Stephanie draper

Farnham based artist, Stephanie Draper combines printmaking and painting to tell stories of the impact that we have on each other and the environment. Her art seeks to interpret the irrefutable bonds we have with our planet and inspire engagement with the community at large.

A recent publication ‘Pandemonium’ describes her work:

“[She] has turned this sense of cartography into a philosophical position whereby she makes a stand in her bond with the planet---seen at a distance as a shoreline in Alaska or great rift in Ethiopia; or up close as in the bird’s eye view of her local park.

These map-makings are fragments only, often beautifully coloured; but like jigsaw pieces they hint at a bigger picture and they too ask the ecological and existential question, ‘What is our relationship with the world?’ A question never more prescient than now.”

The majority of her work are maps. They explore different themes in vivid colours. The Farnham maps explore how built up areas in the town have changed over the years. The large dark areas on the paintings show where housing is now, with the collaged white areas comparing that with buildings from 1898. The ‘in search of filmy fern’ triptych is a map of Kent, centred on Eridge rocks where the rare ‘Tonbridge filmy fern’ is found. ‘Cathedral of Denali’ and ‘the Harding Icefield paintings are from her ‘Last Wilderness’ collection - based on a trip to Alaska - a truly wild place where the impacts of climate change are already being felt. A set of seven smaller maps show places where a particular issue or solution manifests - the last white rhino in Kenya, or the protection of carbon capturing seagrass in Madagascar.

Recent shows include ‘Pandemonium’ at the PZ Gallery, Penzance and ‘Last Wilderness’ at the Oxmarket Gallery, Chichester. A collection of her work is held in the Museum of Farnham, and brought together in a book ‘Words and Colours: Reflections on Lockdown’. She is an alumni of Newlyn School of Art, a member of the Printmakers Council and regularly exhibits at Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair and the Royal Overseas League in London.

Twitter: @stephaniedraperartist