Living Sculptures

Stefanie Rocknak cannot remember a time when she was not interested in art. Her father was a high school art teacher until she was 6 years old, and began teaching her art at a young age. She can distinctly recall her father sculpting a head out of clay when she was 5 years old. “I was mesmerized—it seemed like magic,” she says. Steff’s early art memories also include watching the carving of wooden ducks at her parents’ shop and carving a piece of wood at a fair at Bowdoin College in Maine.

Steff later went on to study 2-D art in college until her junior year abroad in Rome, Italy. “While I was there, I found myself drawing many of the beautiful marble sculptures in the museums, e.g., Michelangelo, Bernini and others,” she recalls. “Although I was in Rome to study painting and drawing, I was much more interested in the sculpture. The summer after I came home, I completed a large wooden figure emerging from an oak log. I was hooked.”

Steff primarily works with wood, but says she does use clay as well. For instance, her piece, Poe Returning to Boston is a life-size bronze sculpture that she carved in wood. “I completed the final sculpture in clay, which was then cast in bronze. Also, the models that I created for the 2018 National Native American Veterans Memorial Competition were clay,” she says.

Steff explains that when sculpting in wood she has to plan ahead. “It’s difficult to correct a mistake in wood. So it takes a long time, especially the large pieces,” she says. “Clay is much easier, and it has a different look than wood. In both cases, it’s important to make sure that the piece works from all angles—it took me a while to figure this out.” Although difficult at times, Steff says she is rewarded by seeing the form start to emerge, to the point where it almost seems to twitch, or move slightly. “It’s as if they start to come alive, or take on a life of their own,” she explains.

Steff draws creative inspiration from the actions of people, whether good or bad, and their body language. “I have to be very motivated before I start each piece, because I know that I will be spending a great deal of time on it. Boredom is an artist’s worst enemy,” Steff says.

Her creative process has changed as she has progressed throughout her art career. Although Steff has always looked at photographs of people and expressions, she admits that she never used to draw the piece or construct a model first. Today, however, if the piece is complicated, she does both. “This saves me time because I can work the more difficult aspects out in clay, rather than studying the wood before making a move,” Steff says. “When the piece starts to come alive, I usually put the photographs and the model aside. At this point, I just let the figure emerge on its own.”

Steff is currently completing a political series about the violent death throes of the American patriarchy—and what it is leaving in its wake. “I never thought that I would makes pieces like these, but it’s hard to remain unaffected by what is going on around us.” Next, she will work on a small female figure in a chair. “The chair will be painted; I have enjoyed using bright colors in my political series.”

Steff encourages aspiring sculptors to “do what inspires you!” She also believes it is important that artists show their work as soon as possible. “I waited too long I think (I did not start showing my work until around 2000, although I had already been sculpting for 12 years). Apply for every competition that you can as well. You never know…”

To see more work, visit steffrocknak.net and follow her on Instagram: @steffrocknak.