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Drift                                                                                             Grace Hulse

Bio

Stephanie Imbeau’s installation works explore ways in which people have a “basic instinct to have community and shelter.” She has devoted her practice to exploring how the built environment plays a role in this quest for sanctuary. Stephanie Imbeau was born and raised in South Carolina and currently lives in Berlin, Germany. She holds a BFA from Ohio State University and a MFA from Newcastle University in London. She has exhibited her work throughout Europe and in the United States.

Key Ideas:

Drift explores the tension that Imbeau’s chosen objects have between security and vulnerability. Both boats and umbrellas have the ability to shield a user from the elements but at the same time are at their mercy. The title of her work, Drift, also suggests a duality if one thinks about drifting peacefully on gentle waters versus being adrift- in other words- being lost.

For Imbeau, Drift stands as a metaphor for the tension between rigidity and flexibility, between shelter and vulnerability, and relates how in essence “we all need each other, and how we’re stronger together and more present and beautiful in that coming together.”

Materials:

Imbeau assembled the three structures for Drift using sailboats as the underlying support structure. To provide still more structural support for the umbrellas, she attached wood lathe snow fencing to the boat’s standing rigging (the non-moving cable supports for the boats’ masts) and covered that with a skin of found and donated umbrellas. The spokes of each umbrella are reinforced with fiberglass rods that enable them to have rigidity, while remaining flexible. Battery operated LED lights installed on the deck of each sailboat illuminate the floating structures.

Prompts:

Because Drift is floating in the harbor we are forced to view it from a distance rather than walking up to and around it. How does this affect the way you connect to the piece?  Would your reaction to Drift be different if the boats were sitting on land or in a gallery?

The LED lighting not only illuminates the umbrella skin but also creates a reflection in the water. How could this further Imbeau’s idea of shelter and vulnerability?

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