5 The Strand #6, Apt. 6
New Castle, DE 19720 

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Artist Statement

I create images and objects and pursue photography that reflects and celebrates the natural world. From the smallest beetle to the vast landscapes of the southern Icelandic coast, nature is fascinating in all of its forms. One of my primary goals is also to encourage people to put down their technology and step outside, get down on the ground, wade in the stream--in short, go outside and play!

About the Artist  

Exploring animals and nature is a passion of Stephanie Przybylek, who from an early age has enjoyed drawing, painting and interpreting creatures of all kinds. Stephanie’s art is animal-themed, a playful, colorful but carefully observed take on creatures and the natural world. An important goal of her art is to encourage appreciation of coastal flora and fauna. Get down on the ground, step in the creek – in other words, go outside and play!

Artist Background: Drawing, painting and making art from found objects have been part of Stephanie’s character for her entire life. Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, Stephanie and her twin sister Leslie were exposed to a wide variety of art materials and techniques. Stephanie comes from a family with a heritage of artistic pursuit; her paternal grandfather was an independent glass designer in Pittsburgh and father spent a career in graphic arts and advertising. As children, Stephanie and her sister thought that Plastilina modeling clay, Nupastels and Prismacolors were as common as Play Doh and Crayola crayons. Obsessed with animals as a child because of repeated trip to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Stephanie spent endless amounts of time in the woods and wading in streams. These forays fostered an enduring animal obsession. Taxidermy correspondence courses in high school led to appreciation of creature anatomy, as did a stint drawing small mammals and rodent skulls as a volunteer with the Mammals Division at the Carnegie Museum (it was also a more fulfilling pursuit than her paying job at the time, working in the museum’s telemarking department!) In terms of formal training, Stephanie has a BA in Art from Gettysburg College and MA in Art History from University of Delaware. While in graduate school, Stephanie took elective classes in painting reconstruction from the Art Conservation Department (which included following a step-by-step process to recreate Raphael’s Saint George and the Dragon). This experience cultivated a deeper appreciation of the craft of painting and the use of materials and techniques from many different time periods. Diverse travel to many places, from the swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin and islands of the Florida Keys to the glaciers of Iceland has also fueled this interest.

Professional Background: Stephanie's professional experience has been in the museum field as a curator, writer, exhibit designer/fabricator, educator and administrator. Throughout her career, she has continued to create images and objects expressing their life-long interest in animal life. Stephanie participated in exhibitions throughout her early years and during college, before her career took her into the realms of mounting exhibitions. She has extensive experience working with graphic designers and taking projects from the conceptual stage through execution and completion. She is a published author with established writing and editing skills. Ironically, it was a need for fish drawings to be reproduced on pillows for a children’s interactive display as part of an exhibit that led into a rekindling of full pursuit of her own art.

Arts Services: Because of the diverse elements of her background, Stephanie can offer a wide ranges of services, from giving lectures and programs to hands-on art lessons for students of all ages and abilities. She also advises on grant writing, program planning, and other elements essential to the life of those pursuing a career in the nonprofit world and the arts.

Favored Mediums: Colored pencil, watercolor, gouache, acrylics, ink, mixed media on paper, board, wood; computer graphics with a Wacom Intuos 4; experience with Adobe Illustrator CS5, Adobe InDesign CS5, and Aperture 3.3. Digital photography with Canon products. She even has experience with seashells, driftwood, authentic used Mardi Gras beads, beer caps, and other assorted and sundry found objects!