Stephen Bethel
STEPHEN BETHEL: Working with the Flow of Nature | July 2 - August 20, Jill C. Wilson Gallery
Stephen Bethel is an artist and yoga instructor. Stephen is the founder of Bethel Farm Living Arts Center, a yoga studio, farm and art space in Hillsborough, NH. He creates large-scaled sculptures uses found wood on the property, filling the voids with colored plaster.
“Steve Bethel makes painterly interventions by filling the hollowed-out cavities of found tree limbs with brightly colored pigmented plaster. His intrusions are nimble, deftly considered, and entirely noticeable. Bethel is a repairman: imagine a dentist restoring the cosmetic smile of a forest. Bethel's work also contains an industrial strain: the house painter, the plasterer, the masonry trowel, and the bricoleur.” (George Negroponte)
As the founder of Bethel Farm Living Arts Center and organic farm in Hillsborough, NH, Stephen holds yoga classes that are philosophically and experientially informed by his connection to the earth and stewardship of the land through regenerative farming practices. His commitment to working with the flow of nature extends to his latest works.
Stephen began to make a connection between the grandeur of the mansion architecture and his latest work where foraged pieces of wood are brought to life by highlighting their untamed beauty with plaster and pigment. The result is a series of works that evoke the wild and rugged beauty inherent in nature. These works are further elevated by the Kimball Jenkins Mansion, where a natural dialogue between wood and plaster, rawness and refinement, takes place. As the theme of our show, "Working with the Flow of Nature" began to concretize, we believed this concept could be further enriched by inviting other artists whose work is informed by a reverent relationship with nature to participate.
(Christine Fletcher, curator)