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Wetlands

Installation view of black tyvek cut paper tents with lights. Flying silhouettes of black tyvek birds. 2013

Forest Floor

Installation view

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About Stephanie

Baltimore City

Stephanie Garmey's picture
Stephanie Garmey received her MFA degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art - Hoffberger School of Painting where she studied with Grace Hartigan. Previously she received a MA in Painting from Purdue University in Indiana and BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Garmey has received individual artists grants from the Maryland State Arts Council (2015, 2012, 2002) and the Mayors Advisory Committee on Arts and Culture (1990).​ She was a finalist for the Trawick Prize in 2021 and a... more

Pathways

Hillyer Gallery, Washington DC 2020

Animals have an instinctual flow with the balance of their ecosystem, i.e. nature.

They have as much intelligence bound in this instinctual knowledge to fill a book. Each of these animal habitats has a book structure that suggests this innate encyclopedia of knowledge of nature that guides their place in it. The books contain suggestions of migratory maps, daily paths, flora and other fauna. Each animal tableau has a presence of intelligence and dignity in each way of life. All of these animals are impacted by human lack of deference to the balance of nature and indeed our entire planet. In contrast these animal tableaus bind artifacts of human origin with the animals’ natural worlds, reminding us of our ancient roots of positive and fruitful acknowledgement of animal power and coexistence.
  • Black Bear

    54”Diameter x 72”H Fabric, embroidery, cut paper, wax, transfers, wood
  • Jack Rabbet and Gopher Snake

    30” Diameter x 43” H Cut silk, wax, cut paper, wood, transfers, resin, paint
  • Foxes

    42” Diameter x 30” H Cut silk, resin, paint, wax, graphite, wood, transfers, clay, sand
  • Scarlet Ibis

    36” W x 34” H Cut silk, cut paper, watercolor, wax, wood, gold leaf
  • Gray Crowned Cranes

    48” Diameter x 36” H Cut paper, watercolor, wax, acrylic paint, canvas, beads, wood, ribbon
  • Armadillo

    cut paper, thread, bronze squares, wood 24" diameter x 14" hight
  • Heron

    cut paper, wax, abaca handmade paper, hemp thread, wood 36"w x 34" h
  • Red Shanked Douc Monkey

    cut paper, resin, paint, thread, gold leaf, wood, branch 38"w x 7' h

Indigo Dream

Indigo Dream, The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE. 2017.

Indigo Dream is Stephanie Garmey's vision of the voyage that elephant herds take across the African savannah to the Salt Caves of Mt. Elgon in Kenya. Led by the herd's matriarch, these journeys are made at night, under the stars.
Knowledge or Memory of the route has been passed on through the matriarchal lineage for thousands of years.

From an imagined bed in her "Dream Hut", Garmey immerses the viewer in what she describes as the innate, learned, and shared knowledge of the incredible animal world we share the earth with, including elephants,monkeys, weavers birds, and the grey-crowned crane. The animals and foliage reach out in this installation to share their amazing intelligence,beauty, and knowledge.

The artist draws her inspiration from natural objects, fossils, and antique taxidermy. Her meditations on nature use a variety of media including painting, intricately cut paper, book arts, drawing, clay, and light projection.

“ Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."

- Naturalist and Preservationist John Muir

 “I defy anyone to look upon elephants without a sense of wonder. Their very enormity, their clumsiness, their giant stature, represent a mass of liberty that sets you dreaming. They’re … Yes the last individuals."

- Romain Gary writes from The Roots of Heaven 

What are days for? To wake us up. To put between the endless nights. What are nights for? To fall through time into another world.”

- Performance artist Laurie Andersons documentary, Heart of a Dog 

  • Indigo Dream

    Installation view of Indigo Dream. 2017
  • Ancestral Matriarch

    Ancestral Matriarch - 48"W x 144"L x 96" H - Plywood, reed, paint, wax,sand, mirrors, led lights. 2017
  • Ancestral Matriarch

    Ancestral Matriarch - 48"W x 144"L x 96" Wood, reed, sand, mirrors, wax, light. 2017
  • Tree of Knowledge

    Tree of Knowledge - 54"D x 78" H - paper, wood, paint, wax, ink, book cloth, sand, glitter, reed. 2017
  • Tree of Knowledge(detail)

    Tree of Knowledge (Detail) 2017
  • Indigo Dream(Full Installation)

    Indigo Dream ( Full Installation) 2017
  • Dream Hut

    Dream Hut - 6' W x 9' H x 8' L - wood, fabric, sequins, paper, projection of stars, thread,paint.2017
  • Weaver Birds and Trees

    Weaver Nests / Weaver Trees - 5' W x 17' L x 10' H - wood, hemp, moss,paper,wax, wire, sticks,paint,indigo dye, cotton rope,copper wire. 2017
  • Dream Boat

    Dream Boat - 36"W x 108"L - reed, paint, yarn, tyvek. 2017
  • Gray Crowned Crane of Africa

    Gray Crowned Crane - 3' H - beads, cut paper,wood,wax. 2017

Indigo Dream / Paintings

Series of 6" x 8" wood panels using gouache with African animals and textiles patterns.

  • Lion

    Lion - 6" W x 8" L - wood panel , gouache. 2017
  • Purple Monkey Tails

    Purple Monkey Tails - 6"W x 8" L - wood panel, gouache. 2017
  • Pink Grasshopper

    Pink Grasshopper - 6"W x 8" L - wood panel, gouache. 2017
  • Walking Stick

    Walking Stick - 6"W x 8"L - wood panel, gouache. 2017
  • Rhino

    Rhino - 6"W x 8"L - wood panel, gouache. 2017
  • Cats Cradle

    Cats Cradle - 6"W x 8"L - wood panel, gouache. 2017
  • Okapi

    Okapi - 6"W x 8"L - wood panel, gouache. 2017
  • Moon Monkey

    Moon Monkey - 6"W x 8"L - wood panel, gouache. 2017
  • Elephant

    Elephant - 6"W x 8"L - wood panel, gouache. 2017
  • Celestial Elephant

    Celestial Elephant - 6"W x 8"L - wood panel, gouache. 2017

Edge of The Forest

Edge of the Forest, VisArts, Rockville,MD. 2015.

“Edge of the Forest”
“Edge of the Forest” explores the solitude of travel, place, and time through nature. The slow looking at water, trees, plants, and animals translates the life force, movement, rhythm, and our perspective of time and place.

Garmey was inspired by the naturalist Henry David Thoreau's stay in a small cabin on Walden Pond in 1847. Thoreau's simplicity for a single cot and three chairs - one chair for solitude, two for conversation, and three for socializing. This influenced her choices for her own paper cabin with hand made hiking boots, handmade rocks and filling journals with writings and drawings. Thinking of her own solitudes and replenishment through nature helped create this space.
 
The artist invites the viewer to walk through these environments, to evoke subtle and sometimes surprising shifts of moods and space. The work will heighten awareness of our inter-dependence with nature, and evoke a respect and willingness to protect the environment.
The installation includes many works made with cut paper, as with the three dimensional animals. The mural of animal drawings are done in graphite with screen printed ferns.  The drawings on the cabin are drawn on paper which has been made transparent with wax. Wax was used to transfer drawings to the encaustic surface on the slices of wood.  

I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not , when I came to die discover that  I had not lived.
 
- Henry David Thoreau 

  • Deer

    Deer - 2015 72" H x 36" W - Graphite on paper with silkscreen. Cut paper leaves with paper / wax fungi
  • Skunk

    Skunk - 2015 34"W x 28"H - Graphite on paper with silkscreen. Cut paper / wax fungi
  • Bear

    Bear - 2015 72"H x 36"W - Graphite on paper with silkscreen. Cut paper leaves and cut paper / wax fungi
  • Rabbit

    Rabbit - 2015 20"W x 34"H - Graphite on paper with silkscreen. Cut paper leaves and cut paper / wax fungi
  • Fox

    Fox - 2015 36"W x 24"H - Graphite on paper with silkscreen. Cut paper leaves and cut paper / wax fungi
  • Wetlands

    Wetlands - 2015 4'W x 15'L with 9' long canoe Reed,handmade paper,wax, white tyvek,
  • Forest Floor

    Installation view
  • Fern Shelter

    Fern Shelter - 2015 6' W x 9'H x 9' L - wood, wax, encaustic paper, light, linen, embroidery, cut paper,clay.
  • Fern Shelter

    Fern Shelter - 2015 6' W x 9' L x 9' H - wood.wax, encaustic paper, linen, embroidery, clay, cut paper.
  • Fern Shelter

    Fern Shelter - 2015 6' W x 9' L x 9' H - wood, wax, encaustic paper, linen, embroidery, cut paper, light, clay.

Wetlands

Wetlands, Pinkard Gallery, The Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD. 2013.

I am interested in the slowing of time and a meditative recollection of the regenerative and corroding events of nature.

A canoe gliding on the surface of a river.

A heron returning to a stream.

The muddy undergrowth and continuous humming of the swamp.

A fish skeleton picked clean.

The sound of woodpeckers tapping into trees.

The weathered scattered bones of a deer.

These images come from time spent exploring natural areas along the east coast.

  • Wetlands

    Installation view of black tyvek cut paper tents with lights. Flying silhouettes of black tyvek birds. 2013
  • Wetlands

    White organza tent with led light, felt sleeping bag, felt boots, ceramic rocks with watercolor and wax, handmade books, box of paper graphite insects,and embroidery pillow. 2013
  • Wetlands

    Installation view of white organza tent with led light and two cut paper black tyvek tents with lights. 2013
  • Wetlands

    Reed canoe, cut paper heron with wax, handmade abaca paper with hemp string made into lotuses, white tyvek folded river. 2013
  • Wetlands Installation

    Wetlands Installation - 2013
  • Wetlands / Graphite Wax Logs

    Detail - Graphite encaustic transfers on natural cut logs. 2013
  • Wetlands/ Deer Skeleton

    Ceramic with arctic white underglaze, black sand, and wood. 2013
  • Wetlands

    wax encaustic scroll drawing, ceramic rocks with watercolor and wax, two graphite cut paper drawings of leaves - "Snake Leaf" and "Rock Leaf". 2013

Forest Floor - Paper Animals/ Animal Architecture

These paper wax animals were created for "Forest Floor" at Stevenson University,Baltimore,MD.2011. Combining trace monoprints on mulberry paper with the cut paper and wax helped combine drawing and sculpture.The trace monoprints became a second skin over the animals bellies and backs.To my surprise they looked like tattoos or drawings of anatomy.These are life size animals that I find joy in spotting through my walks in the woods.

  • Two Webs

    Sculpture Installation: Cut Paper installed in trees 86"H x 48"W x22"D. 2011
  • Large Wasp Nest

    Sculpture Installation: Cut Paper, trace monoprint, twig 18"W x 14"D x10"H. 2011
  • Wood Chuck/Magnolia Leaves and Pod

    Sculpture Installation: Cut Paper, wax, trace monoprint 18"x24" base. 2011
  • Skunk / Pod

    Sculpture Installation: Cut Paper/ Wax/ Trace monoprint 18" x 24" base. 2011
  • Porcupine / Black Pine Cone

    Sculpture Installation: Cut Paper/ wax/ trace monoprint 18" x 24" base. 2011
  • Owl

    Sculpture Installation on tree Branch Cut Paper/ wax/ trace monoprint 24"H x 20" D x 12"W. 2011

Forest Floor Drawings and Glass Books

These six cut paper leaf drawings were made for the exhibition "Forest Floor" Stevenson University,Baltimore, MD.in 2011.
I wanted to see how much I could get out of using limited materials. I used graphite pencils
throughout all the leaves and a small amount of gouache on a few. I combined a wasp nest, snake-skin,taxidermy birds,rocks, from my collection of cabinet of curiosities. These are very large life size leaves 2ft. x 2 ft. that I collected to dry out and draw from.

Forest Floor - Curiosity Cabinets

I am a collector of nature.

Scraps of lichen, bits of feather, snakeskin, boxes of insects, wasp nests, fossils, and a collection of taxidermy animals adorn my home and studio to inspire my work.

My work celebrates the feeling of meditating on these natural forms.

These cabinet of wonders were inspired through years of loving going to the Natural History Museum and the Walters Museums own Cabinet of Wonders.

  • Bird Cabinet with Book

    Curiosity Cabinet with Birds - 2011 Wood and (Screen Printed) Glass Cabinet Cut Paper Birds and Bird Nest in Drawer Cut Paper Book of Birds in top 18"D x 21"W x 5"H
  • Insect Curiosity Cabinet

    Curiosity Cabinet with Insects - 2011 Cut paper, wood, glass, screenprint Book with cut paper in top 18"W x 24"L x 6"H

Forest Floor - Light Box/ Screens

These Light box screens were made for the show "Forest Floor"at Stevenson University in 2011.
The light gives them a sense of the nocturnal. They are hand cut drawings of the flora and fauna of the forest.

  • Gallery View

    Gallery view - 2011
  • Forest Blues #2/ Dusk (2nd view)

    Forest Blues / Dusk - 2011 Cut Paper Screens Wood Frame Column, interior light, Indigo ink 78"H x 29"W x 29"D
  • Forest Blues #1/ Dawn (2nd view)

    Forest Blues - Dawn - 2011 Cut Paper Screens Wood Frame Column, interior light, indigo ink 78"H x 29"W x 29"D
  • Forest Blues #2/ Dusk

    Forest Blues - Dusk - 2011 Cut Paper Screens Wood Frame Column, interior light, indigo ink 78"H x 29"W x 29"
  • Forest Blues #1/ Dawn

    Forest Blues - Dawn - 2011 Cut Paper Screens Wood Frame Column, interior light, indigo ink 78"H x 29"W x 29"D
  • Small Terrarium

    Small Terrarium - 2011 Cut Paper Screens Wood and Glass cabinet, interior light 14"H x 11"W x11"D
  • Large Terrarium

    Large Terrarium - 2011 Cut Paper Screens Wood and Glass cabinet, interior light 17"H x 14"W x 14"D

Paintings

  • Marsh

    Marsh - 2001 Acrylic Paint 50" H x 54" W
  • Woodland

    Woodland - 2010 Acrylic on canvas 44"W x 50"H
  • Night Owls

    Night Owls - 2010 Acrylic on canvas 44"W x 50"H
  • Purple Artichoke

    Purple Artichoke - 2001 Acrylic on canvas 65" H x 66" W
  • Magic Monkey

    Magic Monkey - 1989 Oil on Canvas 4'W x 3'H
  • Cobweb

    Cobweb 2001 Acrylic on canvas 45 1/2" H x 45 1/2" W
  • Kimono Dream

    Kimono Dream - 1995 Oil on canvas 73" H x 58 1/2" W
  • Campfire

    Campfire - 2001 Acrylic on canvas 48 1/2" H x 55" W
  • Birdcage

    Birdcage - 2000 Oil on canvas 49" H x 49" W

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Stephanie's Curated Collection

This artist has not yet created a curated collection.