Stephen Winters Overview

Why I Make Things I feel most alive when i am in dialogue with the eternal surge that is nature. Like a silent explosion, colors are constantly changing, new forms are growing while old ones are dying. The natural patterns,... [more]

Why I Make Things

 

I feel most alive when i am in dialogue with the eternal surge that is nature.  Like a silent explosion, colors are constantly changing, new forms are growing while old ones are dying.  The natural patterns, and universal relationships expressed through this chaotic order provide limitless opportunity for creative engagement. Evident in the way curves of a snow-drift mirror those in sand dunes, and how the moisture in a hurricane forms a similar pattern to that of star filled galaxies, there lies a thematic beauty.  These universal relationships, and their resultant expressions continue to inspire my creative process.

Each piece begins as a search for the most basic nature of conventional aesthetics.  After obtaining a humble understanding of the materials, the forms they inspire coalesce into a previously unknown expression.  The original essence within the various materials is pushed to the verge of obscurity, and rests only when a similar language is spoken throughout the piece.  My conceptual process involves the acceptance or denial of infinite possible relationships between the materials chosen for each piece.  Visualizing the vast possibilities inherent of the materials, and appropriating them accordingly is the soul of my work. Through an improvised process of adding to, and taking away, the pieces become a continued negotiation, resolving themselves through visual harmony.  Initially, each composition introduces itself as a separate entity.  Optimistically, a relationship initiated through the viewer removes the veil of separateness and creates a space relating the many, to the One.

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