The Kranzberg Gallery (501 N. Grand) is welcoming Lillian Stephen, printmaker and owner of L.C.Q.K.S., a shop specializing in beautifully designed fabric products, to host her first solo exhibition, A Hum Beneath the Surface, on display August 14—November 8.
Stephen, a native of Belleville, Illinois, received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but was drawn back home because of St. Louis’ vibrant arts scene.
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“[In St. Louis], you can still be an artist,” she says. “If I lived in Chicago or New York, I wouldn’t be able to make art full-time.”
After responding to an open call for exhibitions, Stephen was granted a solo show, which she says was a stroke of luck. Despite her own self-deprecation, however, Stephen’s art is beautiful. Using a plethora of soft-edged geometric shapes and colors reminiscent of midcentury pop art, Stephen’s prints—mostly chine-collé, a printmaking technique that allows her to affix paper shapes cut out of a lighter sheet of paper to a larger, heavier sheet of paper—are vibrant and playful.
“I’ve always liked midcentury design, architecture, and textiles,” she says. “It’s something I’ve been studying my whole life.”
A unique feature of Stephen’s work is its embossment. While most embossment features copper plates, she says, hers makes use of glue, chipboard, string, and an etching press to create a textured imprint in the chine-collé. Stephen says that her partner and fellow printmaker Pete Holohan helped her to find new ways of experimenting with printmaking. Her work for the exhibition also features custom-made frames, something that Stephen says she had been considering before the show.
“[The exhibition] has been a great opportunity to do that,” she says. “It gave me a good excuse to execute a project I’d been thinking about for a while.”
The Kranzberg’s Director of Studios and Galleries, Brandon Anschultz, has a guiding force in the project for Stephen as she’s worked to put together the exhibition pieces.
“It’s a big project and I think, How much work will I need and what’s going to fit together?” she says. “[Brandon’s] been really helpful with those logistical problems.”
Ultimately, Stephen is grateful for the opportunity to focus her energy into the pieces.
“It’s been freeing to do something different that has a lot more room for experimentation and play,” she says. “It’s been fun.”
A Hum Beneath the Surface opens August 14 with a free opening reception from 6–8 p.m.
