Work samples

  • CB77FBE9-4FDE-4394-8D4B-079D7F16D1B5.JPEG
    CB77FBE9-4FDE-4394-8D4B-079D7F16D1B5.JPEG

    Under/current (2024), a sculptural video installation at the University of Southern Maine, is an enveloping symphony of image, sound, and texture that overlays original film with rocky terrain to address themes of land claim. Extracted rocks mined from Passamaquoddy land become transportive relics of culture, science, and history.  A ticker tape sign flashes stock market prices for gold, silver and copper while visitors can use a metal detector app to scan the rocks to hunt for the metals. 

  • Pry
    Pry
    Pry: Installation of steel, hand sourced phragmites, single channel video (14’x14’x24’) Pry investigates how climate change yields more invasive species, like the acres of phragmites hugging the Chester River banks, which interrupt the native environment.
  • Void
    Void
    Void: Ink tracing of mined rock cores (removed) (5'x5'x2") To represent the 324 mines in the Baltimore and DC metropolitan area, 324 cores were assembled in a circular configuration and traced, ​then removed. The resulting cavities and rock residue echo the process of mining which leaves tremendous loss environmentally, culturally, and historically.
  • Acreage: A Poetry Collection
    Acreage: A Poetry Collection
    Acreage, a 32-poem collection based on field notes from my art practice, was published December 2021 with second editions printing in February 2022 by Baltimore's Akinoga Press. A second collection will be released next year. Writing is a critical aspect of my artistic process. From initial research to thematic exploration, the format allows visual experimentation through words. An audiobook version of Acreage was transformed into sound art made available on Sound Cloud and Band Camp.

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About Stephanie

Baltimore City Highlandtown AE District  

Stephanie Garon's environmental art investigates humanity's interruption of nature. Power. Natural objects juxtaposed against industrial materials reference history, science, and culture to convey themes of claim, labor, and time.

Stephanie is a Trawick Art Prize winner, Hamiltonian Fellow, a National Park Service AIR in the Everglades, and grant recipient from the Puffin Foundation Environmental Art, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Lucid Art Foundation, Maryland State Arts… more

View Stephanie's Resume
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Sculpture

My sculpture brings natural materials into the gallery space to investigate humanity's interruption of the environment. Natural materials are hand sourced at each specific site and all steel sculpture is fabricated by me to address themes of claim, labor and permanence.
 

I've worked with teams of scientists, indigenous tribes, geologists, lawyers, activists, and community members on issues surrounding a mine in Maine/Passamaquoddy land. I was invited by Smithereen Farm in Pembroke, Maine to create large scale artworks using 20,000 rock core samples to support their Maine Clean Water campaign. Five surrounding towns and two reservations depend upon clean water for their economy, health, & environment. The body of artwork was exhibited at The Kreeger Museum, Hamiltonian Gallery, MICA, and Alchemy of Art Gallery and will travel for the next two years to sites including Stand4 Gallery (Brooklyn), The Parsonage Gallery (Maine) and University of Southern Maine in 2024. 

  • Gold Rush
    Gold Rush
    Gold Rush: Steel I-beams, mined rock cores, LED ticker Gold Rush uses rock cores previously extracted from a mine to examine the ecological, cultural, and social implications of mining Indigenous land. An LED ticker displays weekly stock prices for gold, silver and copper to emphasize the commodification of natural resources.
  • Assumption
    Assumption
    Assumption: Steel, mined rock cores from Maine/Passamaquoddy land 1'x1'x1'
  • Say
    Say
    Steel, mica schist 24”x24”x12” Claim and permanence of natural resources are underlying themes of my works of art on mining. With more than 300 active mines in the Baltimore-DC region, on indigenous land, I wonder if we will Say mine Say yours Say stop Say time Say cheese Say anything
  • Shafted
    Shafted
    Shafted Hand carved wood 5'x16'x3' Trays that hold and store mined cores were historically hand carved from wood, an artistry unto itself. ​The Maine cores were stored in hundreds of these trays. In modern mining practice, the trays are made of plastic.
  • Catch
    Catch
    Catch: Steel, ground mined rock cores from Maine/Passamaquoddy land 4'x9'x3"
  • Brae
    Brae
    Brae: Steel, cypress tree. 10'x10'x8' (As shown at Brentwood Arts Exchange 2021)
  • Queen
    Queen

    Steel, wild clay sourced from reclaimed oyster shells in collaboration with The Billion Oyster Project NYC. 

    12"x20"x12"

  • Impalpable
    Impalpable
    Impalpable: steel, felled red oak, enamel 96"x72"x36" (As shown at Hemphill Gallery 2021)
  • Prey
    Prey
    Prey: Steel, oak 8'x6'x4' (As shown at Culture House 2021)
  • Void
    Void
    Void II: Extracted mine cores from Maine/Passamaquoddy land 10'x10'x3' (As shown at The Kreeger Museum)
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    • Installation

    My installations are site specific explorations that examine the tenuous, dynamic relationship between nature and humanity. Viewers physically navigate their path and their connections to nature in site specific installations that incorporate sculpture, video, and sound. 
    • Pry
      Pry
      Pry, a site specific installation at Washington College, investigates humanity's interruption of nature. Climate change ields more invasive species, like the acres of phragmites bordering the Chester River. Indoor installation: steel, phragmites sourced from Chester River, single channel video, sound (24'x24'x14') Outdoor installation: steel (14'x14'x7')
    • Hover
      Hover: steel, prunus cerasus tree, cherries, projection 12'x13'x10' ​Sound by Clint Sleeper By presenting nontraditional materials, like a suspended cherry tree and its fallen cherries, within a gallery space, Hover captures the ideals of the Arte Povera movement. Surrounded by steel sculptures, the audience witnesses the decomposition of the natural elements juxtaposed against the industrial materials through the duration of the exhibit. Hover investigates themes of claim, women's labor, and permanence.
    • Breaking Ground
      Breaking Ground
      Wait Loblolly pine needles, video projection (4:53 loop) Site specific installation Sound by Clint Sleeper ​2021 ​Breaking Ground, a site specific full room installation at Washington DC's Honfleur Gallery, explores humanity’s connection to nature in an urban setting and features 200 cubic feet of loblolly pine needles. An immersive, ecologically motivated intervention by humanity, Breaking Ground transplants locally sourced Loblolly pine needles into an interior gallery space. By following the Arte Povera movement, the installation questions the use of nontraditional materials as art and humanity's connection to them. Pine needles change placement, emphasizing the fragility of nature. Rich in associations, the work functions as abstracted expressions of a time, place, and way of life. The resulting artwork is a visualization of an uneasy truce: the fragile balance between nature and humanity.
    • Bearing
      Bearing
      “Bearing”: steel, single channel video 7:45, sound (8’x9’x8’), steel 8'x4'x4' Filmed at low tide in Maine (Cobscook Bay near Pleasant Point Reservation). An area on Google Maps that’s colored grey since it marks indigenous land. Bearing investigates space & impermanence with undercurrents of land claim. Steel sculpture serves as a mapping of routes taken towards and away from a vanishing point.
    • Silent Spring
      Silent Spring, an immersive environmental installation at Motor House (12/1/20-2/1/21), explores humanity’s connection to the environment through a journey that is both an expedition and a contemplation. Rows of 1,000 prehistoric-sized Princess Tree leaves (Paulownia tomentosa) frame an ethereal leaf labyrinth. These leaves, classified as an invasive species of weeds, are typically found in soils hurt by construction or fire and frequently located in pavement cracks or by powerlines at the road’s edge. They grow 15 feet/year until smothering the canopy. All leaves were sourced from the Baltimore region over the course of one year. In Japan, it's customary to plant a Princess Tree when a girl is born. When she is eligible for marriage, the tree is cut down and carved for her dowry. Women and nature, around the world, intersect and are tied to issues of claim, commodity, and climate change. The labyrinth opens to two large I-beam steel armatures which hold two Princess Trees.
    • Lament II
      Lament II
      Lament II: steel, pine/oak/maple tree branches 8'x23'x4' 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. ​Lament II was curated for Washington DC's Foggy Bottom Biennial. ​
    • Fathom
      Fathom
      Fathom: sound art generated by Vermont's Mad River & Lincoln Brook’s force against 300 feet of steel & galvanized cable. Collaboration with Clint Sleeper. . Fathom, inspired by the unit of measurement of water depth, uses sound as the intersection of art & science. As we experience more storms from climate change, water agitates the steel to make sound.
    • Lament
      Lament
      Lament: steel, oak/pine/maple sticks sourced from Maryland forests 14'x14'x8'. Women around the world, from Bangladesh to Benin, carry bundles of sticks to support their community. The sticks are used for shelter, cooking, and tool making. Confined by land and ritualistic roles, Lament references women's work and humanity's dependency on forests. With climate change and globally devastating wildfires, a single branch becomes sacred symbolism in a time of massive deforestation.
    • Framed
      Framed: steel, white ash tree 4'x8'x4' (As shown at Studio 80 Sculpture Park)
    • Tread
      Tread
      Steel, soil, glue 4'x6' Climate control, gravity, and time influence the artwork to decompose. Changes in the soil create a performance art as the movement of the soil puckers and landslides down the frame. As shown: day 4 at Creative Alliance's Organic Destruction exhibition.
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    • Land Art

    My land artworks explore humanity's interruption of the land through writing, installation works, performance art, and video. Thanks to a grant from The Puffin Foundation, I choreographed and performed three performances in conjunction with a series of three land art works to explore humanity's movement around nature. Located at a section of Maryland's Patuxent River managed by a dam, the earthworks will disappear when the dam reopens. The artworks were submerged like many of the Mid-Atlantic prehistoric petrogyphs that were destroyed for hydroelectric projects. The public's view from the bridge transformed the digging process into performance art. A written and spoken word piece accompanies the series.

    • Land Art (Aerial view)
      Three large scale land artworks were created along the Patuxent River, Maryland, in an area that is controlled by a dam. This video contains the aerial footage for two artworks: Cusp (50') and Dig (500')
    • Dig
      Dig, an excerpt of a video documenting the creation of a 500' land art, is located at a section of the Patuxent River managed by a dam. When the dam reopens, the artwork gets submerged like many Mid-Atlantic prehistoric petroglyphs that were destroyed for hydroelectric projects. By exploring the interdependence between humanity and nature, this performance art and earthwork focus on impermanence.
    • Cusp
      Cusp
      Cusp: shovel and hand carved portion of Patuxent River (Maryland) 50'. Cusp, the second in a land art series at a section of the Patuxent River that is managed by a dam, follows the shape of the shoreline and points towards the land's boundaries. By carving the land, like skin, the piece references loss and scarring by humanity. Over several months, the void filled with plastic bags, bottles, and receipts. When the dam reopens, the land art will be submerged. A spoken word piece accompanies the documentation of the earthwork.
    • Paralyzed
      Paralyzed
      Video still of land art performance containing steel sculpture at Maryland's Duckett Watershed (video 4:51). Choreography and dance by Stephanie Garon. 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.
    • Survive
      Survive
      Video still of land art performance containing steel sculpture and textiles at Maryland's Duckett Watershed (video 3:46). Choreography and dance by Stephanie Garon. Music: Survive by Diablo. By personifying the land and exploring vulnerability through dance, the dancer's movements frame the relationship between humanity and nature. Performed in the woods simultaneously as 4 million acres of trees burned in California's 2020 and 2021 wildfires.
    • Silent Spring
      Silent Spring
      As part of the public programming of the Silent Spring environmental art installation, this performance involved navigating paths around invasive species. Music by Clint Sleeper.
    • Beginning, Becoming
      Clip of Beginning, Becoming public performance at Honfleur Gallery Beginning, Becoming: by Christopher Stracey (6:05) Movements are drawings in pine needles. After research, sketches, sourcing, writing and conversations, my personal work culminates with wordless expression. My practice is built upon sculpture, but steps through nature and land help me understand form, perspective and permanence.
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    • Works On Paper

    To extract rock cores, mines clear 30 feet of trees to insert a 5" wide steel pipe for mechanical operations. These works on paper conceptually tie rock to paper, two critical natural resources. Pigments were made using crushed and ground rock cores, mixing them with DC tap water and natural binder, and juxtaposing them with rocks mixed with calcium hydroxide (lime), the primary chemical mines use for extractions. 
    • Void
      Void
      Void: Ink tracing of 324 mine cores from Maine/Passamaquoddy land removed 5'x5'
    • Core
      Core
      Core Extracted mine core from Maine/Passamaquoddy land 36"x36"
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Untitled Extracted mine cores from Maine/Passamaquoddy land 48"x60' To extract rock cores, mines clear 30 feet of trees to insert a 5" wide steel pipe for mechanical operations. These works on paper conceptually tie rock to paper, two critical natural resources. Pigments were made using the cores and juxtaposing them with rocks mixed with calcium hydroxide (lime), the primary chemical mines use for extractions.
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Untitled Extracted mine cores from Maine/Passamaquoddy land 48"x60"
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Untitled Extracted mine cores from Maine/Passamaquoddy land, Baltimore tap water, calcium hydroxide, soil 18"x24"
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Untitled Extracted mine cores from Maine/Passamaquoddy land, Baltimore tap water, calcium hydroxide, soil 18"x24"
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Untitled Extracted mine cores from Maine/Passamaquoddy land, Baltimore tap water, calcium hydroxide, soil 10"x18"
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Untitled Extracted mine cores from Maine/Passamaquoddy land, Baltimore tap water, calcium hydroxide, soil 22"x26"
    • Resonance
      Resonance
      Resonance: Ground mine cores from Passamaquoddy land, calcium hydroxide, DC tap water with sound collaboration with award winning folk musician Mali Obomsawin, Abenaki. 48"x120"
    •

    • Poetry

    Writing is a critical aspect of my artistic process. From making lists to verse, written word serves as a companion to the themes of my sculptural work as I source local materials.  After publishing in numerous international literary journals, my poetry collection was published by Baltimore-based Akinoga Press and translated into an audiobook.  In 2020, I was honored to be a Writer-in-Residence with Baltimore's Yellow Arrow Publishing.  
    • Acreage: A Poetry Collection
      Acreage: A Poetry Collection
      Acreage is a published collection of 32 poems that speak to the vulnerability of nature to humanity. Over the past year, poems were published in eight international literary journals.
    • Acreage: The Audiobook
      Acreage: The Audiobook
      Baltimore's Bentley Sound Studio mixed my voice, rain, oak seeds & more into professional tracks to record the audiobook version of Acreage.
    • Yellow Arrow Writer-in-Residence
      Yellow Arrow Writer-in-Residence
    • Land Reckoning
      Land Reckoning
      Land Reckoning is the written companion to a series of three land artworks completed along the Patuxent River, Maryland. The chapbook is distributed next to the video documentation of the land art at gallery exhibitions.
    • Reliquary
      Reliquary was published in the San Antonio Review.
    • Terra Cotta
      Terra Cotta
      Terra Cotta was published in Resilience, a literary volume by Yellow Arrow Publishing.
    • Relentless Rain
      Relentless Rain
      Relentless Rain is part of a collection of poems written as part of the process of sourcing materials for artworks. The collection was published by Baltimore based Akinoga Press.
    •

    • Photography

    After bearing witness to the catastrophic impact of mining on land, photography became the most impactful format of documenting and narrating humanity's interruption of nature. Digital silver prints were created to emphasize the irony of using mined silver connected to using this format. 
    • Cloud 9
      Cloud 9
      Digital c print 11x14
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Digital C-print 11"x14"
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Digital C-print 11"x14"
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Digital C Print 11"x14"
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Digital C Print 11"x14"
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Digital C Print 11"x14"
    • Untitled
      Untitled
      Digital C Print 11"x14"
    • Scattered Trees on A Storm Swept Plain
      Scattered Trees on A Storm Swept Plain
      Scattered Trees on A Storm Swept Plain Still of Single Channel Video (8:29)
    • Concede
      Concede
      Concede: Digital print of charcoal frottage and mine cores 18x24
    • Dire
      Dire
      Dire: Digital photo of charcoal frottage and mine cores 18x24
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