About

Theresia Yourong Zhang, AKA Gen_Hasenkopf) is an award winner illustrator based in NYC and Baltimore, MD. Currently a Senior student at Maryland Institute College of Art, Zhang works both as a freelance illustrator and comic artist. Working both traditionally and digitally, her works shares depth of emotions as well as visual qualities.

Born in Beijing, China, Resa's early experience of traveling around the globe and education in Vienna, Austria adds special insights and contents in her work. In 2019, she moved to NYC and spent her freshman year at Parsons School of Design. She then transferred to MICA in 2020 to continue her illustration study.

Since 2022, Theresia Zhang is commissioned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Embassy of PRC in Washington DC, designing 8 coloring sheets each year for the Lunar New Year Family Zone special edition page.

In May 2022, Theresia Zhang won the first place of Art of Racing Competition by Preakness Stakes, putting her art into commercials.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why “General Hasenkopf”？

I lived in Vienna, Austria when I was a little girl and spoke German back then. "Hasenkopf" is a german last name meaning "Rabbit head". Although according to my lunar calendar birthday, I was born just a few days before the Dragon Year, my Chinese zodiac sign is still rabbit, and my grandma called it "the tip of cotton tail". My Studio name in Chinese is called "左宗棠兔头", combined with "左宗棠 (General Tso)" and "兔头(Rabbit head)". I'm a Chinese artist making paintings in western approach living globally, just like one of my favorite dishes General Tso's Chicken which is created by Chinese workers meanwhile absorbed western style.

Where did you study?

Some years in Beijing, China, some years in Vienna, Austria, back to Beijing again, moved to US, several years in Bethesda, MD, Baltimore MD, DC, NYC, bouncing back and forth in the east coast...Went to two art schools, Parsons School of Design and Maryland Institute College of Art during undergrad! Expecting Illustration Major and Painting Minor of BFA degree in May 2023!

What do you love to paint?

Mostly portraits and figurative illustration, with oil paint. Writing sci-fi mystery stories for years, painting a bunch of them too.

Awards & Exhibitions

01. Society of Illustrators-Student Scholarship Competition

Metamorphosis. Exhibition will be at Society of Illustrators in 2023.

2023

New York, NY

02. Society of Illustrators-Student Scholarship Competition

Schiaparelli 2023 Winter. Exhibition will be at Society of Illustrators in 2023.

2023

New York, NY

03. The Preakness Stakes- The Art of Racing- Championship

Speed. Won the inaugural edition of “The Art of Racing,” a statewide art competition run by the organizers of the Preakness Stakes. The piece titled “Speed” was selected as the First Place out of 147 pieces of entrees statewide and was converted into merchandise selling both online and at the preakness stakes. Press mentions including CBS news, ABC news, The Baltimore Sun, BloodHorse, Past The Wire, The Racing Biz, Baltimore Fishbowl, CityBizList Baltimore, and Paulick Report. donated part of the $4000 awards to the park height renaissance grant to support the baltimore community.

2022

Maryland

04 . Juried Undergraduate Exhibition

The work in this annual exhibition is a selection of the best submissions from all four years of undergraduate students. From hundreds of entries, selected artists are chosen in a variety of disciplines based on artistic merit, creativity, and vision. The exhibition is featured across two of our main campus galleries: Decker Gallery (Fox Building) and Pinkard Gallery (Bunting Center).

MICA's galleries are currently open to the public. Outside visitors can enter galleries after signing in at the front desk of the respective building.

This year Nekisha Durret and Lou Joseph serve as jurors. Nekisha Durrett is a renowned mixed media artist who is a National Portrait Gallery Outwin 2019 American Portrait finalist, and DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship Grant recipient. Lou Joseph is the Visual Arts Specialist at the Baltimore Office for Promotion and The Arts and founder/director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Baltimore.

2023

Baltimore, MD