Stephanie Garon
Brae: Steel, cypress tree. (10'x10'x8') Brae references the tenuous balance between industry and nature through its use of materials. As perspectives change between rolling hills, humanity's imprint on our limited natural resources also changes.
Paralyzed: Video still of land art performance containing steel sculpture at Maryland's Duckett Watershed (video 4:51). Choreography and dance by Stephanie Garon. 2019. Music: Paralyzed by NF.
By personifying the land and exploring vulnerability through dance, the dancer's movements frame the relationship between humanity and nature. Although the watershed is a protected piece of government land, it is completely surrounded by new building developments that claimed centuries-old farmland.
Lament: Steel, oak/maple/pine sticks (14'x14'x8' ) Women around the world, from Bangladesh to Benin, carry bundles of sticks to support their community. Confined by land and ritualistic roles, Lament references women's work.
BIO
Stephanie Garon received dual science degrees from Cornell University, then attended Maryland Institute College of Art. Her environmental artwork has been exhibited internationally in London, Columbia, and South Korea, as well as across the United States. Her environmental writing has been published in international literary journals and her chapbook will be published by Akinoga Press in fall 2021. She is a recipient of a 2020 Puffin Foundation Environmental Art Grant and is currently a Hamiltonian Fellow.
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. Years later, when I’m welding and smelling the rusty steel odor of the studio, I am driving down those dusty roads again.Â
My artwork investigates the vulnerability of nature to humanity. The juxtaposition of natural objects against industrial materials exposes dichotomies of formality/fragility and permanence/impermanence. The natural materials, sourced by hand locally, convey themes of claim, women’s labor, and time.Â
While formal, the resulting artworks are ecologically motivated interventions. The physical process of decomposition becomes evident as the pieces change over time, emphasizing the fragility of nature. These abstracted expressions visualize an uneasy truce. A contemporary twist on the Arte Povera movement, my work addresses climate crisis politics, and mediates attention to the materials themselves.Â
Whether the viewer is immersed in a large scale installation or navigating their movement around a sculpture, the contemplative space created engages the observer to consider how we, as people, interrupt the natural world around us.