Ulla began painting in New York City after moving there from Germany. In the 1980’s she studied at the New York Art Students’ League, where she was greatly influenced by her teacher, William Scharf, a former studio assistant and friend of Mark Rothko. Scharf guided her to oil abstractions and collages/assemblages.
In 1992 she participated in a group show themed “New York” with her work “Manhattan Tableau” at Cornell Medical Center Library in New York City.
Upon settling in Australia Ulla joined the Blackheath Art Society where she worked predominantly with the Fauvian group and exhibited her work throughout many years in the “Contemporary Colourists” exhibitions.
She has also shown her work in various Art Prizes and had a solo exhibition at the Event Horizon Gallery in Katoomba.
Her painting medium is mostly oil and mixed media and her colour palette expresses strength as she is not afraid of vivid contrasts. In order to find her own voice and an emotive barometer for her brush, she began learning about the modern aboriginal painting culture; in her opinion they are today’s answer to Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Morris Louis et al. She experiments as well with Commedia dell’ arte characters and uses them in her work as a form of modern portraiture. Inspiration comes to Ulla mostly from observing and studying the work of other artists, ranging from older masters to modern abstract artists such as Elisabeth Cummings, Ildiko Kovacs and Jo Bertini.