Dynamic color, movement and texture paint the expression of what Stephanie Imbeau desires to convey to her audience: passion, diligence, creativity and free spiritedness.
Her work ranges from realistic portraits and still-life’s to abstract interpretations.
Imbeau, a senior in fine arts, found her true calling as an artist. She has paintings on display at the 27 E. Russell art gallery in the Short North and at Blue Cosmos, a design firm in Grandview.
“I am allowed to be exactly who I am in my paintings,” Imbeau said.
Imbeau believes all art communicates a message and her message is who she is, from her emotion to her creativity; a form of self-expression.
From this paradigm Imbeau’s artwork exhibits raw emotion as portrayed in her self-portrait. The dark browns and reds resonate a emotional angst, conveying a sense of searching.
Imbeau creates depth with the illusion of light and shadow.
“I completely pour my personality into it, even when I paint using someone else’s technique. It has my own individuality in it,”Imbeau said.
Inspired by the death of a close friend to bone cancer, Imbeau painted her friend abstractly holding a bleeding heart.
During the critique of this painting, the class saw the image with only one leg. Ironically, Imbeau’s friend had her leg amputated in a last stitch effort to save her life.
The class also saw an ichthus that Imbeau did not intentionally paint.
“Faith inspires me as a Christian,” Imbeau said. “My painting process has Christian themes in it, not my paintings.”
Inspiration is conveyed to other artists through Imbeau’s work.
“Her paintings somehow capture a part of life,” said Brandi Allen, senior in dance. “It’s beauty, intrigue, irony. It inspires me to evaluate life, to ask ‘where’s the beauty?'”
One piece that really spoke to Allen was a mixed media painting.
The piece has black and red layers splattered onto a large canvas for powerful expression along with two white enamel hearts that stand out from the darkness, bleeding red paint.
“This painting represents how life has so many layers and our hearts are intertwined through experience,”Allen said. “It shows how love endures.”
Imbeau compares abstract art to an exploration; embarking on an adventure.
“I’d go in and let it evolve,” Imbeau said. “It poses different problems then I resolve them and the results are never what I expect and that’s what I love.”
Teri Hackett, a former art professor of Imbeau’s, shares this sentiment.
“The work that she made for my class was adventurous and I hope that she keeps up with that spirit,” Hackett said.
Imbeau employs color to convey emotion or an attitude. According to Imbeau, color can make or break a painting.
She said she tends to side with more energetic colors like pink to revel in her femininity, and uses heavy colors like browns and blacks in moderation.
“Using heavy colors sent me into this downward spiral, I couldn’t handle it. It was too much emotionally,” said Imbeau.
Texture plays an important role in her paintings as well. An abstract image speaks volumes with ribbed, solid cuts of paint and a wax medium in vibrant red.
“I especially liked her use of texture in her paintings,” said Katie Pharis, a senior in music.
Imbeau said she desires to be in tune with her art emotionally and physically with textures as a touch medium for interpretation.
The artist said she never doubted her desire to pursue painting as a career, which had been her goal since her senior year in high school. With childhood aspirations of becoming a judge, Imbeau later changed these inclinations after several art classes in high school.
