Stella Arbelaez had an amazing turn out of friends who came to support her Masters in Fine art gallery opening at UCF. There was a large contingent of former Florida Disney Feature Animation artists and friends she met on her hike on the Florida Trail which she hiked from Cypress National Preserve in the south up to Fort Pickins in the North. In all the trail is 1108 miles. She met New Bear at Mile marker 7 right when she began her trek. Then they met Just Jeff at about mile marker 800. Stella interviewed hikers she met all along the way and she had a full kit of art supplies to document the incredibly beauty that can be found on the trail. Each hiker is given a nick name on the trail and her nickname was acorn. The work to be seen in this gallery exhibit is evidence that the acorn is growing into a mighty live oak, spreading her branched.
The day after the opening, Stella returned to the Yalaha studio with James Parris, another former Disney Feature Animation artist and friend for 30 years, and her daughter Laura. New Bear had a car which he had driven down from Maryland and he brought Just Jeff. Just Jeff has stayed at Stella’s house many times before and her helped build the fence around the front of her property along with a stone walkway around the back patio. The second Jeffrey arrived he started gardening around a Bougainvillea which he had saved from a pot that it had outgrown. He was afraid the plant might perish, but it was thriving in a bed of ferns. It just wasn’t flowering, and he attributed that to the wet soil.
I had virtual classes to teach for six hours on Saturday and that is when the crowd descended on the studio. Stella had planned ahead and suggested I teach from the bedroom so my students would not have to contend with the all the laughter. I taught from my bed for the day. It was actually quite comfortable. I had my egg crates full of teaching material next to me and my computers could rest on the mountains of drawings stacked up on the flat file next to my bed. I could hear the muffled conversations and laughter, but that is sort of my everyday experience when I sketch on location. I get lost in the quiet reflection and complexities of the sketch as the world shouts for attention around me. I wanted to join the party but had to wait until class let out at 6pm. With my last student, I was teaching contour drawing methods, and she was in a coffee shop, so our last prompt was to use contour to draw the room around us. Since I was in bed, I drew my feet extended 0n the Pulse comforter. At 6 I threw on my art bag and rushed into the living room shouting, “I am ready, lets go!”
The plan was to have dinner at Stella’s brother’s home which was a short drive away in Leesburg Florida. I got to catch up with James Parris there. He had been the artist who first checked my drawings as we were working on Pocahontas. He had been a mentor to Stella at the studio.
Stella set up her power point on her brothers big screen TV and we got to experience what she would be presenting at her thesis presentation for her professors and committee members. At the beginning of her presentation she thanked those who had helped her on her journey towards getting her masters degree. Then she started talking about her family and she had to pause. There was so much love in the room with family and friends and she must have felt that. Then her presentation hit it’s full flow. I had listened as she read aloud chapters she had just written on her couch. I would offer feedback if she felt she needed it. She story is profound and moving and it is fueling some amazing art.
Soon she will be giving the presentation to the actual committee and professors whose job is to cross examine her and ask questions. Stella defended her positions magnificently with our many questions so she is quite prepared for questions from the visiting public. She has a clear path forward as she continues to create.
This is her artist statement: “I explore the relationship between Nature (viewed as a living entity) and mental health through the intersections of personal experience and societal constructs. I share my evolution while healing from emotional trauma and after having walked 1,130 miles (1,818kn) as a through-hiker of the Florida National Scenic Trail. The work aims to be of service and entice a higher level of consciousness, directed to the nurturing of the self and protection of nature. while increasing appreciation and respect for it.