By Thomas Thorspecken
I went to the UCF Graduate Student Finals to see howStella P. Arbelaéz Tascón used the grass paper I helped her create to finish her map of the Florida Scenic Trail. This was her last Final as she would be graduating in two weeks. She chose to display her work right near the exit to the studio, as if she had one foot out the door already.
When she was getting ready to cut the wood shape for the map, we agonized over the fact that the etchings she had created could not fit properly on the map. She finally said, that the wall the map would be displayed on was quite large, and the prints could easily float free of the map, anywhere on the wall. At that moment the map broke free of its limited four by four foot square conventions.
The board would not fit in her car, so we rigged up a support system with two pool noodles and long ties to get it to her studio on the roof of her Prius. She drove from Home Depot to her studio at 35 miles an hour to be sure the board didn’t lift and go airborne. It was an adventure.
We went to Michael’s to get natural cording to signify the trail. She purchased die and orange fluorescent paint to paint the cord orange. Ultimately she settled on the die for a natural look. Nails with the head painted orange marked the sites of the mile markers which the etchings depicted.
She painted the back of the wooden map and each of the mounted prints a bright fluorescent green. That created a haunting effect of a green glow as the map and prints floated above the wall. Knowing how the map had evolved and all that was involved, I was impressed with the final result. She also handed out sheets of the grass paper for people to feel and smell. The map tied together eleven small etchings, which are the beginning of an ongoing series that she has been assembling of the trail.
During the course of the MFA program, her work evolved beyond depicting the physical and natural world of the trail as she started to reflect on her inner world and ultimately she began seeing that her art could help raise awareness about how the natural world needs to be protected. She wants her art to act as a steward to all the beauty she cherishes.
The map she created was not intended as a high concept museum display. It was instead an informal summation of the trail that she had traveled and the trail she has yet to travel. Three professors thought the piece felt too much like a tourist roadmap, or that it diminished the power of the prints. When my friend has a one woman show displaying all of the trail themed artworks she has created, I think the map will be a welcome addition to the wall sized introduction to her work and biography. It is one piece in a much larger puzzle.
She was asked by one professor, what she had mastered during her time in the program. She didn’t feel she mastered any one artistic discipline because her pursuit for technical ability evolves on par with any artist, and she always strives to be better, But she is now a master of her ambition. She is no longer doubtful of her abilities, as she was after her divorce and before the program. She feels empowered, recharged and recommitted to herself as an artist and to a the larger cause of protecting nature as an advocate.
She leaves UCF knowing that she is limitless.
April 26- The last final. Please link to me.