The stories have been around for thousands of years, have been copied from scrolls to codexes, and are still a part of western culture today. As a result many people are familiar with these myths but may not have realized the extent of the sexist ways in which women are too often represented. There is a widespread, unrealistic view of ancient Greek culture, and Bonnie’s work seeks to change the general public’s view of the roots of western culture into a more realistic one.