Stephanie Schafer is the 3-Dimensional Artist Spotlight winning artist for the month of August 2018. She is a Lakewood, Washington based artist. Stephanie’s love of art began with a trip to the Tacoma Art Museum seeing the works of Salvador Dali. Her eyes opened to a whole new world of possibilities and it was this moment that gave her the name of her business – Salvador Designs.

Stephanie’s “Under My Skin – The Mental Self” series initially started out as a creative display for antique hats. It, however, morphed into a representation of emotions that she has experienced in some form of her life. It represents the pulling back of the skin and showing the deepest of emotions on the outside, with no hidden truths. 

Stephanie’s Solo Art Exhibition will be featured on the website for the month of August 2018. The gallery will promote Stephanie and her work on the Fusion Art website, in Fusion Art’s Artsy.net Gallery, individual online press releases to hundreds of outlets, email blasts to over 2000 collectors, galleries, buyers and art professionals, in online event calendars, art news websites and through the gallery’s extensive social media outlets. Fusion Art’s objective is to promote the Artist Spotlight winning artists, worldwide, to art professionals, gallerists, collectors and buyers.

Please read Stephanie’s biography below as she describes her history, inspiration and process in her own words. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see her exhibition.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these award-winning pieces, or to see more of Stephanie’s work, please visit her website.

Also, please visit Fusion Art’s YouTube Channel to see Stephanie’s Solo Art Exhibition Video.

Thank you to all the artists who participated in the Artist Spotlight competition and congratulations to Stephanie and the other Artist Spotlight winning artists.

Stephanie Schafer’s Biography

Stephanie grew up in the small maritime town of Gig Harbor, WA and currently residing in Lakewood. Her love of art came along when she was in 8th grade. A fun night of sneaking out while at a friends house then getting caught by the grandfather turned into a life changing punishment she would never forget. The punishment being a day spent along the side of Grandpa at the Tacoma Art Museum seeing the works of Salvador Dali. Her eyes had opened to a whole new world of possibilities and it was this moment that gave her the name of her business Salvador Designs.

Even though her love of art was strong she never pursued any classical training in the art field. Most of her life has been spent working a minimum wage job in retail and focusing on her family. She was recently given the opportunity to quit her job in August and follow her dreams. Since August she has continually worked on her first collection Under My Skin- The Mental Self.

This collection originally started out as a creative display for antique hats. After spending years of becoming self-aware of her emotions and taking ownership of the way she felt feel, the collection Under My Skin- The Mental Self was formed. Each piece is her best representation of an emotion that she has had or experienced in some form of her life. Pulling back the skin showing the deepest of emotions on the outside, no hidden truths. So much time was spent being insecure with the way that she felt. Why was that? Why was she so afraid of being OK with those feelings? Was it judgement?

After years of studying herself and her reactions, she took that experience and made a format to how each piece was to be created. Starting with the long drawn out process of flipping through magazines to find details. Each texture or color would be a symbol of the piece she is creating. The rock representing the rough hard times, or sheer curtains when she felt free and weightless and so on. This process takes a couple weeks then she starts to build layers.

Layer overlapping layer like the layers we have inside, her creation starts to form. Always starting with the face, this is how she see’s herself. The details here are so important because the face never lies. That is her truth that she wants to show. Continuing to the back of the head, this is how others see her. She always ends at the neck. The neck is just as important to her, it’s what helps keep her head up in difficult times.

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