“Phantasmagorical: The World of Elisabeth Stevens
and Selections from the Collections of the State College of Florida
October 16-December 9 State College of Florida
The exhibit features more than 25 graphic works and illustrated books by Sarasota artist and writer Elisabeth Stevens.
(Sarasota, FL) “Phantasmagorical: The World of Elisabeth Stevens and Selections from the Collections of the State College of Florida features more than 25 graphic works and illustrated books by Sarasota artist and writer Elisabeth Stevens, as well as selections from the State College collections. The exhibit is October 16-December 9 at the Fine Art Gallery of the Neel Performing Arts Center of State College of Florida, 5840 26th Street, Bradenton. The opening reception with the artist is Friday, October 16, 6-8 p.m. For more information about this exhibit, call Joe Loccisano, gallery manager, at 941-752-5225.
Stevens imaginative creations in this exhibit range from “Circus Sarasota,” a black ink etching in which the center ring is mysteriously encircled by a huge, smiling mouth, to “MA,” a hand-colored etching in which an sensuous seaside beauty nurses four tiny infants while lounging in a wave. Stevens 2015 etching, The Hurricane Dance,” pictures an upscale party terrifyingly interrupted by a storm bringing in a dark flow of sand and sludge and strange sea creatures.
The State College of Florida exhibit also includes illustrated books by Stevens, a former journalist for major newspapers who now writes fiction and poetry. Her paperback, In Foreign Parts, 1997, includes etchings for 13 strange stories. In one, Dinner for the Dead, a woman must somehow serve dinner to her dead relatives.
The first of Stevens’ three Livres dArtiste (boxed, limited-edition books with original etchings) on view is Eranos. In it, a writer is invited to a Christmas partygiven by his characters. The second, Sirens Songs, which contains 48 erotic poems and 13 etchings, was named one of the One Hundred Best Indie Books of 2011 by KiRKUS Reviews. The most recent, The Sufferers, contains four etchings of erotically challenged men and women.
Later this year, Stevens 20th book, A Green Isle in the Sea, Love, a novel, will be published by BrickHouse Books of Baltimore. The wild-eyed chimera on the cover is an ink drawing by the author. The KIRKUS Review of A Green Isle in the Sea, Love describes it as: …a fluidly written and engaging exploration of one young womans angst.
Stevens etchings, linocuts, ink drawings, silverpoints and Livres d Artiste are represented by Stakenborg Fine Art of Sarasota. She has exhibited in New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. Stevens is the author of 20 books of fiction, poetry and drama. She is a former art and architecture critic for The Baltimore Sun, The Wall Street Journal, The Trenton Times and The Washington Post. Her freelance articles have appeared in Art News, Art in America, The New Republic, The Atlantic, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Mademoiselle, Life, and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
A graduate of Wellesley College, Stevens holds a M.A. with High Honors in Modern Literature from Columbia University. She has also studied at The Art Students League, The New School for Social Research, The Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, and The Princeton New Jersey Art Association. A number of her etchings have been printed at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota and at Bleu Acier in Tampa.
For more information about Elisabeth Stevens, visit www.gosspress.com.
