Stephanie Garon received dual science degrees from Cornell University, then attended Maryland Institute College of Art. Her alchemy driven abstract expressionist sculptures have been exhibited internationally in London, Columbia, and South Korea, as well as across the United States. She teaches at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art), the Walters Art Museum, and Howard County Public Schools.
My Art
As a five year old, I tagged along with my father to "hamfests,” radio operator gatherings held in county fair parking lots. Cars would line the grass with their trunks open 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, orange-flowered 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 with my father again. My work explores the limits of nature and connection. I use chemistry to manipulate materials to personify nature, feminism and contradiction. Alchemy meets allegory in twisted visions of dynamic forms that change over time. Delicate water from melted snow mixed with cement, ethereal honey interwoven with cold steel, crusted saltwater from ceramic shells transform into a visual language filled with metaphors. The decomposition captures resulting paradoxes, including: formalism and fragility, permanence and impermanence, and nature and nurture.
My art reflects the dichotomy of weaknesses and strengths within our selves and the environmental world around us, Like the items I’d curate at the hamfests, my art embraces the delicacy of experimenting with transforming materials to define my visual voice.