Artist Statement:
Stefania Urist explores the entangled yet fraught relationship between humans and the environment. Stefania conducts extensive scientific research about the environment to inspire and inform her artwork that is designed to educate, motivate, and provoke questions of current systems that overuse and abuse plants, land, water, and the environment. Through installation, sculpture, and works on paper, Stefania utilizes natural materials like invasive species, felled trees, and foraged natural clay to address human’s impact on and participation in nature. She uses natural materials frequently combined with recycled industrial materials as a method to create art sustainably, ethically, and honorably while mitigating environmental issues surrounding human caused climate change. Stefania is interested in material and temporal processes of industry and capitalism and their interaction with the planet because it is imperative for the future of the health of every species to change the status quo.
Bio:
Stefania Urist’s conceptual interdisciplinary artwork centers around the complex relationship between humans and the environment. Her current sculptures and installations investigate topics such as deforestation, trees’ memories, symbiotic relationships, and invasive species migration using foraged plants and recycled industrial materials.
Urist earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2022, BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2013, and has attended multiple artist residencies including at the Vermont Studio Center and the Uncool Artist in Brooklyn, in addition to receiving merit scholarships and grants to attend Ox-Bow and a Maker-Creator Research Fellowship at the Winterthur Museum.
Her dedication and skills are evident in the numerous grants and awards she has received to create new work. Urist’s project-based artwork has been shown across the US including solo shows in Vermont and New Hampshire. In 2022, Urist exhibited an immersive, interactive installation at the University of Vermont and was the featured artist at Sculpture Fest in Woodstock, VT in 2019, 2020 and for the summer of 2023.
Currently working in Londonderry, VT, Urist continues to create new work that challenges and inspires audiences to consider their relationships with the natural world.