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ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Stefan Matioc
Stefan’s recognizable squiggly lines can be found on walls all over Madison—Good Style on E. Johnson, The Sylvee, Bandit Tacos, Lululemon at Hilldale, and more. His one line faces gained momentum in 2014 when he was working as an animator at local ad agency, Planet Propaganda. He began painting murals inspired by Keith Haring’s bold, improvisational approach and is grateful for the many opportunities Madison has provided him. Stefan enjoys drawing cartoons and animations that often use humor to touch on what can be heavy or complicated parts of the human experience. Whether he is painting a mural or drawing a comic in his sketchbook, the spark of his work is spontaneous and intuitive.
Stefan’s moved away from the ad world and spent two years in Mexico City, gaining inspiration and working as a freelance creative. During this time, he grew more interested in psychology and therapy, eventually earning a master’s degree and working part-time as a therapist at a clinic. Now, he’s transitioning to private practice while exploring the intersection of his art and therapy. With a focus on Gestalt and experiential approaches, his work—both visual and therapeutic—embraces simplicity, humor, and paradox
THE WHALER
The inland seas of The Great Lakes while not as vast as the open waters of the Pacific still hold a similar lure and danger. These Merchant Marines, Navy Personnel, Commercial Fisherman and Sailors have all heard the stories of the whaler and life aboard the vessels they trusted at sea for months. Their personal Melvillian narratives play out with countless celestial stars and endless menacing whitecaps churning a dark sea.
“The whaleman’s rule of thumb was that, before diving, a whale blew once for each minute it would spend underwater. Whalemen also knew that while underwater the whale continued at the same speed and in the same direction as it had been traveling before the dive. Thus, an experienced whaleman could calculate with remarkable precision where a submerged whale was likely to reappear.”
― Nathaniel Philbrick, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
Life is a voyage that is homeward bound. - Herman Melville
WI SPORTING CLUB
The Northwoods has a way of slowing your senses down. The way light paints in shadows or cuts through morning mist. The smell of earth underfoot in a deep canopy of evergreens or fragrant spruce wafting in waves. Hearing a loon echo across a cold body of water or mostly listening for its partners return call.
Giants of conservation such as Aldo Leopold and John Muir had a way of putting in words to what our senses already know. Or a grandparent reciting passages from these works as they tie flys, polish a camera lens, or carve a new duck call as the glow from the hearth help light the cabin.
ABIQUIU
Native daughter of Wisconsin, Georgia O’Keeffe’s influence stretches from WI to the concrete and asphalt jungle of NYC to the sun bleached adobe facades of New Mexico. Her artistic approach or vantage point, has been lauded and copied by many. In New Mexico, where, in 1940, O’Keeffe bought a home at the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, she wore denim and painted the landscapes, she loved to wear men’s shirts paired with bluejeans. She honed her style by borrowing from other nations, too. When she travelled to Japan, she returned with kimonos, one of which she is wore, open and loose, in a Paul Strand portrait from 1918. It’s through this vantage point we created our narrative, Abiquiu.