Stephanie Estrin is an Art of Austin artist! Get to know more about her and her work!
Stephanie Estrin
AoA – Hey Stephanie! How long have you been in Austin and how did you find your way here?
Stephanie – I’ve been in Austin 11 years now. I moved here from a rural town in Vermont. I’m originally from Montreal, Quebec. I love Austin and don’t miss the winters of New England and Canada at all. I moved here with my family for the tech opportunities that are abundant in Austin for my husband’s work.
AoA – When did you realize that you were an artist?
Stephanie – I’ve wanted to be an artist from the time I was 6 years old. I spent hours upon hours drawing in sketchbooks. This continued on and off all of my life. I have always been a creative person working in different mediums as hobbies from painting, life drawing, to quilting. I took my creative outlet of sewing and turned it into an award winning custom plush monster business. After that, I went back into painting. I think I’ve always been an artist at heart in one form or another. I felt like a true artist when people started to ask to buy my work and when I started to apply to juried exhibitions and my work was accepted into shows.
AoA – Can you speak to your art training?
Stephanie – I am primarily self taught. At the beginning, I tried out various mediums to find my favorites. I would spend hours using and practicing with them. I’d watch videos and online tutorials and then experiment on my own to get the effects I was looking for. I have taken some in person workshops from various artists to learn new techniques as well but I don’t have any formal education or training in art.
AoA – Where do you derive inspiration from?
Stephanie – I derive inspiration from from color and shape. Color and shape from nature and textiles really inspire me. I love organic shapes from nature and those inform my work the most.
AoA – Can you tell us about your work?
Stephanie – My work explores color, shape and the relationship of human nature and emotion captured on canvas to create a visual story. With the use of layered paint and transparencies in my compositions, I seek to provide depth to entice the viewer to step closer and look under the surface in order to be delighted or intrigued by what they see. My biggest motivation for creating art is connection; to my inner self and to the viewer. With the use of color, I strive to make statements that are positive and uplifting by providing the viewer with a glimpse into my world. I express myself through paint in a way that I can’t do as effectively with words.
AoA – Can you talk a little about your creative processes in creating?
Stephanie – I begin each work with graphite or charcoal marks, brush strokes and even my bare hands with paint to get fully immersed into the process. It’s intuitive, physical and emotionally freeing. Through additive and subtractive processes, I create layers of colors and marks. Some of the marks and beginning layers of color are partially or completely covered. All of this amounts to a visual story. I use many layers and transparencies in my compositions to provide depth and interest. I love leaving raw and organic marks visible in the final layer.
AoA – Where can we find your work? Do you have any shows planned for the future?
Stephanie – You can find my work online at my Website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
I continue to apply to local shows as I find them. At the moment, I have some pieces at the Art For The People Gallery until October. I have a solo show up currently until mid-August at Papi’s Pies in Round Rock. And I’ve applied to participate in the EAST studio tour in November.
AoA – Thank you for participating Stephanie. We are are honored to feature your work!
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