artist interview - stephanie kelly clark

You might think you're handy with a needle and thread, but while you're proudly stitching on a shirt's worth of buttons (good job!), Stephanie Kelly Clark is going one step further and embroidering scenes as rich and detailed as oil paintings. We were mighty impressed with the Utah lass' work, so we asked her for a rundown of her inspiration and methods.

What is your name and how old are you? My name is Stephanie Kelly Clark and I am 29 years old.

Where were you born and where do you live now? I was born in Portland, Oregon, raised in Urbana Missouri. I currently live in Salt Lake City, Utah.

How does where you grew up and where you live now affect your art? I grew up on a farm in a very small town in Missouri. Growing up poor and in such a small town, it forced me to be creative in all aspects of my life. My twin sister and I used to explore the forests and old abandon farm homes. I used to sing out loud, like Snow White, in hopes that the little critters would come play with me (never happened). My mother would never buy us Barbie furniture and clothes for our Barbie's so we spent hours creating these "extravagant" homes for our dolls. I was always finding ways to create in my life. Even to where I live now, I'm always finding people, places, and things that inspire me to do something creatively. With my Dwelling series, I use a lot of Americana style architecture, because that's what I am most familiar with



Please describe the space where you do most of your creation – whether it's your art studio or kitchen bench! My home is where I create it all! It's a very small apartment and I love it. I have a spare bedroom that I call my art/craft room/studio. But I guess you can say I've kind of taken over the whole apartment; every wall around every corner is a piece of art. My working process is kind of all over the place; I embroider on my couch in front of the TV/music (while my husband reads Harry Potter right next to me).

What kind of mediums do you use? Why do you choose to use these mediums? As of late my #1 medium is embroidery floss and canvas. I consider myself a painter and I paint with thread. The process of transforming string into art struck me as something visually stimulating with complex simplicity. Painting with thread is my way down the rabbit hole, my looking glass if you will. My background in painting has allowed me to explore the material using techniques that derive more from the worlds of drawing and painting. The embroidery floss is my palette and the needle is my paintbrush. My work is an ode and influenced by the worlds of tapestry and my love for craft. I'd like to think I can reclaim the word "craft", which contains the idea of an unusual frame of knowledge and skill passed on from generation to generation. My art is what I make, my craft is the skills I have learned in order to make it brilliant.



Is there a running theme to the work you create, or do you just make whatever comes to mind? The idea of using embroidery permeates the feelings of my grandma's home and the embroidery skills she has passed down to me. With that, I use embroidery to create the domestic feel to tell the story of life in the home and family.

The idea for my Dwellings series started when I was taking a walk with my husband one night; I confessed my fascination with looking into the windows of people's homes. Not necessarily hiding in bushes and being a 'Peeping Tom', but if I'm walking or driving by and people have their blinds open, I'm going to look (admit it people, I'm not the only one). I'm curious to see what they are doing, what they are watching on TV, how they decorated their home, seeing all the hideous art on their walls etc. This thought provoking idea and question to how people live in their little boxes, is intriguing, lovely and or unsettling. What those people are in their homes vs what they are on the outside. These dwellings almost start to become a portrait of the person who lives there. I start to create a person and a personality that I think lives there; with a name and interests.



What kinds of ideas and things are you working on at the moment? I'm still playing with the Dwellings idea, creating homes. As of late I've been quite busy with commissions from people wanting me to create their homes in my medium. The home and where people live is so much a part of them and their lives, my pieces are their self-portraits.

What is the strangest thing or thought that has inspired a piece of work? One semester I had a crazy obsession with men's facial hair. I would see a man with an amazing beard or moustache and get this urge to run up to him and start petting him like a dog (I never did, of course). So I created a series called, 'Moustache Envy', where I created a bunch of male portraits with embroidered facial hair and I added myself within the mix and embroidered a moustache on myself.

Which era of art do you appreciate the most? I'm a fan of little bits here and there. But I'm definitely fond of any tapestry textile art from any era. The textures, the movement, and the colours the fibres create rock my world.



What do you doodle when you are daydreaming? Patterns! I've always been attracted to pattern. There's something relaxing and soothing about that repetition.

What other budding artists do you love? Lately, Leisa Rich, John Brooks, Sommer Roman Sheffield and John Erickson (my professor, who got me where I am today).
But my all times favourites are Christo and Jeanne-Claude, John Singer Sargent, Jann Haworth, Claire Zeisler, Lenore Tawney, Sheila Hicks, Jon Coffelt, Anni Albers... I can really go on for days.

What do you enjoy doing when not creating art? Crafts, spending time with family and friends. I love and am very much attracted to everything and anything 'old lady': doilies, embroidery, antiquing, souvenir spoons, shower caps, brooches, calling couches "davenports", moo moos, half slices of gum in my purse, musicals and water aerobics. I have an obsession with cemeteries, and live right across the street from one. I love to walk right out my front door into the peaceful silence but still be surrounded by so many people. I'm fascinated with road kill and if I can get the chance to take pictures of it, I will.



Where can we see more of your work? Follow my work at stephart.blogspot.com, stephaniekellyclark.wix.com/stephaniekclark, or facebook.com/stephaniekclarkart.