Colored pencil on Stonehenge paper, various sizes, 2022–ongoing.
This series of "portraits" depicts discarded glass containers collected in Brooklyn. Discovered along the stoops of brownstones, tossed under hedges, in cardboard boxes between old novels and nonstick pans scratched beyond repair, these objects found me as much a I found them. Within this body of work, I aim to create spaces of quiet contemplation and unexpected moments of astonishment through the depiction of quotidian objects.
Pencil drawings and copper plate etchings from my 2021 thru-hike of the Colorado Trail, a 485 mile footpath from Denver to Durango. More coming soon!
Fall 2017.
Series of two-color lithographs, Editions of 5, Paper Size: 9x10-1/4 inches.
The images in this series are a record of detritus collected from Brooklyn public spaces. My fieldwork is a practice of intimacy through observation; it is a method of seeing the familiar with new eyes and an expression of reverence for the mundane. I look down—not to determine what should or should not be present in these curated "natural" spaces of our city, but in a spirit of gratitude, to document what I find. The reticulation patterns formed by the drying of lithographic tusche washes around the collected objects resemble the marks found on topographic maps, recalibrated to an intimate scale; they describe pieces of the landscape that are individually ephemeral, but represent enduring features that define each place.
Fall 2017.
Series of two-color lithographs, Editions of 3, Paper Size: 21x27 inches.
The images in this series are a record of detritus collected from Brooklyn public spaces. My fieldwork is a practice of intimacy through observation; it is a method of seeing the familiar with new eyes and an expression of reverence for the mundane. I look down—not to determine what should or should not be present in these curated "natural" spaces of our city, but in a spirit of gratitude, to document what I find. The reticulation patterns formed by the drying of lithographic tusche washes around the collected objects resemble the marks found on topographic maps, recalibrated to an intimate scale; they describe pieces of the landscape that are individually ephemeral, but represent enduring features that define each place.
October 2015 - April 2016
Color mezzotint, 3 x 3" image on 9 x 6" paper. Series of 7 images printed in editions of 7.
This body of work was created as a part of a 7-month series of group exhibitions inspired by the Judeo-Christian creation story at the First Unitarian Universalist Congregational Society in Brooklyn.
"1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."
April 2011
Suite of nine 9-color soft ground etchings, hung in a horizontal row at eye level.
Nine artists were asked to give a handwriting sample, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789” on a prepared plate. All nine plates are present in each impression, but every print allows a new “voice” to be heard above the rest.
with CHEYENNE MALLO and STEPH BELL
December 2011
360˚ installation with screenprint, pronto-plate litho, trace-monotype, and encaustic on handmade paper; recycled cardboard tubes; wire. Dimensions variable. Photographs taken by Sarah Burt and Bryn Sumner at Women's Studio Workshop Gallery, Rosendale, NY.
[locus] [memory] [coping] is a collaborative installation project rooted in the lives and experiences of three artists. This sculptural work incorporates printmaking, handmade paper, and encaustic. It is simultaneously three pieces and one: independent groups of personal imagery which diverge and intertwine. Grouped thematically, they address issues such as romantic relationships, family dynamics, self-image, early memories, and traumatic experiences.
[locus]
Focusing on a sense of place, I incorporated images relating directly to primary influences in my life. I have chosen to highlight specific events by altering and replicating personal photographs, combining these with hand-drawn imagery and topographic map references to demonstrate their interconnectedness.
—Cheyenne
[memory]
The same words always rise to the surface—that critical moment of communication with its specific inflection, with the feeling it still raises in my throat. I feel a certain ownership of these phrases, spoken to me or by me in the past, even the ones that may seem trivial or generic to others. In retelling the stories behind the words, I at first believed that I was constructing a series of windows into the past. What resulted was, rather, a snapshot of the present. It is an exploration of how I remember these points of strong emotion and how I now make sense of them. I heard on a radio show once that each time you recall an event, the memory is changed, the more fabricated it becomes. Perhaps those moments—those few words that seem so solid—aren't even real anymore.
—Bryn
[coping]
My images are the duality of a constant struggle for change and what is; one strives while the other remains resilient, neither a victor, both shifting indefinitely. This theme is reflected in my own process as I shift from painting to silkscreen, with both mediums relying heavily on drawing. The need to see my own hand throughout the process is paramount, the end result an afterthought.
—Steph
