from an INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE SYPSA

She's a romantic with a cutting edge. Columbus resident Stephanie Sypsa graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design in 2004. She hails from near Biloxi Mississippi, which is "just a hop,skip,and a jump fromNew Orleans and the Gulf." She has been married to Jason, a mechanical engineer, for nine years. Jason also is from the South, and "we love our visits there, and lots of family stuff." Sypsa possesses a strong sense of history. When she visited Dresden , Germany, during her OAC residency, she was haunted by awareness of the World War II bombings, and by the then recent damage done by HurricaneKatrina in the U.S.
When Sypsa visited Rome (during the residency) she was fascinated, indeed, engaged, by monuments, reliquaries, burials,cemeteries.--When I asked her what she was reading, she replied that she had been "spending most of my reading time on researching memory and memorials. I was struck by that feeling in Rome, how we need to connect, need connection to those gone before.. And memory. . . how we need to be remembered. I've been reading about
that, especially as regards Victorian times Funeral wreathes,hair lockets, that sort of thing.
I've even been researching light machinery from that period."
Sypsa appreciates photography, and incorporates photographs into her art. Yet, she
states, emphatically, "I am not a photographer.--At CCAD I was lucky to study art, painting and drawing. I did have a photography class that inspired me. In it I learned much about old time photography. I learned traditional stuff--Brown tones. Old nasty chemicals. Not digital.
I learned how you could color photographs, like painting!"
Stephanie and Jason like to travel, at home and abroad. "I love traveling," Sypsa said.
"We've been to Costa Rica, New Zealand, to Paris. Dresden. Rome. And, of course, we look at art, and I do take photographs.--I'm an over documentarian!"
Like most visual artists Sypsa likes to listen to music, and there again, her tastes include
"some vintage." She loves the music of Jeff Buckley "who died young and had such a beautiful voice. And I love Billie Holiday who died a long time ago."
Recently, Sypsa began to work out of a new studio in Grandview. She remains excited about belonging to the Phoenix Print Making Collective. She enjoys working at Riffe, especially being a teacher or assistant at Family Days.
"What's good about the Columbus art scene? New groups are emerging and merging. There's a new art scene in GrandView--Their gallery hop is huge! The art scene is what makes Columbus special. If not, I wouldn't stay here!"
Connections II, Ohio Artists Abroad, is open until April 8 and exhibits fourteen very contemporary and agile artists who created work during OAC residencies in Germany, Poland,and the Czech Republic. It is a varied and cerebral show and you are bound to see things you like and love and puzzle over.
The Ohio Arts Council's Riffe Gallery is at 77 S. High St. in Columbus, Ohio in the Verne Riffe building. Admission, like the best in art, is free.