Stevie Shao – Summer Camp 2023

Silkscreen print, edition of 50, signed and numbered by the artist, unframed

Destination: Joseph, Oregon

Date: September 11 - September 15, 2023

Jaunt #099

approx. 27.5"h x 19.75"w, 70cm x 50cm

“Prior to my trip for the Summer Camp I was looking forward to picking the brains of a group of very talented artists with many more years of experience navigating art spaces. Many of these artists I would probably never have met in person much less spent extended time with if not for the Summer Camp, so I was excited to be a part of it and get to know everyone better. I loved when everyone prepared food together and how long we all sat around talking in the evening. It was interesting to see the way people structured their free time during the day and the ways people documented inspiration and broke down their process. We had fun looking through books in the library for inspiration, sorting through photos each day, listening to podcasts and discussing ghosts. My impression was that everyone was more or less 'playing', experimenting with imagery and sketches that they planned to develop more later. It was amazing to be a witness of this process, it is an important part of an artist's process which is almost never shown. 

On one of our days in Joseph we visited a bronze foundry in town. I had no idea the bronze foundry was there and thought it was interesting to see the type of work that can be produced through that process. Spending time outside was nice because everyone was sort of playing around, flipping rocks in the river, pointing out wildlife etc. It was such a pleasure to spend time out in nature with this group. One of the other days we went out horseback riding and my artwork is based on the exhausted horses we rode up a mountain trail through the forests surrounding Joseph. I think we were all mildly stressed by this chaotic experience and laughed about it later. I wanted to incorporate the summer palette - dried long grasses and foothills, dust/dirt and rock to evoke the season we visited, and included wildflowers and other features of the landscape.”  –Stevie Shao