Stephanie McMahon

Professor of Painting
Drawing & Painting
School of Art and Design
Harder Hall
mcmahose@alfred.edu
607-871-2441
Stephanie McMahon

Education

  • MFA: Painting, The University of Texas at Austin, 2004
  • BFA: New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, 1998

Biography

My paintings explore and evoke new discoveries and lived experiences informed by my observations with a particular environment or place. Each painting can shift abruptly as it develops, challenging one’s sense of time and resolve. The result is both tangible and fleeting as unexpected and precarious relationships emerge between thin, translucent layers. Gestural brushstrokes impart physicality yet glide weightlessly over smooth surfaces as figure ground relationships oscillate and conflate. I allow for intuitive and contradictory responses, creating an active image that fluctuates between deliberate and incidental. The painting that emerges from this process is both raw and refined as I extract and distill my observations in the tangible world while questioning and presenting the possibilities of visual experience and abstraction.
  • Close to Me, T+H Gallery, Boston, MA, 2016
  • Terrazza, The Belfry, Hornell, NY, 2015
  • Loose Translations, Reverol & Co. Contemporary Art, New Rochelle, New York, 2013
  • Stephanie McMahon, Recent Paintings, Houghton College Gallery, Houghton, NY, 2012
  • Fields, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 2011
  • Stephanie McMahon: Recent Paintings, Mercy Gallery, The Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, CT, 2009
  • Chromophilia, Cohen Center for the Arts, Alfred University, Alfred NY, 2008
  • Wading, Houghton House Gallery, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva NY, 2007
  • Stephanie McMahon, Recent Paintings, Pooke Gallery at The Walnut Hill School for Visual Arts, MA, 2006
  • Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester Finger-Lakes Exhibition, Rochester, NY, 2015
  • SCOPE New York International Art Fair, Reverol and Co. Contemporary Art, New York, NY, 2014
  • Relevent Influences, Rochester Institute of Technology, GalleryR, Rochester, NY, 2014
  • Friends of Friends of Friends of Friends, Collaborative and experimental works organized by Patrick Brennan, Hornell Arts Center, NY, 2014
  • ArtBridge, Invitational Spring Art Auction Exhibition, The Highline Loft, New York, NY, 2014
  • Contemporary Couples, Chautauqua Institution, Strohl Art Center, 2013
  • Stone Canoe Arts Journal, Syracuse University, exhibition in conjunction with issue # 7, Herbert T. Williams Gallery, 2013
  • Exploding Boundaries: Faculty Explorations In Drawing, Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, Alfred University, 2013
  • Inaugural Exhibition, Reverol & Co. Contemporary Art, New Rochelle, NY, 2012
  • Intersections, ArtBridge public installation, Barclays Center, Brooklyn, curated by Jordana Zeldin, Sept. 2012- 2013, 2012
  • 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Resident Artists, Then and Now, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, ME, 2012
  • Grey Matter, The Painting Center, New York, New York New Directions in Drawing, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Symposium and Exhibition, Vancouver, CA, 2011
  • Subject Object, Ebersmoore Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2011
  • Mélange: Possibilities in Abstract Painting, SUNY Headquarters Gallery, Albany, NY, 2011
  • Ambiguous Object, Pump Project Art Complex, Austin, TX, Curated by Cook & Ruud, 2011
  • Monroe and Vicinity Biennial, Tower Fine Arts Gallery, SUNY, Brockport, NY, 2011
  • Geometric Constructs, Flanders Gallery, Raleigh, NC, 2010
  • Revisiting Beauty, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA, 2010
  • Red Horse Press Print Show, Oxbow Gallery, Northampton, MA, 2010
  • Painting and Photography Faculty Exhibition, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred, NY, 2010
  • Knickerbocker Art Show 2010, Reverol & Co Contemporary Art, New Rochelle, NY, 2010
  • Spectra ,Faculty Exhibition, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred University, School of Art and Design, 2010
  • Tell Me Everything, As You Remember It, Creative Research Laboratory, Austin, TX, 2009
  • AbstWacktion, Bad Dog Gallery, DeKalb, IL, 2009
  • National Young Painters Competition, Miami University, finalist for the William and Dorothy Yeck award, 2009
  • Southern Tier Biennial, juried by Holly E. Hughes, Associate Curator, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Olean,NY, 2009

Research, Publications, & Presentations

Research & Publications

  • Painter's Bread, July 2016
  • New American Paintings, Northeast Issue 116, Open Studios Press, juried by Michelle Grabner, 2015
  • City Newspaper, 65th Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition, Rebecca Rafferty, 8/5/2015
  • Exploring Studio Materials, Mary Hafeli, Oxford University Press, 2014
  • Bannon, Anthony. "Together or Apart?: VACI’s ‘Contemporary Couples’ Troublesome On the Whole, but Features Stellar Individual Work. The Chautauquan Daily. July 20, 2013, 2013
  • Stone Canoe, Issue #7, Literary and visual arts journal published by Syracuse University, 2012
  • Curbed, New York, Public Art for Barclays Center, Jessica Dailey, 9/20/12
  • Hyperallergic, Is the Color Grey Doomed?, review of Grey Matter, Daniel Larkin, 8/16/11,hyperallergic.com, 2011
  • Cantanker Magazine Issue 11: The Ambiguous Object, curated by Cook & Ruud, exhibition in print, 2011
  • Raleigh Downtowner Magazine, review of Geometric Constructs, Max Halperen, volume 6, issue 6, pg. 12, 2010
  • NC Art Blog, Transformers, review of Geometric Constructs, Dave Delcambre, 7/12, 2010
  • The Westchester Guardian, Second Knickerbocker Art Show Shines, Rachel Abady, 7/1, pg 14-15, 2010
  • Faculty Work, Division of Drawing, Painting and Photography, Catalog, 2010
  • The Austin Chronicle, Arts Review, "Tell Me Everything As You Remember It", Wayne Alan Brenner, 10/23/2009
  • Naturally catalog essay by Clarence Burton Sheffield Jr., Prof. of Art History, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007
  • The Austin Chronicle, Arts Review, "Take Me to Bed or Lose Me Forever", Nikki Moore, 12/22/2006
  • New American Paintings: Western edition (juried by Lynn Herbert), Open Studios Press, 2004
  • The New York Sun, June 24th, 2004, Maureen Mullarkey, review of Langour, 2004
  • The Daily Texan, April 23rd, 2004, review of MFA Thesis Show The Austin Chronicle, April 9th, 2004, review of MFA Thesis Show, 2004
  • New American Paintings: M.F.A. Annual (juried by Lawrence Rinder), Open Studios Press, 2003
  • Artlies magazine, Seven from Austin, J. Marcus Weekley, summer 2003
  • Hub Stuff, Seven from Austin: Art show at TT Landmark Gallery, J. Marcus Weekley, 2003

Awards/Honors

  • Memorial Art Gallery Award of Excellence, 2015
  • Best of Alternative and Mixed Media, Southern Tier Biennial, 2008
  • New York Foundation for the Arts, Special Opportunity Stipend, 2008
  • Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Artist Grant in Painting, 2007
  • Marshall F. Wells Scholarship in the College of Fines Arts, The University of Texas at Austin, 2002
  • Lucas Foundation Scholarship, The University of Texas at Austin, 2002
  • Ellen Clayton Garwood Scholarship, The University of Texas at Austin, 2002
  • Michael Frary Endowed Scholarship in Painting, The University of Texas at Austin, 2001
  • David Bruton, Jr. Endowed Fellowship in the College of Fine Arts, The University of Texas at Austin, 2001
  • Artist Fellowship, Massachusetts Local Cultural Council, 2001

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