Stephanie Todhunter
About | Stephanie Todhunter received a BA from Bowdoin College and did postgraduate work at the University of Minnesota. Her work was recently exhibited at the Kathryn Schultz, Maud Morgan, Galatea, and Abigail Ogilvy Galleries, and in the AREACODE Art Fair and Boston International Fine Art Show. She was awarded the Mozaik Future Art Award in 2020 by Mozaik Philanthropy Los Angeles and Artist of the Year 2017 by the Cambridge Art Association. Her work is held in private collections around the world.
MOLLY BELIEVES, ink transfer, spraypaint, acrylic paint, oil, collage on paper
Q&A
What are your earliest memories of being artistic? I don’t actually remember this, but my step-mother recently sent me a photograph of three tiny pencil drawings I did for her when I was very young (maybe five?). I had a tiny pad of paper and a tiny set of colored pencils I apparently took everywhere. She still carries the little drawings in her wallet.
When did art become a pursuit? When my youngest child was weaned I went back to school for landscape design. I dropped out after a year because I had fallen madly in love with the drafting classes (but the rest of the classes—not so much! ). The first couple of years, I worked with oil markers and spray paints. I then spent several years experimenting with as many different materials as possible: alcohol inks, oil paints, acrylic paints, plaster, inks, oil pastels, encaustics, screen printing. And on all different surfaces: canvas, glass, paper, plywood, artist boards. The last several years I’ve been experimenting with digital and physical collage. Although I work with materials and methods that pull from different disciplines (sculpture, photography, printmaking, painting, digital), I find that because the work is telling stories about the latchkey girls, and the imagery is very similar, there is still a cohesiveness to the work. It all still makes sense to me.
Bathtub Saint Triptych, kilz, acrylic medium, ink transfer, collage, acrylic paint on plywood
Are you self-taught or formally educated in visual art? I’m self taught. I read about methods and materials and I am constantly experimenting — with the goal of improving my abilities to illustrate specific ideas. I love trying to find the perfect combination of symbols, colors and materials that best represent the emotions/ideas I’m trying to capture.
I also find artists whose work I LOVE and then try to figure out what it is I love about their work. My current art crushes: Stikki Peaches, Deborah Roberts, Rosson Crow, Kinki Texas, AM DeBrincat, Huma Bhabha. I’m sure there are a couple more I’m forgetting.
How did you first become involved with CAA? Becoming involved with the CAA was the BEST DECISION I ever made! I’ve made so many connections with other artists and art professionals. I’ve participated in many group shows and in one of the smaller group shows (Darker Joys with Amantha Tsaros, Keith MacLelland and Katie Lane). I took a workshop that drastically improved the way I photograph my finished art pieces, and last year, I did the Artist Portfolio Review. The professional support and encouragement I have received from the director Erin Becker has been above and beyond the call of duty, and Rebecca Schnopp and the rest of the staff are all extremely helpful and enthusiastic.
In what other ways are you involved in the local art community? I am the manager of a small co-operative art studio space in West Medford called Jerome Street Studios. I have a studio on the third floor. Sheila Corkery (gold and silver wax cast jewelry) and Earl Howard (pottery) are on the second floor. Adam LoRusso (paintings and tattoo design) and Tanya Howard (culinary classes and catering) are on the first floor. We currently have one studio open, but are waiting for the pandemic to wind down before finding another artist to move in. We also have a small gallery on the first floor that we open to the public for small events. Our website is www.jeromestreetstudios.com and our Instagram is @jeromestreetstudios.
I have been on the board of West Medford Open Studios for eight (?) years, I think. West Medford Open Studios is a vibrant two day event located in local artist studios, homes, and host homes in West Medford. (This year, due to the pandemic, we have changed WMOS to a one day only, completely outside event, happening in June. However, we will return to our regular format in 2022). Our website is www.wmos.org and our Instagram is @west.medford.open.studios.
How do you choose your subject matter? Is there a reoccurring theme that carries throughout your work? I started working on the latchkey girls project in 2014. The backbone of the series is an ongoing succession of plaster encased vintage dolls, each re-colored and re-named. The plaster encased girls (reminiscent of Han Solo encased in carbonite) begin as vintage Dawn dolls from the 1970s. These dolls were only made for a brief amount of time and generally are only remembered by the GenX generation. Dawn dolls are smaller than Barbies and, although they have exaggerated waspish waists and perky breasts, are “tweenish” in age. They were small, generic, easy to carry, and easy to lose. Once I plaster and ink the dolls, they develop distinct and often unsettling features and personalities. I take a photographic portrait of each girl to capture and highlight these quirks. These portraits are used in larger pieces to tell stories about the lost girls. Common themes are isolation, stranger danger, missing children, parental neglect, and lord-of-the-flies-like adventure in small town suburbia.
Most recently: the Saints of the Drowned World rule over remains of bygone Apocalypses: Nuclear Winter, Cold War, Satanic Panic, Stranger Danger. They also rule over private childhood catastrophes: divorce, abuse, neglect, and abandonment. The Saints are reminders that there have always been global catastrophes in the making as well as gentle guardians of our own very private and personal apocalypses. And a final reminder that catastrophic extinction events have always resulted in bursts of evolutionary change. *And I was thinking about all this BEFORE the pandemic even started. It all seems strangely congruent to the the current situation.
The Drowned World Acts 1-3, kilz, acrylic medium, ink transfer, collage, acrylic paint on plywood
Do you own any art by other artists? Is so, what artists? BUY ART FROM LIVING LOCAL ARTISTS YOU LIKE. If you see something you like, buy it! If you see something you like but can’t afford to buy it, tell everyone you know about that artist and how much you like them. I can’t always afford to buy the exact art I like, but many artists I love sell prints and smaller items. Shout out to the JSS artists: Sheila Corkery, Earl Howard, Adam LoRusso, Tanya Howard (and past artists Katie Lane and Ted Adams, Amantha Tsaros and Ted Ollier). Another shout out to all the artists from West Medford Open Studios (you can see their work on the website www.wmos.org).
See more from Stephanie
Website: www.stephanietodhunter.com
Instagram: @stephanietodhunterart
Facebook: Jerome Street Studios and West Medford Open Studios