Stephen Knapp's Page
Stephen Knapp's Page
Profile Information
- Website
- http://www.lightpaintings.com
- Relationship status
- married
- College / University
- Hamilton College
- Program
- Liberal Arts
- Member type
- Artist
- If you're an artist, what kind of art do you make?
- Conceptual, Installation, Painting, Sculpture
- I am...
- Stephen Knapp is born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1947, and receives his B.A. from Hamilton College in 1969. His liberal arts education exposes him to many different disciplines and emphasizes the importance of research, establishing a foundation for much of his work.
For nearly a decade after graduating from college, Stephen works as a fine art photographer, selling his work to corporate and private collectors in the United States and abroad. As his reputation grows he concentrates his energies exclusively on commissioned works, usually in collaboration with noted architects and interior designers. It is during this period that he develops the innovations for which he is known today – combining mediums and processing techniques and working with fabricators on an increasingly grand scale.
During this early stage in his career Stephen works closely with Polaroid on their 20x24 camera, creating large scale instant photographs. For a period of time he uses the camera more than any other non-Polaroid employee.
Soon, though, photography is not enough. Although he has pushed it experimentally - hand coloring black and white photomontages for massive enlargements, using computer printouts to make his own screens that form the basis of a giant silk-screen commission - Stephen begins to look more closely at permanent materials. Various types of ceramic, mosaic, metal, stone and glass begin to fill his studio.
Researching these materials for public art, performing constant experimentation, and making contact and working closely with craftsmen, fabricators and manufacturers from around the world becomes instrumental in this new phase of Stephen's career.
His first forays outside of photography continue to draw from that medium, as he produces a dyed, etched anodized aluminum mural for Norton Company, now Saint Gobain, the world’s largest manufacturer of abrasives. Although totally abstract in nature, this piece is an allegory for the company’s many parts, and the process of its production shows the in-depth research that is a hallmark of his work. Photo transfer techniques are used to create this piece, using high contrast film to define the images to be etched and anodized in aluminum.
In 1986 Stephen uses similar techniques to create one of the world’s largest etched metal murals – a 14’ x 72’ piece for the Hamilton County Justice Complex in Cincinnati. Black and white images of the county are blended as one and then reproduced in etched aluminum with the use of new techniques researched and developed for the commission.
As the Cincinnati project is developing, another opportunity arises, one that ultimately takes Stephen to Japan to create the world’s largest glass glaze ceramic murals. Researching materials for another commission, he had come upon a factory in Japan that made huge photo-ceramic murals, a technique used by Robert Rauschenberg in the early 1980s. The photo decal technique seems tailor made for him, yet the more he explores the process, the more fascinated he becomes with a thick glass glaze – a crackle glaze – that had been developed for architecture.
After consultation with the factory – the best in the world for large scale ceramic murals – he learns that they have indeed used the glass glazes in some of their murals, but only for small accent details. This project will be the first time these glazes are used on such a large scale. With a sense of humility for the setting – one of the historic ceramic centers in Japan – paired with the opportunity to create something that has never been done before, Stephen begins to work closely with the artisans in the small mountain village of Shigaraki, Japan. Together they develop new colors and new techniques to make his vision a reality, producing three of the largest glass glaze ceramic murals in the world for USAA Federal Savings Bank.
As the public appreciation of his work grows so does Stephen’s comfort in working with diverse medi
- About my artwork
- Born:
Worcester, Massachusetts 1947
Education:
Hamilton College, BA 1969
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2007
The Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, OH
Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art of the Midland Center for the Arts
2006
Eckert Fine Art, Naples, FL
2005
Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
Kraft Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2004
Skot Foreman Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2003
Kraft Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
1994
“Fantasy in Glass”, Chicago, IL
Group Exhibitions:
2006
Palm Beach Contemporary
2005
Art Chicago in the Park
Stephen Knapp Project Space, Art Santa Fe
Art Miami
San Francisco International Art Expo 7
2004
The International Art + Design Fair
Los Angeles Art Show
Art Miami
Palm Beach Contemporary
San Francisco International Art Expo 6
Art Chicago
SOFA New York
2003
Toronto International Art Fair
Art of the Twentieth Century
Los Angeles Art Show
Art Santa Fe
SOFA Chicago
SOFA New York
Art Chicago
“El Arte de las Vidrieras: luz, color y espacio”, La Valldigna, Comunitat Valenciana, Spain
2002
“Reflections on Glass”, New York, NY
2001
“The Coloured Light”, Pfarrkirchen, Germany
“2001 Hsinchu International Glass Arts Festival”, Taiwan
1998
“Glass: A Group Exhibition”, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ
1994
“International Survey of Contemporary Art Glass”, Pittsburgh, PA
1993
“Glass Now 15th”, Japan
1991
“Mars and the Muses”, Higgins Armory, Worcester, MA
Selected Commissions:
“Masked Illusions”, lightpainting, Riverside Theatre, Vero Beach, FL 2007
“Traversing a Luminous Fold”, lightpainting, Miami University, Oxford, OH 2006
“First Symphony”, lightpainting, Sursa Performance Hall, Ball State University, Muncie, IN
“Seven Muses”, lightpainting, Eisemann Center for Performing Arts, Richardson, TX
“Luminous Affirmations”, lightpainting, Lights on Tampa, FL
“Harlequin”, lightpainting, private residence, Boca Raton, FL 2005
“Toccata”, lightpainting, MITRE Corp, Bedford, MA 2004
“Beyond” lightpainting, private residence, Richardson, TX
“Joanie’s”, lightpainting, private residence, Worcester, MA
“Rocco’s Reward”, lightpainting, Opia 1541 Restaurant, Worcester, MA
“Fandango”, private residence, Allentown, PA
“The Magician”, lightpainting, private residence, Chicago, IL 2003
“The Christ Doors”, kiln formed glass, The Solanus Casey Center, Detroit, MI 2002
“Quattuordecim”, lightpainting, The American Bible Society, New York, NY
“Stories from Light”, suspended light sculpture, Women and Babies Hospital, Lancaster, PA
“The Crossroads Quartet”, Sam Nunn Federal Center, Atlanta, GA 2000
Light sculpture, Saints Memorial Medical Center, Lowell, MA
“The Healing Arts Suite”, The Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee, FL
Lightpainting, Worcester Medical Center, Worcester, MA
Kiln formed glass screens, Kilroy Airport Center III, Long Beach, CA 1999
Kiln formed glass wall, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA
Carved slate and mosaic murals, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD
Kiln formed glass screens, Kilroy Airport Center, Long Beach, CA 1998
Publications:
The Art of Glass, Stephen Knapp, Rockport Publishers, 1998
“A Guide to Architectural Art Glass”, Architectural Record, May 1995
“Architectural Art Glass”, Glass Magazine, May 1995
“Art with Heart - A Guide to Collaborating with Creative Types on Building Art”, Skylines, March 1989
“Collaborating with Artists”, Progressive Architecture, April, 1987
“Working with Artists - A Developers’ Guide for Commissioning Artwork”, Urban Land, September 1987
Bibliography:
Books:
The Sculpture Reference, Illustrated, Arthur Williams, 2005
Reflections on Glass, Virginia Chieffo Raguin, American Bible Society, 2002
Artisans Glass, Jera May Morton, Watson Guptil Publications, 1999
Architectural Glass Art, Andrew Moor, Mitchell Beazley, 1997
Selected Articles:
Art of the Times, Summer 2006
Worcester Telegram & Gazette August 2006
The
- Artists I like
- James Turrell
Dan Flavin
Isamu Naguchi
Robert Rauschenberg
Glexis Novoa
- Interests
- music, art, cycling,kayaking
- Centre of the artworld:
- nowhere and everywhere
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Stephen
taylor
transit station in the making at the moment. Busy with preparations for meetings in Copenhagen.
I am in London at the moment teaching at the University.
Good to be in touch
Dagmar
But I could swear the work was yours.
Greetings