“She Sees Birds“ by Jen Schultz

Jen Schultz, an Eau Claire artist known as @robottraveler, creates analog and mixed-media collages that drift between intrinsic natural beauty and retro futurism. Her work explores the layered relationship between women and the natural world. In her collection When Women Dreamt of Wings, vintage imagery and the ethereal symbolism of birds evoke themes of silence, song, flight, and dreamlike surrealism.

Schultz holds a BA in Art/Illustration from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. Her work has appeared on magazine covers, book covers, album art, concert posters, and in gallery exhibitions across Wisconsin. She primarily works with hand-cut paper materials but also utilizes digital collage and graphic design for commissions.

“She Sees Birds” (2025) • 18" x 14" • Mixed media collage with tape transfer on paper • About the artwork, from the artist: “My collages are conversations with the printed past. I gather and study discarded magazines, botanical plates and old textbooks, then combine them with fragments of color and texture to create surreal images. I hand-cut images from their original contexts, sometimes leaving ragged edges and stray typefaces, and then use a tape transfer process that adds transparency. Each piece, layered down by glue, becomes an intentional act, transforming the materials into something completely new.

In the cover image, I explore cultural ideas of feminine beauty paired with silence, and contrast that with imagery of birdsong. By merging women and birds, I consider how femininity is framed by visual culture, while reclaiming transformation—the notion that identity can be seasonal, shifting, and self-authored.”