Stephanie Clark – Collage Artist

Stephanie Clark is a collage and mixed media artist whose work explores themes of looking back on social topics and comparing them to today, focusing on personal experiences, current societal issues, and women in society. She grew up in Edmonton, Alberta where she continues to reside with her family.

Her artistic journey began at a young age with a love of all things art. During her business degrees’ she enrolled in art classes on the side. After graduating with her MBA, she found a formal career in marketing, which she has pursued for over 20 years and continues to explore her creativity though this work. Recognizing a need for more art in her life she enrolled in a Certificate of Visual Arts program at the University of Alberta, which allowed her to experiment with many different mediums before finding her passion in collage. Recently, she travelled to New York City to participate in a collage workshop from established collage artist, Steven Rudin.

Stephanie uses her love of advertisements and photographs, both new and old, in the form of old magazine images (from her extensive collection), her own photographs and a variety of other materials to create her art. She has been influenced by Andy Warhol and his bold, graphic nature and his roots in advertising.

“When a collage comes together, with all of the elements working, it is magical and the highlight of my creative process”

– Stephanie Clark

As a woman I struggle to reconcile the fragility and instability of the role of women within an ever-changing society.  As an artist I examine the roles women are expected to wear in society and its evolution over time, explore looking back on social topics and comparing them to today, and narrating personal themes.  By nature, the act of collage and mixed media is the placement of layers, covering and uncovering elements or different aspects of the work.  The multilayered images allude to the layers present and how we determines what to cover or uncover depending on our audience.

Using self-taken photos of textures, print media, and ink. I create a sense of depth and intrigue. Subjective associations are based on a connection to both the overall theme of the work and the use of layering. The work incites the viewer to examine further to develop their own associations.

Art is not only a way of creating to be seen, but to create in order to see.  Seeing can be defined as not only what is in front of us but also calling in deeper themes or questions through the work.  As an artist you are in control of how much you cover or uncover of yourself through your work.