By Maddie Bacon
Oct. 15, Volume 47 Issue 1
Carolyn Stevens, recent chairperson for the fine arts department, has a gallery in honor of her retirement from SFCC after 35 years of instructing.
Located in building 6, the gallery showcases Steven’s works from 1975 to pieces created this year. Stevens previously collaborated on gallery shows for the Jundt Art Museum at Gonzaga and has shown exhibits at many private galleries and colleges in the Pacific Northwest.
“Oh my gosh,” said Tom O’day, art instructor and director of the gallery here at SFCC. “Of any other faculty member she was a core element in our department, hands down, no question.”
Stevens also has a number of permanent works around Spokane and as far as South Carolina. As an artist she has accumulated many different techniques and methods of creating over the years and this evolution is easy to see in the gallery.
“As you gain experience, gain competence as an artist, you don’t have to be tidy,” Stevens said.
Overall, Stevens’ favorite medium was drawing, but her pieces in the gallery are varied, sometimes mixing charcoal and pastels or collaging papers or fabrics. While instructing, Stevens also encouraged her students to use unorthodox mediums including photoshop and collaging.
“I wanted to loosen the definition of someone who draws” Stevens said.
As an instructor, Steven’s coworkers described her with tremendous respect.
“It was delightful to assemble her work, and to see pieces I hadn’t seen before,” O’day said. ”The exhibition gives a broad range of the work she’s done over the years.”
Stevens made sure to keep the art department involved in committees across campus and helped to set up the Fine Arts AA degree program.
“Carolyn insisted on the art department being very visible on campus,” says instructor Mardias Nenno. “She really put that [artist] part of her life on hold and devoted it to teaching and all of the service she has done for SFCC.”
Often creative departments can be overlooked, but Nenno explains how closely Stevens worked with administration as department chair in order to represent the department’s interests and views.
“One of the most articulate and intelligent people I’ve ever known,” Nenno said.
“Just the shift and the change we all change as we grow, the work does the same thing, it kind of mirrors that,” said Carl Richardson, current art instructor and chairperson for the department.
“That’s a long span of time to be showing work, there’s a really strong consistency; most of the faculty agrees that ultimately she will be missed, it’s big shoes to fill.”