Artist Roster

Artist Bio Information: Stephanie Przybylek

Exploring animals and nature is Stephanie's passion, and she loves introducing audiences of all ages to a variety of artistic media. Her goal is to work collaboratively with students to find the mix of styles and media that work best for them. Stephanie’s own art is animal-themed  and colorful but also  a carefully observed take on creatures and the natural world.  

Artist Background:

Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, Stephanie and her sister Leslie explored a wide variety of art materials and techniques. Stephanie comes from an artistic family; her paternal grandfather was an independent glass designer in Pittsburgh and father spent a career in graphic arts. As children, Stephanie and her sister thought modeling clay and Prismacolors were as common as Play Doh.

Obsessed with animals as a child because of many trips to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Stephanie spent endless amounts of time in woods and wading in streams. In terms of formal training, Stephanie has a BA in Art from Gettysburg College and MA in Art History from University of Delaware. While in graduate school, Stephanie took elective classes in painting reconstruction from the Art Conservation Department. This experience cultivated a deeper appreciation of the craft of painting and the use of materials and techniques from different time periods.

Diverse travel to many places, from the swamps of Atchafalaya Basin and the Florida Keys to the glaciers of Iceland and fjords of Norway has also fueled this interest.

Professional Background:

Stephanie's professional experience has been in the museum field as a curator, writer, exhibit designer/fabricator, educator and administrator. Throughout her career, she has continued to create images and objects expressing their life-long interest in animal life. Stephanie participated in exhibitions throughout her early years and during college, before her career took her into the realms of mounting exhibitions. She has extensive experience working with graphic designers and taking projects from the conceptual stage through execution and completion.   She is a published author with established writing and editing skills. Ironically, it was a need for fish drawings to be reproduced on pillows for a children’s interactive display as part of an exhibit that led into a rekindling of full pursuit of her own art.  

Arts Services:

Because of her diverse background, Stephanie offers many services, from giving lectures and programs to hands-on art lessons for students of all ages and abilities.   She also advises on grant writing, program planning, and other elements essential to the life of those pursuing a career in the nonprofit world and the arts.

Favored Mediums:  

Colored pencil, watercolor, gouache, acrylics, ink, mixed media on paper, board, wood; computer graphics with a Wacom Intuos 4; experience with Adobe Illustrator CS5, Adobe InDesign CS5, and Aperture 3.3. Digital photography with Canon products. She even has experience with seashells, driftwood, authentic used Mardi Gras beads, beer caps, and other assorted and sundry found objects!