We were lucky to catch up with Stephanie Gainer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stephanie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

As many artists, I’ve had a knack for expressing myself through art since I was a child. I say that because learning what I do today, has been a life long process. I started college in my late 30s to pursue a degree in illustration. A requirement for the art program was to take a 3D class.

I took a ceramics class and I was hooked! I never thought of my art in a 3D aspect. I always drew my way through things. I hadn’t thought about creating with a different medium. Completing 2D and 3D classes, I realized the consistent theme that showed in my work was the figure. Not long after graduating from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, I moved in to my first studio. There I was able to combine illustration and my love for clay. Unfortunately, I had to leave my studio due to the pandemic.

Just prior to that, my children bought me a box of doll parts for Christmas (mostly as a joke) because I had been experimenting making mugs and sculptures in clay from a doll head mold donated to me. That morphed into what I do today.

I am a 3D/Assemblage Artist. Every art class I took, every medium I used and every creative experience has led me to where I am today. I don’t think there is anything I would have done to speed up the process! It was necessary to expand on everything I’ve learned and continue to learn.

Stephanie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Charlotte based 3D/Assemblage Artist. I have been honing my skills of saving items from the landfill for several years now. I achieved my BA in Art from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte with the support of my husband and and two small children in 2013. Originally working in clay and creating mostly figures, I was given a doll head mold that altered my path.

Having to give up my studio during the pandemic and with no access to a kiln, I started creating assemblages with doll parts my children gave me one Christmas. My found object assemblages highlight a transformation from beloved childhood toy to sculptural forms of amalgamated creatures. While these creatures often illicit strong initial reactions in viewers, they seem to be from a long forgotten fairytale.

It makes me proud to save items from the landfill (a little longer) and upcycle them into new pieces of art for others to enjoy, It makes me happy to to hear the nostalgia in the viewers voice when they see a toy, doll or other long forgotten object that reminds them of their childhood.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the reaction of the viewer. How it makes them feel, whether they like my work or not. I often engage with people about stories regarding the dolls or toys they had. I’m honored to listen to each and every memory they want to share with me! Their stories have made me laugh and cry. It’s been an amazing experience getting to know people over things that have been discarded and now upcycled.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

This is great question. I don’t know if there’s a particular goal or mission driving my creative journey. I guess, if I had to pick one, it would be a mission of telling the dolls story as best as I can or create a new one. When I choose a doll to work with, I want them to look as if they’ve been loved. I mean I want them to have smudges on their faces or wear and tear on their little arms and legs from where they’ve been dragged around everywhere by their previous young owner or had to be rescued from their sibling. These are the things I think about while I am creating and hoping that someone will be able to enjoy them again in their new sculptural form.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Https://instagram.com/sgainer
• Facebook: Https://facebook.com/sgainerfb
• Other: Https://www.tiktok.com/@thatdolllady

Image Credits
Photographer Nancy Walsh for mushroom figurines with white background