Photo courtesy of Stephanie Rond
Birds Flying High, You Know How I Feel
If you’re a fan of the Columbus art scene at all, odds are you’re familiar with Stephanie Rond’s work. And if you’re not, you’ve likely stumbled across her pieces either in a local gallery or on the wall of a building.
Columbus born and raised, Rond studied art at Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center in high school and graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in fine arts. From her early days an artist, she recognized the power of art to create a dialogue and express important themes that sometimes cannot be expressed through words alone.
“Making art is always about experience and making comments,” she says. “It’s a platform to have a bigger comment about what’s happening in our culture. And it’s my responsibility to help make that platform.”
Rond self-identifies as a painter, but has dabbled in various mediums on canvas and off. Her current work features hand-cut paper on canvas, often printed with photographs, onto which she places intricate hand-cut stencil shapes and then paints. It’s a technique that isn’t infallible, she admits, but she fills cracks and imperfections in the paper with gold paint in a method inspired by the Japanese kintsugi pottery technique, which embraces the flaws rather than seeking to hide them. No matter the medium, in both her street art and canvas work, she looks to occupy spaces in ways that encourage conversation and truly elevate the space.
Her upcoming solo exhibition is no exception. The series features Ghost Girl, a frequent visitor in Rond’s work, juxtaposed against her own photographs of outdoor spaces she encountered on her travels.
“Ghost Girl represents the ghost in all of us, the ghost in humanity,” Rond says.
Photo courtesy of Meghan Ralston
Ghost Girl’s face is never shown in any of her appearances. Because of this, it’s very easy for the viewer to imagine themselves in Ghost Girl’s place. In Rond’s upcoming series, Ghost Girl is set against photographs of outdoor spaces that are traditionally male-oriented. “What I’m doing is putting the female back into the outdoor space – literally when I’m doing street art, but also in my gallery work,” Rond says. “I’m reinserting Ghost Girl back into a space where she is traditionally not welcome.”
Ghost Girl is bright and undeniably female, and she dominates the space easily with her color and energy. She demands attention, refusing to fade into the background. As she plants seeds of kindness in each space, also the name of Rond’s upcoming exhibition, the viewer can’t help but feel optimistic about the potential for change and growth that she is offering, and the voice she represents.
Making art is always about experience and making comments. ... It’s a platform to have a bigger comment about what’s happening in our culture. And it’s my responsibility to help make that platform.
The Seeds of Kindness exhibition will also feature an exhibition of a collaboration between Rond and art educator Jason Blair with students from Eli Pinney Elementary School in Dublin, where Rond recently finished a two-year residency.
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Rond
She As Archangel
Working with her students was an easy decision, as collaboration is a key element of Rond’s work. As she talks about the artists, poets, writers and other friends she has had the opportunity to collaborate with, her passion is clear. She is inspired by not only the work she creates with her peers, but by their personalities and their goals, and is always looking for chances to collaborate in art and activism. As an avid supporter as well as participant in the Columbus art scene, she has worked with the Greater Columbus Arts Council on more than one initiative, has participated in local art collectives and even started an online community of female street artists around the world upon finding that no such thing existed.
When asked what she hopes the average viewer will take away from the Seeds of Kindness show, Rond’s hope is simple and honest.
“I hope people think more about how they’re treating other people,” she says. “It’s important to be uncomfortable. It’s important to say things and discuss things that make you uncomfortable. Maybe it can help us be a little nicer.”
Taylor Woodhouse is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
