I’ve decided to consolidate my blogging efforts and will be posting new Studio Notes on my Distill Creative blog.
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IN THE STUDIO
Gowanus Open Studios
in ART, IN THE STUDIO
Photography by Sean Patrick Watters for Brooklyn Sofa’s artist partnerships series.
March Update: Weaving Space, Teaching Online, and Sofa Modeling
in ART, IN THE STUDIO
I’ve failed to create a mini series for February, but I have been busy making art and teaching and building my business!
What I've been up to:
I started teaching an online art program at KAPPA international school for the Center for Urban Pedagogy
I took photos with me, my art, and a sofa for a collaboration with the Brooklyn Space. Photograph above is by Sean Patrick Watters.
I finished a garment via the Garment Weaving class I took at the Textile Art Center taught by Isa Rodrigues.
I finished some new work (below) and am working on my first official textile art commission.
I got rejected for a lot of things (including the MFA program at Hunter), but also accepted for an upcoming art book by Jen Tough Gallery and the Fantastic Fibers art show at Yeiser Art Center in Kentucky!
I released a few new episodes of my podcast/video series First Coat.
I started a new semester of NYC Crit Club and a drawing class.
I've been helping to organize the new DSA Latinos Socialistas
I've been running my business Distill Creative and helping my clients bring more art to their spaces
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Ok, I'm off to the studio! Better late than never.
-Stephanie
Some new work:
Untitled (Natural)
$400.00
Photography by Sean Patrick Watters for Brooklyn Sofa’s artist partnerships series.
Huipil I was designed and hand weaved by me. Special thanks to Isa and the Textile Art Center for their support in the Garment Weaving class.
Identidad by Stephanie Eche
Studio Notes November: Starts and Stops and Stumble Upons
This month has been a struggle. I’ve had some personal things to attend to that have made it hard to focus and difficult to finish my work in progress. However, I did finish the piece above and I am very excited about making more sculptural work using fiber.
I’ve been really enjoying my Soft Sculpture class and crit club this semester. I also had the pleasure of stumbling upon an art show featuring María de los Àngeles Rodríguez Jiménez in my neighborhood!! This was the first time in months that I stumbled upon a show, which is something that used to happen nearly everyday when I lived in LES pre-COVID-19.
I really enjoyed the use of blues and yellows and soft forms int he show. The theme (the womb) is resonating with me right now, but also made me a little annoyed because it made me feel like everything has been done and just when you feel like you have some good ideas to work on, you see work that touches on the ideas and then you don’t really want to go that direction anymore.
María de los Àngeles Rodríguez Jiménez at Residency Unlimited
María de los Àngeles Rodríguez Jiménez at Residency Unlimited
María de los Àngeles Rodríguez Jiménez at Residency Unlimited
Despite my month of starts and stops, I’m now on my way with some new work that I’m excited about and busy working on. I’ve taken over my living room floor. I always end up working on the floor for some reason.
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Work in Progress. Oil on Canvas.
Studio Notes October: Back in the virtual classroom
Earlier this year, when we were all forced to stay inside, I was in a drawing class with Sarah Grass and a painting class with Ten Hundred and I started working on a new body of work that I am really excited about. I had started with the concept of a window, which was really not particularly unique since everyone was thinking about windows, but those led to these drawings (the first 9) and were inspired by or at least informed by these images and thoughts. While working on developing characters for Ten Hundred’s class I started thinking about my own family history, researching Mexican artists and writers, like Nelli Campobello’s Cartucho and Elena Poniatowska’s Las Siete Cabritas, Peter T. Furst’s Visions of a Huichol Shaman, as well as science fiction and diving into my own family history thanks to one great-uncle’s massive research (in a google drive folder). I’m still researching and thinking about my personal family history both as fact and as myth, as well as portals, corners, time, space, histories, mysticism, color, and form. Anyway, this is all in progress but I just wanted to share a little bit about what’s been going on in my studio!
Weavings in progress. Or perhaps done?
I also have started a new semester of my self-guided MFA. I’m doing Monday night Visiting Artist Crit with NYC Crit Club, iPad Procreate class with Marcelo Daldoce via NYAA, a Soft Sculpture class with Judith Solodkin via SVA (which so far is amazing), and Oil Portrait from Photo Reference with Marvin Mattelson via SVA. It’s going to be a busy few months, but it’s not like I’m going anywhere!
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Studio Notes September: Give me something to control
This past month I had a birthday and next week I am eloping. I spent my birthday in the best way ever: at an art opening with close friends followed by a socially-distant park hangout. I'll be eloping also at a park and then celebrating with close friends on a boat with Manhattan in the background. It is not what I imagined for one of the most significant moments of my life, but it is also a very welcome surprise change of plans that I am thankful to be able to have.
I am extremely lucky and happy at a time when so many people are suffering, struggling, dying, or depressed. Despite my good luck, I still feel out of control and confused about my future in regards to my art making. I don't really know yet how my art practice will unfold -- the gallery scene is not only changing, but has also historically undervalued or overlooked people like me; the online art sales scene is booming for the well known (and often dead and male) artists; and self-branding oneself as a personality with artwork that looks more or less the same seems to be the secret to success for many artists selling work online.
Anyone who wants to be an artist has to be realistic about how they are going to make money and take care of themselves. Many artists, if you dig deep enough, have either family money, spousal support, or other sources of financial or moral support that allow them to live a seemingly free and spontaneous artist life. I did not come from money and while I am now marrying a man who has a growing business, I also started my own business to be able to support myself, my future family, and have time to spend making art. A few years ago I did not think that I would ever have what I have now, but I made steps to make it happen. Meeting a romantic partner was something I assumed would never happen -- I had planned to do this alone (which is why I planned to move to Berlin, which is much cheaper than NYC). Working towards something while still being open to the seemingly impossible is perhaps the smartest thing we can do right now. It has worked for me before.
Anyway, here I am in Brooklyn living and working and charting a path. I consider myself a full-time artist, but I am also a full-time business person. I need both to support myself and to support other artists. My business, Distill Creative, exists to make me money while also promoting the work of other women and people of color who are doing excellent work.
Why make art? What is the point? For me it is part therapy and part (hopefully) to inspire others to think differently about the world. The systems we have in place and the way we live are not the only ways to be. We can have a world where everyone is treated fairly and everyone has enough money, time, and space to live well. Many people do not want this to happen. This is why part of my life, which most people do not see, is the part engaged in local organizing. I am still figuring out how best to help out in my own community and city, but I am actively learning and participating in groups like my local Mutual Aid, DSA, and Art Against Displacement. Voting, all year and not just for the presidential election, is the bare minimum. Being an engaged citizen means actually being engaged in your local community and working with others to make the world a better place for everyone.
Some days I think I should only be making artwork that is explicitly political. Other days I think I should only be doing outrageous public interventions to promote radical social change. But most days, I remind myself that for me, a woman of color who did not come from money, did not go to art school, and who does not want to simply get into a gallery so my art will only be seen and bought by the 1%, just being able to make art sometimes -- however and whatever I want -- is radical. And I'm going to continue to make and stop worrying about what I should do.
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