Stephanie Lewis Robertson Fabricsinger
South Haven, Michigan
Stephanie Lewis Robinson is the juror for the South Haven Center for the Arts' Regional Online Juried Exhibition "Fantastical Flora and Fauna," which explores artist visions of the fantastical flora and fauna that live in their imaginations. This exhibition continues the celebration of Frida Kahlo and her beloved garden at her home, in Mexico City—Casa Azul—that inspired her artwork.
(Please note that "Frida Kahlo's Garden," the exhibition planned for Summer 2020, was cancelled by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the South Haven Center for the Arts is continuing our work to celebrate Frida and her gardens through "Fanstastical Flora and Fauna" and the outdoor Frida's Garden exhibition that is displayed in downtown South Haven and surrounding neighborhood gardens.)
Much like a musical conversation, Stephanie Lewis Robertson sings to her hand-dyed and –printed fabrics while she works. Spirituality, ritual, nature, music, the concept of the “last worst time” and the current state of the world serve as the inspiration for the fabric and paper constructions.
Artist Bio
Ms. Robertson is the Program Chair for Fine Arts at Ivy Tech Community College, Central Indiana region. She holds a MFA (1994, University of Georgia) and a BFA (1981, Miami University) in Fabric Design. Her work is included in several corporate and private collections and she is also a teaching artist with Arts for Learning of Indiana.
In 2017, she was accepted into Religion Spirituality and the Arts V. Among her other awards and grants are three Individual Artists Grants from the Indiana Arts Commission, an Arts in the Park grant (2017), Second Place for Three Dimensional Work in Artistry in Fiber 2016 and Best of Show, Artistry in Fiber 2014, Second Place (2015) and First and Third Place (2011) in Surface Design at the Indiana State Fair, recipient of the Stutz Artists Association Studio Space in 2002, and an Arts Council of Indianapolis Creative Renewal Fellowship in 2001.
Some of her exhibitions include Invocations: Reliquaries for the Discarded (Artsplace, Portland, IN), Tiny IV, V, VI and VII (Gallery 924, Indianapolis, IN), Ivy Tech Community College Arts and Design Faculty Show (Gallery 924, Indianapolis, IN), Wrestling with the Infinite (Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, IN), TBI Prayers (Indianapolis International Airport), and The Infinite Moment of Now (Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN).
Artist Statement
"Prayer made visible. For children and mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters. For family for friends. For health and safety, prayers of compassion and empathy, fierce prayers and gentle prayers. For communities and the lost, for Mother Earth and Father Sky, for oceans, forests, flowers and crickets and creeks. For beauty, for peace, for love. For fires and food and keeping the faith for those who are wandering.
The fabric begins as a blank cloth, waiting for our conversation to begin. We sing, we pray, we say "yes", "no", "this". The fabric and the prayers tell me their story and I serve as the storyteller. I pray."
Artwork by Stephanie Lewis Robertson
Prayer Rug
Going Walkabout
Rust Detritus, detail