Makers Must: Q&A on Process with Artist Stephanie Corfee

Although I haven’t been specifically talking about Blogging my Passion the past couple of weeks, I’ve had some awesome post ideas from it. The current prompt is to blog about falling in love with a particular technique that you use. I’ve had this idea swirling around in my head for a week or two, and when I put it together with what I learned from my “Getting to Know You” survey, I came up with the genius idea (well, I think it is anyway) of starting a series where I ask other folks what THEY love to make, what they MUST make. I’ve been wanting to feature fellow makers on this blog, and didn’t really have a focus to it, and now I do – woohoo! I’d like to feature a different maker every week, and I hope to show off folks from a wide variety of fields – from painters, potters and quilters to people who make stained glass and folks who pursue the art of kumihimoist (Japanese braiding).

I’ve got a list of folks I’d like to ask – but I also want to extend an invitation to you, my blog readers! If you’d like to be featured, drop me a line. Even if you don’t have a blog (or maybe especially because you don’t have a blog!), if you can answer 5 questions and send me a couple of pictures – I would love to hear about what you love about making…and I’m sure that the other folks reading this blog will too!

Now, I’m happy to introduce you to Stephanie Corfee! A fellow member of the Tara Gentile/Scoutie Girl fan club, she just moved her blog over to a full-fledged, self hosted wordpress website under Tara’s skillful hands. She’s having a special this week to celebrate this auspicious occasion, so after reading all about her, definitely check her new digs out!

1. Where are you located globally?

i work from my home in malvern, pennsylvania. i’m about 40 minutes west of philadelphia and it’s a really cute neighborhood. i have a proper office for my “day job” as a freelance graphic designer on the first floor. i also make my art prints, and do trimming, packing and shipping in there. it is bright and sunny with french doors to the rest of the house. in the newly refinished basement, i have a studio space for painting, staining, sanding and general mess-making projects. and i am lucky enough to also have a little sewing space i use time to time, which is actually a big deep, wide walk-in closet. it is great because i can close the doors on the mess as necessary.

2. Where are you found online?

my spankin’ new website created by a little bit of me and a whole lotta tara gentile of scoutie girl is now LIVE at http://www.stephaniecorfee.com

3. What is your favorite thing to make?

i think this is a horribly difficult question! i am fickle and indecisive. i change my mind every day and that is why my work is so varied. i’ll cheat a little bit here by being slightly vague. i love to create statement pieces that are a little oddball in some way. haha! i know that sounds like a broad statement, but all my favorite personal creations in years gone by have followed in that vein. i like things that are extreme. either they are so teeny, simple, subtle or quiet in their beauty, they practically whisper and force you to lean in and appreciate them……OR…..they are so odd, or large in scale, or just plain curious that they command your attention.

my very-close-second favorite things to create are illustrations; organic ones that i don’t plan, but rather allow to just fall out of my pen onto the paper. these are the pieces people would recognize most as mine and i am happy as pie about that. the pieces are usually very time consuming and just filled to the brim with detail, color and layers of work.

4. When you’re making it…

a. what do you love most about it?

i love sitting down and seeing where my head is. it is almost always a surprise. like, why did i draw a balloon there? why am i all about yellow this week? it’s like going to therapy. the trappings of your everyday life fall away and you just surrender to the creative process. what comes out of those sessions almost always becomes a favorite piece and, surprisingly, are most well-received by my customers. i think there’s something very genuinely communicative about them somehow.

b. is there some part you really can’t stand?

no. i don’t think so….except maybe my impatience at seeing the finished result. i never know when i’ll be finished and i am like a kid on christmas, anxious to see the tree all lit up and perfect.

5. Do you consider yourself process or product oriented?

i’m not sure i can separate the two. i mean, the process is tedious and enlightening and fun and frustrating….but at the end of the day, if i don’t like a finished piece, i’ll almost always scrap it. all anyone else will get to see is the finished piece. if i’m not proud of it or if i don’t think it speaks of me, i won’t share it.

ok then, i just talked myself into answering; “product oriented.” i get a vision in my head and the process is more of a means to that (hopefully lovely) end.

Stephanie, thank you so much for sharing a bit of what your favorite thing(s) to make are! You answered all my questions (even the “horribly difficult” one) beautifully! I absolutely love your ability to handle riotous amounts of color, but I think I love your lines even more! They are beautifully free and flowing, with lovely curves. There is no question that this art is made by your hands, and it’s that aspect of art that I find the most powerful. The next time you haul your sewing machine out of your closet – you ought to try free motion quilting – your lines would look fantastic in 3-D!