Next week the Gibbes welcomes Stacy Lynn Waddell to Charleston as part of our Visiting Artist Program. Stacy is a fascinating artist who employs a wide range of innovative materials and techniques to create works on paper—often quite large in scale. She burns, brands, and singes paper and also incorporates gold leaf into her compositions.
I first collaborated with Stacy in 2010 on the one-person exhibition at the Gibbes, The Evidence of Things Unseen. While preparing for the exhibition, I made several studio visits to Durham, North Carolina, to view her works in progress. Each visit left me inspired and in awe of Stacy’s work. I could watch her in the studio all day long. Viewing finished pieces is always wonderful, but there is something really special about seeing an artist at work. Developing the connection between process and final product truly brings art to life.
Beginning on Tuesday, October 4, museum visitors will have the opportunity to develop this connection with Stacy’s fascinating working process. She will be in residence in Studio 1 Tuesday through Saturday from 10am–12noon each day. Here visitors can talk with Stacy, observe her techniques, and learn about the concepts behind her artistic process. Because it is not just her technical skill, it is also her complex and conceptual approach that makes her work so powerful.
And if you want to go deeper, Stacy will be giving an artist talk and demonstration on Wednesday, October 5 at 6pm, where she will discuss her career and process. Participants will go behind-the-scenes to discuss her work included in the current exhibition, The Things We Carry, on the third floor of the Museum.
Don’t miss this chance to see Stacy Lynn Waddell in studio. I hope to see you there!
—Pam Wall, Curator of Exhibitions, Gibbes Museum of Art
Top image: Manifest, 2010, by Stacy Lynn Waddell (American, b. 1966); branding on paper; 80 x 144 inches (overall); Museum purchase
Published September 30, 2016