Browsing by Author ""McMahon, Stephanie""

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5

Open Access
"Emergence of language; Rumination of an artist"
(Alfred University, 2024) "Rivers, Archer"; "McMahon, Stephanie"
"[Excerpt] I work within my own truisms. Merriam-Webster defines truism as “an undoubted or self-evident truth especially: one too obvious for mention”. I take phrases from my encounters in life and transform them into art by disrupting their foundation. The language I use becomes detached from their definitions and falls into my realm of understanding. These truisms are anecdotes of my experience. Emotion, mood, and pre-existing connotations are made through my handling of color. Through this way of art making, I use text as a vehicle to create a more complex statement beyond what a dictionary can provide."
Open Access
"JHÍN, Force-to-Flow"
(Alfred University, 2024) "Johnson, Amanei"; "McMahon, Stephanie"
"[Excerpt] ‘Force-to-flow’ is an interdependent relationship highlighting methods of accumulating artistic research for my artwork. Force in this context can be defined as the moments in my practice where I demand and exert energy—exerting force to attain resource material and disciplined routine. This can be demonstrated through reading books and visiting art institutions. Flow in this dichotomy is defined as the moments where I allow creative spontaneity to create moments of intrigue. This is experienced by “loafing and inviting the soul”, where I allow the flow state of existing to take over—for example, a conversation with a random stranger, or resting contemplations while on a train. These experiences are a part of my creative process, where I document inside handmade sketchbooks. I advance my larger painting projects by harnessing ideas from these documentations whose themes gradually interconnect, weaving together topics of American street culture, creative apparel, and spirituality. These elements are produced through acts of intuition and research."
Open Access
"Memories Can’t Wait, Objects Can’t Die"
(Alfred University, 2024) "Baker, JJ"; "McMahon, Stephanie"
"I employ the language of painting to investigate our phenomenological connection to the world and the perpetual transience of experience. Through a combination of materiality and image, my work portrays memories of objects, spaces, and people while being rooted in the tradition of painting. To offer a wholly comprehensible perspective, the subject matter of my work operates in three different modes, depicted in three series: Portraits, Readymades, and Excavations. I employ these different modes to explore our understanding of time and memory. Two of the series, the Readymades and the Excavations, are presented in my thesis exhibition. Though once created in the present, all the works reach into the past, acting as metaphors for memories and totems of experience. The locations where I work offer images, inspirations, and materials; the cities become their own medium in my art. The works presented were created in Alfred, NY and Düsseldorf, Germany. In the different cities, I paint portraits of people I meet. The portraits allow me to build connections and share space and time with someone. I also take photographs during the portrait session, and these photographs often are referenced in the Excavation paintings. My portraits exist as artifacts of a shared human connection; they depict my two-hour version of that person as we sat and talked on a particular day in a particular place. The Readymade paintings utilize found objects and found surfaces that I have gathered in the two cities, Alfred and Düsseldorf. I paint an object onto a surface, which reflects the cultural milieu of the locality. These paintings hint at 2 the stories of objects, and act like waypoints on a journey into the past. This work appears straightforward in the depiction of the objects, but hides meaning behind trompe l'oeil humor. My Excavation paintings compress time into a visual and textural aesthetic experience. They are paintings layered with collected paper ephemera and gouged back into. Paradoxically, the destructive act breeds creation and the material passes through a state of transformation. These paintings are always created with a specific image in mind. I build up layers of material and finally paint the image, only to excavate and erase this image, searching for, and failing to find, a truth within the material. The emphasis is on the surface, the space, and the color. These elements work together in the paintings to form a scrim of distorted information whose goal it is to bypass the logic of the brain and “come directly across onto the nervous system,” to quote Francis Bacon.1 The different working methods all revolve around the same idea and were created in service of this concept: our shifting existence on the edge of present and past. The body of work presented here is a rumination on the past two years. Two years of travel and change. Two years of experimentation, discovery, and challenges. Two years that have passed."
Open Access
Seeing The Unseen
(Alfred University, 2024) "Lee, Chaeeun"; "McMahon, Stephanie"
"I submerge myself in the metaphysical dimensions intrinsic to nature, aiming to uncover the deep connection between the tangible and intangible. My emphasis lies in a deeply introspective and physical experience, where I harmonize mind and body to capture the essence of the mysteries of existence, embracing the beauty found in spontaneity. This harmony is essential to wield the brush not just as a tool, but as an extension of my body, facilitating a direct and unimpeded flow of thought and sensation into the artwork. My artistic approach aligns closely with action painting, manifesting the unconscious through automatic lines and spontaneity. As lines act as the primary agents to manifest my intentions, each line is a unique entity, laid down in a singular moment of creation, rather than a mere repetition of marks. Through the lines, extending until the brush is devoid of pigment, I capture a philosophical reflection on the cyclical nature of beginnings and endings merging as one. This perspective shifts the focus from the finished product to the act itself, imbuing each line with its own history and story. These lines, at times, may blend into the surface, only revealing their complexity upon closer inspection, embodying the concept of hiding in plain sight. Applying diluted pigment on absorbent fabric, I create tonal variation by soaking or sweeping the medium into the surface. I exploit the luminosity and liquidity of the water medium to investigate color relationships with different levels of viscosity, directly affecting the expression of the brushstroke. In each series I choose one dominant color, I respond upon and produce soft gradations of tone and hue. This interaction highlights the 2 uniqueness of each gesture, capturing a moment of synergy between medium, movement, and artistic intent. Ultimately, I aim to highlight the interaction of gesture, light, and color, integrated with white space, creating pieces that are both strikingly kinetic yet calmly elegant. I consistently explore the possibilities of these elements, considering how they contribute to the overall narrative of the artwork and what they reveal about the interaction with the specific medium. In doing so, I invite viewers to partake in a collective experience, prompting deep reflection and capturing moments that redefine the interpretation and experience of gesture, line, and spatial forms."
Open Access
Smothered Yearnings
(Alfred University, 2024) "Weinkauf, Miriam"; "McMahon, Stephanie"
"[Excerpt] I grew up surrounded by wilderness, and originally went to college for environmental sciences. My passion for art and the environment has never wavered, and in 2017, I changed my major to painting after a near death experience in a car accident. Drawing and painting are my livelihood, the Earth is my muse, and nature’s vibrational colors are the source of my inspiration."