Stephanie's Studio

Ever since I was in art school, in my junior and senior year, when I had my own studio at Tyler, I have been fascinated with still life. That fascination carried on when I went to graduate school at UCSD and ended up being the topic of my thesis. Implicit in the depiction of still life is food.                                     (Edouard Manet, 1866, "Still Life with Melon and Peaches) Shown above is a reproduction of one of Edouard Manet's still life paintings. Manet is one of my favorite painters to this day. He imbues his food with such a luscious quality through his brush strokes and the oil-laden paint he uses, that you literally want to reach out and into the painting to eat the food within them. His facility with paint and the love that he seemingly has for his subject matter is a continual source of awe and inspiration.                 ...

Everybody has a spirit home, where your soul feels it lives. Mine is on the East Coast, still in New Jersey, where I grew up. I have lived on the West Coast and am now centered in the Midwest. I have written about this before. Gradually, I am accepting that I am living in the Midwest. I must even say that I’m from here, from time to time but I feel in my heart as though I am from New Jersey; South Jersey to be specific. The East Coast has a hold over me. I love the Atlantic, and yes, Atlantic City and the Jersey Shore as well. In high school I sang in various school choirs and had the opportunity to travel the coast to sing. The East Coast is where I spent my childhood and those places flood my head with memories, coloring my art and writing. For us, there is a profound difference between north and south Jersey, just as there is here between southern Illinois and northern Illinois, home to Chicago. Southern Illinois has a strong agricultural base and is largely rural. Northern Ill...