Bio
Stephanie Ressel is a Guatemalan-German designer, creator, and observer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from California College of the Arts and a Bachelor of Arts from Lehigh University. Her background spans, among other things, architecture, urban planning, interior design, and entrepreneurship. She recently began her journey as a full-time visual artist, working in various media - photography, acrylics, watercolors, colored pencils and charcoal.
She is subletting a studio where she dedicates focused time on new work, exploring her conceptual goals and developing technical painting skills - she is creating carefully composed figurative watercolor and colored pencil still lifes depicting objects like cut flowers, fruits and vegetables, and is working on her painting and photography project Fresh Pond Up Close, which will depict plants around the reservoir throughout 4 seasons. She is also taking classes to expand her conceptual and practical painting knowledge: acrylics at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Cambridge and portraiture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Artist Statement
While compiling my architecture portfolio a few months ago as I prepared to reenter the workforce after raising two children, I rediscovered a diverse collection of artwork created over the years—many pieces produced through classes at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE). This collection included detailed still life drawings (featuring subjects like carnations, peppers, onions, clementines, grapefruit slices, and seed pods) executed in colored pencils, ink, and watercolors; loosely rendered charcoal studies of the human figure; and watercolors capturing serene natural landscapes.
Recognizing the potential of this work, I organized and cataloged the pieces to share them with a broader audience and evaluate their reception. An impromptu presentation during Labor Day Weekend followed by a successful showing at a holiday market in December provided surprisingly positive and encouraging feedback, which motivated me to pursue a career as an artist.
Though my work depicts varied subject matters and uses various media it is still cohesive: it is figurative, realistic, and informed by classical principles of proportion and composition. My goals are to engage the viewer deeply, inviting them into a sustained, contemplative experience and to encourage them to return time and again and engage in an enduring exchange..
Currently I am focused on capturing the understated intricacies of the fauna of Fresh Pond, Cambridge—its details and constant changes—through macro photography and detailed painting. I am also engaged in research of contemporary art and artists, in order to refine my conceptual themes and I am taking painting and drawing classes to further my abilities and sensibilities.
