Stephanie Tristam
Monday, September 15th, 2008Born in Liverpool, Stephanie’s educational path was initially academic rather than artistic. The view that art was not a serious career option diverted her into a course in Sociology at the London school of Economics in the hey day of demonstrations, experimental drugs, blossoming youth fashion and feminism. This heady mix distracted her with the possibilities in life and generated openness to fresh ideas and new journeys.
By the Nineties, after a career in education and training (amongst others, teaching lifers in Saughton prison) the overwhelming desire to express and explore her artistic potential led Stephanie to apply for a place on the BA Industrial Textiles course at the Scottish College of Textiles (now part of Heriot Watt University) She describes this phase as jumping off a cliff without knowing if your parachute will open.
Well it did. She went on to teach Visual Studies and Surface Effects in the remote Scottish islands of Shetland, initiating the development of a degree course in Contemporary Textiles through the University of the Highlands and Islands. During this period she continued to paint and explore printed and embroidered surfaces. One of her many exhibitions at this time displayed the work from her Masters degree in CAD, which was based on narratives from 6 Shetland women talking about a textile heirloom.
Her love of textiles and the decorative has undoubtedly influenced her painting. She has a dramatic, intuitive, luscious sense of colour. Her exhibition, Stiletto Life, at Cloudhouse Gallery features new work which focuses on an unlikely and quirky combination of shoes and flowers; heady lilies combine with blood red stilettos and tabletops which are narratives of womens’ passions.
She sees herself as engaged in an ongoing journey; a process that requires time and openness in order for paintings to evolve and change. Rarely are her paintings straightforward representations which are conceived and executed. She finds herself quite unable to do ‘quiet’ paintings, and has a passion for strong vibrant colours, especially red!! Her whole personality is bound up in what emerges. Her work explores a range of media and processes; machine embroidery, observational and expressive drawing, oil and acrylic on canvas.