Biography
Stephanie Garon received dual science degrees from Cornell University, then attended Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Her environmental art has been exhibited internationally in London, Colombia, and South Korea, as well as across the United States. Her writing, a critical aspect of her artistic process, has been published in international literary journals and her chapbook will be published in 2021. She teaches at MICA.
Artist Statement
As a five year old, I tagged along with my father to "hamfests,” radio operator gatherings held in county fair parking lots. Cars would pop open their trunks like overflowing treasure chests filled with electronic wares: old radio boxes, computer boards, cables, monitors, soldering irons. It was an oasis in the heart of wooded valleys.
My father would sell or trade items he no longer needed. My job was to display them on a tattered blanket and haggle to make the sale. The setup became my stage as I pranced about, reorganizing after each barter session. In my mind's eye, we were a traveling show and I was the star with dirty nails, pigtails and suspenders.
Years later, when I find myself welding and smelling the rusty steel odor of the studio, I am driving down those dusty roads again. My work explores the limits of nature and connection through juxtaposing industrial elements with natural materials I collect. The decomposition of the natural forms provide drama and philosophic markers of fragility: green pine needles fade to brown, cement made from melted snow crumbles, and wind switches orientation of metal sculpture around trees. Rich in associations, the work functions as abstracted expressions of a time, place, and way of life that capture paradoxes: formalism and fragility, permanence and impermanence, and nature and nurture.
My work invites the viewer to contemplate how we, as people, interact with the natural world around us. Like the items I’d curate at the hamfests, my art embraces the delicacy of transforming materials to define my visual voice.
Stephanie Garon received dual science degrees from Cornell University, then attended Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Her environmental art has been exhibited internationally in London, Colombia, and South Korea, as well as across the United States. Her writing, a critical aspect of her artistic process, has been published in international literary journals and her chapbook will be published in 2021. She teaches at MICA.
Artist Statement
As a five year old, I tagged along with my father to "hamfests,” radio operator gatherings held in county fair parking lots. Cars would pop open their trunks like overflowing treasure chests filled with electronic wares: old radio boxes, computer boards, cables, monitors, soldering irons. It was an oasis in the heart of wooded valleys.
My father would sell or trade items he no longer needed. My job was to display them on a tattered blanket and haggle to make the sale. The setup became my stage as I pranced about, reorganizing after each barter session. In my mind's eye, we were a traveling show and I was the star with dirty nails, pigtails and suspenders.
Years later, when I find myself welding and smelling the rusty steel odor of the studio, I am driving down those dusty roads again. My work explores the limits of nature and connection through juxtaposing industrial elements with natural materials I collect. The decomposition of the natural forms provide drama and philosophic markers of fragility: green pine needles fade to brown, cement made from melted snow crumbles, and wind switches orientation of metal sculpture around trees. Rich in associations, the work functions as abstracted expressions of a time, place, and way of life that capture paradoxes: formalism and fragility, permanence and impermanence, and nature and nurture.
My work invites the viewer to contemplate how we, as people, interact with the natural world around us. Like the items I’d curate at the hamfests, my art embraces the delicacy of transforming materials to define my visual voice.
