Stefanie Bales Opening Reception : “Amor Terrae: Letters to the Wild”

In the last exhibition of the year at Sparks Gallery, Stefanie Bales’ solo exhibition examines the theme of “imagination” through a visual exploration of collective subconscious. Amor Terrae: Letters to the Wild is the culmination of years of research and exploration into Gestalt principles of visual perception, the collective subconscious, and the artist’s own intuition and perspective on our interactions with the natural world.

All of Stefanie Bales’ work reflects on the surreal, ethereal, and metaphysical state of daydreaming, and the fragmented ways in which we perceive memories. Bales draws and expands upon this feeling in her practice, creating majestic scenes that feel simultaneously personal and ubiquitous. Her work reminds us of that collective feeling that we all share when witnessing a magnificent sunset — the profound acknowledgment that we all share the same sky. None of the landscapes are geographically specific, rather, they are composites of numerous topologies blended harmoniously into one larger “place”. 

Regarding the creation of her pieces, Bales explains, “I’ve developed and honed an original process that I use to compose much of my work.  My process is similar to collage, but instead of cut and paste,  I’m using an original ‘ink transfer’ process to transfer bits of texture and imagery onto the canvas which I then paint within, over, and around, responding intuitively to the transferred piece as I continue to build out imagery and form the larger narrative and composition.  My aim is that the viewer sees the work as a whole, and it isn’t until further investigation that the incongruities that give it its ‘dream-like’ qualities are noticed.”

The show’s title, Amor Terrae: Letters to the Wild, reflects Bales’ appreciation for the gifts of nature: the brilliant colors created by the rising and setting of the sun, the tenor and texture of the ocean, and the quiet movement of palms and petals in the wind. These works are Bales’ attempt to make tangible and permanent all of the magnificent and ineffable things in life that are so easy to miss or to take for granted.

Bales’ works will be on view at Sparks Gallery from October 22 – December 30, 2023 with an opening reception on Sunday, October 22, 2023 from 5-8pm.