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“The strength of Stephen Knapp’s art resides, in part, in how it defies description and amplifies experience. Although it incorporates color, light, and space—elements common to painting, sculpture, and architectural installation—the work can never be defined simply by one or another of these practices. Similarly, to identify it too closely to the material of glass is also inadequate. Rather, it is a uniquely hybrid form, which is truly more than the sum of its parts. For all the precision underlying Knapp’s complex configurations, the resulting phenomena inspire a sense of wonder that borders on magic.”

Susan L. Stoops Curator of Contemporary Art Worcester Art Museum

Biography

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 mediums. It is no surprise that the next opportunity to present itself is a collaboration with an architect in Boston to create a European style spa for The Spa at the Heritage. A large ceramic mural is created as a backdrop for the pool and mosaic tile imagery is placed on the pool bottom. All of this could be viewed through an etched glass wall. Etched glass doors complement the etched stainless steel walls throughout the rest of the installation.

A pattern is now forming – Stephen uses the research for one project to enhance the next. When it comes time to create two large etched stainless steel murals for McDonnell Douglas' Douglas Center in California, Stephen develops a new technique of mixing paints so they will change with the angle of light. In the resulting imagery of the murals, highlights on the wings of the planes glow as if catching the sun, and some planes seem to shimmer in front of the canvas of stainless steel. The kinetic force of these murals lends a palpable energy to the work he creates. A closer look at the murals reveals Stephen’s interest in creating illusions of space which he will explore extensively in his lightpaintings.

An increasing fascination with light – a hallmark of his days as a fine art photographer – soon leads Stephen deeper into the world of glass.

Kiln formed glass – the heating of glass to take on the shape of a form below – is his next major leap in mediums, an adventure that occupies much of his time in the 1990s. Stephen develops and works on industrial techniques that allow him to create tempered kiln formed art glass walls and doors for use in architectural settings, resulting over the decade in large installations for Brunswick Corporation, United Airlines, SPRINT, Harnischfeger Industries, and CNA Insurance Companies, to name a few.

During the 1990s Stephen starts spending more time on personal work, creating sculpture, furniture and lighting for a showcase entitled Fantasy in Glass, a unique exhibition he stages at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. This year long 5,000 square foot exhibit is created to introduce architects and designers worldwide to the possibilities of kiln formed art glass.

With his penchant for choosing the right materials for each new commission firmly in place, Stephen adds carved marble to his repertoire for a Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines installation. Asked to work on a theme of Greek and Roman exploration, he works with artisans in Italy to create a series of ruined columns and steles with hieroglyphs and faces that hold together a series of fragments of kiln formed glass. In the relief of the glass one sees Greek and Roman temples, ships, and pieces of antiquity. Its companion piece brings into play other materials, with fragments of mosaic tile representing fifteenth century paintings of constellations, which are linked together by ribbons of stainless steel.

This commission is so well received that a year or so later Stephen returns to Italy to produce two carved marble lions, contemporary interpretations of an Egyptian theme, for another Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines installation.

His growing confidence in his ability to use various materials and techniques leads him to incorporate dichroic glass and stainless steel in "The Bird", an atrium piece commissioned by Harnischfeger Industries, which in turn leads to the cabled "Rainbow Harp" for CNA Insurance Companies.

An acknowledged expert in his field, Stephen frequently writes and lectures on architectural art glass, the collaborative process, and the integration of art and architecture. In 1998 he authors The Art of Glass for Rockport Publishers.

The following year Stephen installs his largest commission to date at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Ironically, with all of his work in glass, this installation consists of ten murals of carved slate and mosaic tile, each 7' x 18'. Over four tons of slate are used in the project, which is designed to work on multiple levels. Although not usually considered a kinetic medium, the reflective quality of the slate makes it change constantly, so lighting is an important component of this installation.

Light plays a lead role in his next major installation, a 17' x 60' sculptural lightpainting at the Worcester Medical Center, Massachusetts. Searching for a solution for the back wall of a 240' long five story atrium, Stephen mounts thirty-eight shaped and polished pieces of dichroic glass on the wall, with eighteen 1000W spots shining through the glass, creating an overlapping series of colored shadows. Computerized lighting changes every hour, casting different colored shadows and shapes on the wall, creating a new piece of art hourly.

The rest of 2000 saw each of these mediums used in major commissions - kiln formed glass, glass, and carved slate and mosaic tile.

Stephen is intrigued by the possibilities that present themselves in the use of dichroic glass and begins to look for opportunities that will allow him to continue experimenting with it. A project for the Women and Babies Hospital in Lancaster, PA, comes along in 2001 and seems to be exactly what he is looking for. Again, an atrium piece. However this space is considerably smaller than that occupied by the lightpainting in Worcester. This size limitation is what Stephen needs in this early stage of his work in sculptural lightpaintings, for the diffusion of light that is accomplished in this new medium is a radical change from the light concentrations collected in his kiln-formed glass panels, and he realizes that spatial limitation allows for greater precision in the effects produced.

When this project for Women and Babies Hospital is completed, Stephen returns to working with kiln-formed glass for several projects and it is almost a year before he produces another lightpainting. But in that year Stephen creates the form necessary for all of his future lightpainting explorations and discoveries.

In 2002 Stephen presents the world with his lightpaintings; no longer hanging glass and steel structures, in these new works the glass is bracketed onto walls with a single light fixture illuminating the entire piece. The light that passes through the various pieces of glass is no longer an effect in the air, as it was in the sculptural lightpaintings, but is now simultaneously collected and dispersed on the wall.

"Quattuordecim - The One Light" is the first of the new lightpaintings that Stephen shows to a large audience. This piece goes on display in December of 2002 in a glass exhibit at the American Bible Society in New York. With "Quattuordecim," measuring 16’ x 10’ x 10", Stephen engages the Stations of the Cross story by using a single light to give unity to the allegory. Also in 2002 Stephen installs a large lightpainting in a private residence in Lancaster, P.A.

The early months of 2003 mark the beginning of an exceptionally busy period for Stephen. He is electrified by the discoveries he is making with his lightpaintings and wants to share his latest works with others. He spends hours upon hours producing new pieces but also finds much of his time absorbed by his participation in shows around the United States as well as internationally. From Palm Beach to Chicago, New York and Santa Fe, as well as Los Angeles and Toronto, Stephen’s lightpaintings appear in show after show, and continue to do so through 2005.

During this same time period Stephen has several solo shows at galleries in Chicago and Atlanta. His 2004 solo show at Skot Foreman Fine Art in Atlanta is followed up with a larger solo show the next year at the Kraft Lieberman Gallery in Chicago. The large gallery space at Kraft Lieberman gives Stephen an opportunity to experiment with how lightpaintings can be exhibited in museum and gallery settings. With lightpainting installations as well as panel mounted pieces he is able to show the range of this new medium and at the same time determine ambient light levels and flows of work for future exhibits. The grouping of the lightpaintings within an exhibit space heightens Stephen’s perceptions of their dynamic inter-relationships and he is inspired to experiment with new coatings and laminating techniques that take him beyond dichroics. These coatings and techniques increase the range of his palette and give him greater control in painting with light.

2006 proves to be his busiest year yet, starting with a 60’ x 100’ exterior installation on the north face of Tampa, Florida’s City Hall. Part of their "Lights on Tampa" program, "Luminous Affirmations" is one of two permanent commissions. The unveiling of this piece is followed a few days later by a solo show at Eckert Fine Art in Naples, FL.

Large scale commissions seems to be the theme of Stephen’s work in 2006, with his "Seven Muses", a 35’ x 95’ commission for The Charles W. Eisemann Center, in Richardson, Texas, next up in the spring of that year. He spends most of the summer months in a rented space working on a wall far larger than any in his studio. The result of this is the multi-light, multi-panel lightpainting "First Symphony", a piece produced for the foyer of the Sursa Performance Hall at Ball State University.

In early 2007 Stephen has his first solo museum exhibition. The Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art of the Midland Center for the Arts provides an opportunity to explore relationships between different types of lightpaintings and to further show the versatility of this new art form. Following what he had learned at the Kraft Lieberman Gallery he is able to design an exhibit that will help viewers understand that lightpaintings are at an intersection between painting and sculpture. His exploration of edges and space becomes more evident in pieces such as "Shadow Musings" and "Risen Blue", while the brilliant colors of "Calypso" contrast with the softer palettes of "Cityscape". Hard edges and layered shadows define "Hadrian’s March" yet "Forward Green" is made up of soft organic forms that do not seem possible in such a medium. With this exhibit Stephen sets the stage for the possibilities of lightpaintings.

Throughout Stephen Knapp's career there are constants – a continuous research into materials, a commitment to the techniques and processes involved in enlarging his designs, and an exploration of the historical, cultural and technical precedents which are the basis for both his personal and commissioned pieces.