In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Becky Barsi sit down with Stacey Durand, a painter and gallery manager at the Lamont Gallery at Phillips Exeter Academy, whose creative life blends artmaking, education, and community connection.
In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Becky Barsi sit down with Stacey Durand, a painter and gallery manager at the Lamont Gallery at Phillips Exeter Academy, whose creative life blends artmaking, education, and community connection.
Stacey’s artwork captures the quiet charm of New England neighborhoods through slightly abstracted, recomposed scenes inspired by real homes and streets throughout New Hampshire’s seacoast, southern Maine, and northern Massachusetts. Working in acrylic and collage on panel, Stacey transforms the familiar architecture of mill towns and coastal communities into vivid compositions that balance nostalgia and narrative.
Learn more about Stacey and her work at www.staceydurandart.com, www.instagram.com/staceydurandart, and at Nachotta at https://nahcotta.com/collections/stacey-durand. You can also visit the Lamont Gallery at Phillips Exeter Academy at https://exeter.edu/lamont-gallery/.
Listen to this episode wherever you get your podcasts or on our website www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com. Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Discord, and subscribe to our Substack newsletter at creativegutspod.substack.com.
If you love listening, consider making a donation to Creative Guts! Our budget is tiny, so donations of any size make a big difference. Learn more and make a tax-deductible donation at www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com.
Thank you to Kennebunk Savings Bank for being an official sponsor of the podcast!
Thank you to our friends at Art Up Front Street Studios and Gallery in Exeter, NH, and the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts in Rochester, NH, for their support of the show!
Any views or opinions expressed by our hosts or guests do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Creative Guts.
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:00] LHL: I'm Laura Harper Lake.
[0:00:01] BB: I'm Becky Barsi.
[0:00:02] LHL & BB: And you're listening to Creative Guts.
[0:00:18] LHL: Hey, friends, thanks for tuning in to Creative Guts.
[0:00:20] BB: Today, we are speaking with Stacey Durand, a New Hampshire-based artist and manager of the Lamont Gallery at Philips Exeter Academy.
[0:00:26] LHL: Let's head right into this episode of Creative Guts with Stacey Durand.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:34] LHL: Hey, Stacey, welcome to Creative Guts.
[0:00:36] SD: Hi. Thank you.
[0:00:37] BB: Welcome. Welcome. It's been a long time in the works, but so glad to have you visiting us today and to learn a lot about who is Stacey Durand, the artist and amazing human that you are.
[0:00:49] SD: Oh, thank you.
[0:00:52] LHL: So, for context, Becky, you're close friends.
[0:00:54] BB: Yes. Stacy and I have known each other since the early days of me coming to New Hampshire in 2011.
[0:01:00] SD: Like 15 years?
[0:01:03] BB: Yeah. You, at the time, were working for the summer program at Philips Exeter Academy, and Stacey helped recruit me to become one of the staff members of the summer program, and then we've just been friends ever since.
[0:01:17] SD: Yes, that's true.
[0:01:18] BB: And now you are also the gallery manager at the Lamont Gallery at Philips Exeter Academy.
[0:01:23] SD: That's correct.
[0:01:24] BB: And we've just kept in touch and hang out. It's nice. So, it's fun to kind of even have a chance, even though I know you so well, to kind of dig into some of these other questions about your work that I am softly familiar with, but to kind of get even greater context for what you do and also to share it with Laura and you, fellow listeners.
[0:01:44] LHL: Yeah. And I've been familiar with your work for quite a while. You were in a zine that I helped curate, where we live, by the Sea Coast Workforce Housing Coalition, and fell in love immediately. And I've loved your work at Nahcotta every time I see it there. So, this is so great.
[0:02:00] SD: Thank you. It's great to be here. I am nervous, though.
[0:02:04] BB: Well, relax, sit back, enjoy the ride. To just get us going, for listeners that may not know anything about you, would you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are as a creative?
[0:02:15] SD: Sure. All right. So I'm Stacey Durand. My background is actually in print-making and art education. I currently, though, and actually for 20-plus years, have been a painter. Sorry. Print-making.
[0:02:15] BB: The evolution of an artist. Yeah.
[0:02:33] SD: The evolution of print making. Yes. Exactly. So most of my work is based on houses and communities. And I specifically focus on this area. So the Seacoast New England area. I'm really drawn to the seacoast mill towns and those types of houses. Not really new construction, not really even cities per se.
Exeter is similar to what I'm drawn to because it was a mill town, Newmarket was a mill town. Portsmouth – I feature Portsmouth quite a lot because it was a working Seacoast community, not really a vacation Seacoast.
[0:03:11] BB: Like it is now.
[0:03:11] SD: Yes, I should probably mention that. I'm not doing seascapes with sailboats. It's like workforce housing.
[0:03:20] BB: Yes. Yes.
[0:03:19] LHL: Oh, there you go. Look at that.
[0:03:21] BB: So, how would you describe – because you create a lot of – they're not cityscapes. They're not landscapes. They're buildingscapes.
[0:03:29] LHL: They're just delicious. I love them. The way you apply paint and your colors are so gosh darn gorgeous.
[0:03:36] BB: Yeah. Can you talk to us a little bit about your process and how you actually create your compositions?
[0:03:42] SD: Yes. I really like process, so that's where I feel most comfortable talking about process.
[0:03:45] BB: I'm dying to hear it, because I want to be inspired by it.
[0:03:49] SD: Okay, that's good. Should I go like really far back? I'll go back to the beginning.
[0:03:52] BB: Oh, we can put in the time travel sound now.
[0:03:54] SD: Yeah, the way back. So, yes, I was a print maker in college, which really I think sort of taught me about multiples and things aren't precious. So I will say that I don't – that's one thing I pulled from printmaking, that nothing I make is precious.
[0:04:16] BB: That can be really valuable sometimes to think about that.
[0:04:18] SD: Yes. And I realized that was like what I pulled out of printmaking, is that you can always fix it, make another one.
[0:04:24] BB: That's awesome.
[0:04:26] SD: Trash it, paint over it. Most of my work is painted over. A lot of it started actually from – in college, I would take walks a lot. I should say, I went to college at Montserrat College of Art. It's in Beverly, Mass. It's two blocks from the ocean. But again, not like pretty vacation ocean. It is a little bit more now. I would just take walks through those neighborhoods, and I started taking lots of photographs of the different places I was walking that were in my community. And I actually just did an independent study. I actually did not do well in painting in college. I hated painting in college because it was all oil. I use acrylic.
[0:05:07] BB: That can be a hurdle.
[0:05:08] LHL: Big difference.
[0:05:08] SD: IT's a big difference. Yeah. And I thought in college I was like, well, if you paint, you have to use oil on canvas.
[0:05:15] BB: But little did you know. There's so much to do in the world of acrylic.
[0:05:19] SD: Yes. And I hated canvas. I hated oil.
[0:05:22] LHL: I hate canvas, too.
[0:05:23] BB: I hate canvas.
[0:05:23] LHL: Awesome.
[0:05:25] BB: So, why? I'm curious. Because I have recently gotten into oil painting. And I haven't painted on canvas yet, but I'm curious to know why you guys have reservations to canvas.
[0:05:36] LHL: I'll tell you mine in a second. Let's hear yours.
[0:05:37] SD: Okay. I don't like the bounce, and I don't like the texture. I feel like when I see people paint on canvas, the works that I really like are the ones that are – I don't know. They have so many layers on it that it doesn't look like canvas anymore, which I guess is – or maybe it's linen. And maybe I was using –
[0:05:51] BB: Or it's so heavily gessoed and sanded. Yeah.
[0:05:54] SD: Exactly. I didn't like the bounce or the texture. And oil, it took too long to dry, so everything turned to mud.
[0:06:01] LHL: For me, canvas can be easily damaged. If you lean it up against something for more than a second, all of a sudden, you have like a corner poke of another canvas in it or something. I paint on wood canvases.
[0:06:14] SD: Yeah, I paint on wood.
[0:06:15] LHL: Don't have any problems with that. But yeah, the bounce, I agree. It just doesn't feel right.
[0:06:19] SD: And it's not crisp. I mean, some people can do the crisps, like the really crisp edges and the lines. I just couldn't. I mean, I was also using student-grade canvas, stretching them myself. I'm sure that there are some more professional canvases.
[0:06:37] BB: Yeah. And I think that was definitely a barrier for me when I was going into oils. I just was afraid. Oh, I can't do it because this is what the fine artist you.
[0:06:47] SD: You have to.
[0:06:47] BB: Yes. And I'm not good enough.
[0:06:48] SD: It has to be big. It has to be large.
[0:06:49] LHL: I mean, that's the cool thing about art. There really aren't rules. My series of –
[0:06:55] SD: I like the circles.
[0:06:56] LHL: The women, it's a mix of oil and acrylic. The back layer is acrylic. The abstract background. But yeah, so as long as oil goes on top after acrylic has dried, it's all good.
[0:07:10] SD: Okay.
[0:07:10] BB: You won't get the break.
[0:07:10] LHL: But that's something I don't – some people do, but it's not super common. And it feels like it's breaking some kind of rule.
[0:07:15] BB: Yeah, breaking the rules.
[0:07:16] SB: There are no rules. Breaking the rules. Yeah. So, I just didn't paint in college. It wasn't until I left college, and then I went back to do my student teaching. So, I went back to school after graduating for like a year and a half. But to get financial aid, I needed more credits. So, I took an independent study, and I made my own project, which was – they weren't just houses at the time, but this is where the houses came from, the communities. There was other things involved with those paintings. I set up like an independent study for myself so that I could still get financial aid. Yeah, no necessity.
But for that independent study, I only had a locker. I'm gesturing how big it is. What? 3-feet by 3-feet, where all my painting supplies had to go, and all of my surfaces, not canvases. So I made sure everything was under a foot. And that's also sort of the size that I've stuck with painting. I feel like in college, there was a lot of, "You have to paint big, or you have to make large prints. Everything has to be big." And then I don't know where to put it. It doesn't fit in my car. My rule is that everything has to fit in the car or a box. And so that's sort of where that series started. And then the houses sort of came out of that.
[0:08:31] BB: Yeah, you were talking about going for a walk and taking photos.
[0:08:35] SD: Yes. And that's what I still do even now. Any of the buildings that are in my paintings are from walks I've taken and photographs that I've taken. Because of that, there does tend to be a lot of communities that appear a lot, because I walk a lot in Portsmouth. I walk a lot in Newmarket.
Sometimes there are places I visit that just appear. Typically, they're East Coast, Mass, Beverly, Salem, that kind of thing. Kittery. In that case, there are some new things. And then some of the images that I am using – I mean, I've been painting like this for a long time. So some of the images are 20 years old. Those houses don't exist anymore, or they exist in a different way. And I'll keep them. I mean, when I started doing this, I was taking photographs and getting them developed.
[0:09:27] LHL: Oh, yeah.
[0:09:28] BB: For all you youngsters out there.
[0:09:30] LHL: Yes. Like a CBS.
[0:09:32] SD: Double prints or free film. Do you remember that?
[0:09:34] LHL: Yes. Yes.
[0:09:36] SD: Okay, good. That's good. And then I was photocopying them, like Xerox photocopy. Not this really pretty inkjet that we have now.
[0:09:45] LHL: Old school zines.
[0:09:47] SD: Old school zines. The toner flakes off. It's not archival. The images degrade. But you could also do transfers with CitraSolv or wintergreen oil. And now you can't.
[0:10:01] BB: Oh, that's right. Because everything's LaserJet.
[0:10:02] SD: Everything's laser, or laser inkjet. I'm sure there is another way to do transfers, but I liked the grittiness of it. Yeah.
[0:10:12] BB: So now you collage.
[0:10:13] SD: I do collage. So, I do still take the photographs myself. I mean, they're all iPhone photographs. Sometimes it's intentional. Sometimes I'll go out on a walk specifically to take pictures. Most of the time it's just I happen to be out, and I see something, and I take a picture.
And now, honestly, I drop it into Photoshop and make it grayscale. I crop them a little bit. But for the most part, I do still use a copier. I'll print out an 8-1/2 by 11 with four images, and I'll put them through the photocopier and enlarge it, so that I don't quite know what I'm going to get.
[0:10:46] BB: That's kind of cool.
[0:10:47] SD: And then I cut and paste. I literally have boxes and boxes, Tupperware boxes of pieces of Xerox. It's not Xerox anymore. White crappy paper of houses.
[0:10:59] BB: And then you cut them apart and reassemble them.
[0:11:00] SD: I cut them apart and I reassemble them into different neighborhoods, different communities. Sometimes the houses are all like Portsmouth. They're all one community. Often they're not, though. Usually it's like this house from Beverly, Mass from 20 years ago, and then this house from Portsmouth.
When I create the collages, it's all formal. It's all composition. It's all the lines that already exist in the buildings, or in the power lines, or the street. Or sometimes it's lines that I can see. If this building were to be extended, I know the line would connect to this one, so I'll make the leap and make the connection.
[0:11:38] BB: There's an element of chance and risk that you have.
[0:11:41] SD: Yeah. I don't know what I'm going to get.
[0:11:42] BB: That's awesome. I love that surrealist approach to that. It's like, "Okay, I'm going to invent my own landscape here." And the way you title your pieces, too. I'm just looking at one right now. It's like Church Street in Portsmouth Ave.
[0:11:55] SD: Yeah.
[0:11:56] BB: Are they actually near each other?
[0:11:58] SD: No. Can I see which one you're looking at? And that's something. If you tell me a title of a painting, I don't know what painting it is. Okay, that's a new one. You know the Walgreens on Portsmouth Ave. in Exeter?
[0:12:08] BB: Yes.
[0:12:09] SD: Oh my god.
[0:12:09] BB: All right, we'll post this particular image on the website.
[0:12:13] SD: Okay. If you're in the parking lot of the Walgreens, the Walgreens is behind you, that little blue house is actually a white house. And that sign in the center of the painting is the Walgreens sign.
[0:12:26] BB: Got it. Got it.
[0:12:26] SD: And then the house, the building on the left is Church Street in Newmarket, which is the really steep street that heads up to the stone church. Again, if the stone church is behind you, you're going down that steep hill.
[0:12:38] BB: That's awesome.
[0:12:39] SD: Yeah, the titles. I'm not very poetic with titles, all of them. But that's what they are. They're the streets.
[0:12:46] BB: It would be kind of fun to do a scavenger hunt of the places in your paintings based on the titles.
[0:12:49] SD: Yes. Well, so many towns have the same street titles. Many towns have a chapel street, a church street. I mean, they all have Maine, obviously. Or Union, Elm.
[0:12:59] BB: Right. Maine Street. Yeah. Union, Manchester.
[0:13:05] SD: Yeah. I mean, where we live, which I feel like I didn't notice growing up, but Portsmouth Ave is in Exeter. But it heads to Portsmouth. It heads, and then it turns into Hampton, right? Doesn't it turn into Greenland?
[0:13:19] BB: No, Greenland. And then Portsmouth.
[0:13:20] SD: Yeah. All the streets tell you where you're going, not where you are.
[0:13:25] BB: That's fun. And then the way that you get wood board, what kind of wood are you working on?
[0:13:31] SD: Mostly masonite. Honestly, if I'm going to be very honest here, a lot of it is scrap. Some of it is so old it's scrap from when I was teaching, which is over 17 years ago. I used to collect a lot of stuff. And then also just scrap – sometimes scrap plywood.
So, some of my paintings are pretty thick. The frames, it's like either Masonite or birch plywood on a frame. And the frame, my dad makes them all. My dad, he also used to sign the frames.
[0:14:05] BB: Oh, that's really cute.
[0:14:06] LHL: It's a collaborative process.
[0:14:07] SD: It's a collaborative present. He had like a little brand, like a wood burner.
[0:14:11] LHL: So sweet. Oh my god.
[0:14:14] SD: Yeah. So it's a collaboration. He likes to make the frames, and he'll go a little overboard. So like even if the painting is 4x6 inches, he'll put corner braces so it doesn't warp.
[0:14:25] BB: Wow. He is a true craftsman.
[0:14:27] SD: He is.
[0:14:28] LHL: That's amazing.
[0:14:29] SD: Yes.
[0:14:30] BB: So then you paste down, gesso it?
[0:14:31] SD: Gesso. Yeah, I'll gesso them just because a white surface. I'll cut, collage, make connections with the printouts. And they're usually different scales because I've put them through the photocopier. Then I'll paint an like an underpainting over them.
[0:14:48] LHL: You put them down?
[0:14:48] SD: I glue them.
[0:14:50] LHL: So, they're under there?
[0:14:51] SD: Yeah. The photographs are under there.
[0:14:54] LHL: This whole process, my mind is being blown at every step.
[0:14:57] BB: Right? Okay. Then what? Keep going. Keep going.
[0:15:00] SD: Yeah. Process. And then I paint a layer of an underpainting. So it's usually a wash of orange paint and gel medium. Recently, I started using magenta.
[0:15:13] BB: I see that in your –
[0:15:13] SD: I just started them. Yeah. And then all the orange ones, I'm painting over the orange with magenta.
[0:15:21] BB: Love on rock street.
[0:15:22] LHL: That's another one.
[0:15:22] SD: That's the magenta. So for the most part, normally, not a lot of the underpainting shows through. Just a little bit. Yeah. Because once you paint over the underpainting, you can't get that luminous quality back.
[0:15:34] BB: It's a really nice process and to be able to get that little shock of color with other – because your color palette has changed over time.
[0:15:42] SD: It has. Yes.
[0:15:43] BB: It's become more muted in many ways, but yet –
[0:15:46] SD: It had cycles, flows. I don't know.
[0:15:49] BB: Oh, that's a thing? What?
[0:15:50] SD: That's a thing? I will say when I first started painting, because I was afraid of it, because I didn't think I was a painter, because I didn't use oil and I didn't do abstract painting, which I felt like that was like college. And I'm sure it was just my perception. I don't think anyone was like, "You have to be an abstract painter." I think it was just my perception.
So, I limited myself because I did take a color theory class. And I had, I mean, this amazing teacher. She was very well regarded, but I felt like I was always letting her down. And I'm sure it was me. I just started. I only let myself use white, ochre, ultramarine blue, and this like weird reddish, orange-ish, brownish color. That's all I used. Because I was like, "I don't know color."
[0:16:40] BB: But by limiting your palette, it made it seem like you knew what you're doing.
[0:16:43] SD: Yeah, I knew what I was doing.
[0:16:44] BB: Come up with these tricks, right?
[0:16:46] SD: Yeah. So that's just how I started. And then I kept bringing more – for a little while, I was using some pretty wacky colors, and I rained it in. I think it just kind of comes and goes. I don't know. I mean, I get inspired by like other people's – I feel like there are some people who just like have a really good sense of color. So, even if I don't care for what they're painting, I just look at the colors.
And another thing I do which also seems – I don't know if it's cheating. I use the same palette. It's just like plastic, a plastic container. And when the paint gets too thick – because I do mix. Again, against the rules. I mix my paint with my brushes.
[0:17:23] LHL: Me, too.
[0:17:24] BB: How could you?
[0:17:24] SD: I use cheap brushes. I don't use the best paint, but I mix with the brush. I don't use a palette knife because I paint small. So, my palette has lots and lots of paint on it. And every now and then, I'll peel all the paint off. And the colors underneath, the ones that you didn't mean to make, those are the ones that I'm like, "Well, look at that." That's what my next painting colors need to be.
[0:17:48] LHL: Rose and I do that. She'll come into my studio and be like, "Look at this." And she does the same thing. She peels. I do it, too. And it's like it's gorgeous.
[0:17:56] BB: And I've made buttons with them before.
[0:17:58] LHL: That's a great idea.
[0:18:00] SD: Well, it's such a thing. I thought I was the only one that did it. It's satisfying.
[0:18:05] BB: Well, it's like picking a scab.
[0:18:08] SD: It's like picking a scab. I was going to say that but didn't know if I should.
[0:18:10] BB: No, of course you could.
[0:18:12] SD: Well, that's funny. almost like a dirty little secret. I'll peel it, and I have glued it into sketchbooks. Going, "I like these colors." I don't know how I did this.
[0:18:22] LHL: And it's archiving a moment of your creation. Super cool.
[0:18:24] SD: Yeah. It is. Super cool. It's not picking a scab. It's an archive.
[0:18:29] BB: Oh my gosh.
[0:18:29] LHL: Okay. It's all about marketing. Let's reframe this.
[0:18:31] SD: All right. There we go.
[0:18:33] BB: We have so many, so many questions to get through.
[0:18:34] LHL: I know. Oh, geez.
[0:18:36] BB: I want to jump into where did you and why did you start creating in your youth? Because, clearly, you went to art school. This has been something that you were passionate about from an early age, but where did it really start?
[0:18:48] SD: I don't know about start. I know, I mean, both my parents are makers. They won't call themselves artists if you were to ask. My dad's a woodworker. He's a welder by trade. He was a machinist and a welder. All of my grandfathers, cabinet maker, woodworker. A lot of woodworking. All the women in my family, quilt, crochet, knit, like any needle point, cross stitch, all those things.
Even if we were just watching TV, everyone was doing something. If I was watching TV, I was painting, drawing, whatever, spirograph, whatever. I felt that. And even now as an adult, I can't just watch TV. I have to crochet. I have to be doing something. I think I just always made stuff.
And I'm not very athletic at all. And I'm tall. So everyone was always like, "Oh, you must play basketball." No. And I think in elementary school, that became my thing.
[0:19:46] BB: Being a maker.
[0:19:47] SD: I was a maker. I just drew. When it was recess, I mean, I would sit outside and draw at recess. What was that game that you play? Dodgeball? Where you throw the ball against wall?
[0:19:57] BB: That most violent and deadly sport.
[0:19:58] SD: Yeah, that was a big thing in the 80s. I did not play that. I just drew. Yeah. And so I think that's where it started. And then in high school, I think in middle school, it kind of took – I don't know. Because that's the age when you're like, "I'm not good enough." And I sort of took a step back from it.
But then in high school, that's where I fit in. I went to a very large high school, and that's where I hung out was the art wing. And I took all the art classes. And I feel like in high school it's a lot of the traditional, like drawing. Not so much now. I'm sure you do a lot different things. but it was like drawing, photography, ceramics, there they are.
I think part of it too is I have – my parents were very supportive of just the creating. And when it was time to go to college, I mean, I applied two places, Montserrat, and UNH was a backup. And I got into Montserrat. I do remember all of the people. Not all of them. Some family members questioning my parents. I'm the youngest of all my cousins.
[0:20:55] BB: You won't be successful.
[0:20:56] SD: Exactly.
[0:20:57] BB: You can'tt do that.
[0:20:58] LHL: How are you going to make a living?
[0:21:00] SD: So, I'm the youngest. My parents are both the youngest. So, all of my other cousins went to college, trade school, whatever path they were on. I don't think I felt it then. But like looking back, I know my parents felt like the pressure from their siblings, like, "Well, what is she going to do? How could you let her do that?" And they were just like, "Well, whatever she's going to do, it's going to be something creative. So, let's just see what she does."
And it is really funny to me. I don't think my family will all listen to this, but I think I'm the only one in my family that is doing something that I went to college for in the field. And there's no shame in not doing something you go to college for. You could go to college for science and work in accounting. There's no shame in that. But I just think it's funny that that was the biggest fear.
[0:21:47] BB: Everybody was so concerned. Yeah.
[0:21:48] SD: Yeah. And it is. It's like a weird – I mean, you go to art school or you don't. One or the other. The creative field is just not cut and dry.
[0:21:57] BB: Yeah. You got to dig. You got to hustle.
[0:21:59] SD: Yeah. It's not like these are the jobs. You don't have a clipboard with these are the jobs you can have. I mean there are some. There are some standard ones, but you got to sort of make it up.
[0:22:10] LHL: I had the exact same experience. My grandparents were like, "Nope." They said you got to go to school and be a teacher. You could teach art. And I said, "No. I'm just doing art." And thank God I did because –
[0:22:21] BB: You're still doing it, right?
[0:22:22] LHL: Yeah.
[0:22:22] SD: I did go into the teaching route, which I think I definitely did flounder after college, but I think everyone does. You've had what, 16 years of people telling you what to do?
[0:22:33] LHL: Oh, yeah.
[0:22:34] SD: And then all of a sudden, they're like, "Good luck."
[0:22:37] BB: Here. Good luck.
[0:22:37] SD: Good luck. And that first year, I remember being like, "What the hell?"
[0:22:42] BB: What is this life thing?
[0:22:43] SD: I can just make my own choice. No. I did go back, and I was like, "Okay, teaching. That will –" and it did. It gave me structure. It gave me health insurance. It did the things. And I mean, I taught elementary art for five years. That was it. But it did like set a framework for even what I do now. I work in the gallery, and I'm educating adults, children, teenagers in some way, whether it's about art or doing workshops and making things.
[0:23:14] LHL: Let's hear more about that.
[0:23:15] BB: Yeah. So tell us more about what your role is like as a gallery manager.
[0:23:20] SD: It's an academic gallery. We don't sell artwork. We don't make money. It's part of a private school. It is actually an academic department at the school. We're considered one of the academics. And there's three of us. We're a very small team. Many of our roles overlap. All of us will pitch in when it comes to installing an exhibition. Or we have different contact points with the artists to different degrees.
I've been in the gallery 12 or 13 years now, I think. My role over those years has changed because our structures changed. But right now, what my role focuses on is communications. So I do the website, social media, the newsletters, programming. I develop the workshops. I work with the director to develop programs that involve the artists. Receptions, and artist talks, and those types. But I design the workshops and lead the workshops.
And then any other – I mean, we're very lucky in that we have a good amount of freedom and we have a relatively strong budget. We can get a little wacky with some of our programs. I can purchase strange materials and offer them to students. Or we can do some just fun ways to engage the community. We are open to the public. It is sometimes tricky to get in because you're on a campus. Yeah, especially in the winter. But it is open to the public. All of our workshops are free and open to the public. Yes.
[0:24:47] LHL: Oh, that's nice.
[0:24:48] SD: Are you on our mailing list? You should be on our mailing list.
[0:24:49] LHL: I should be. Add me.
[0:24:50] SD: All right. I'm the mailing list person. Even today, I did a painting workshop. We did like mandala painting. And then we had maybe – I say it's quality, not quantity. We don't always have like a ton of people, but we always have like a good fun group. We had maybe 10 people today. One student. It's actually harder to get the students to come.
[0:25:12] LHL: Really?
[0:25:13] SD: Yeah. They're busy.
[0:25:14] LHL: Yeah, that's true.
[0:25:14] SD: So, we had one student, but we had like three retired ladies from the public. We had like four or five. We had some other adults that work on campus, like from IT and purchasing.
[0:25:24] LHL: That's wonderful.
[0:25:24] SD: And then my daughter also was there because of school vacation.
[0:25:27] BB: Nice. The artist assistant.
[0:25:29] SD: She set up everything.
[0:25:31] BB: That's great. And you have a big Harkness table in the back where students can also not only study and have a quiet place to work, but create, too.
[0:25:38] SD: Yes, we sort of – one of the things that I wanted to make sure people sort of were aware of with the gallery was that like this is a welcoming community space. You don't have to like everything. You don't have to feel like you have to know about art. You can learn about it or just not. You can just come and enjoy what you enjoy. But in the back space of the gallery, yes, there's like a classroom. We call it the classroom. It's just a large space with a large table. And I always leave out projects people can do.
[0:26:08] BB: What a wonderful thing. Here's this fun, relaxing, playful activity that anybody in the community can go and take advantage of. And then they're in this space where there's an opportunity for them to ask questions, and learn, and be open to something that they're not necessarily familiar with. And it's such an important tool.
I mean, in surveying my students, so many of them have never been to an art museum or to a gallery. And so to have that on campus for the students is amazing. And you guys have other groups that will come. I know Arts In Reach –
[0:26:43] SD: Yes. Arts and Reach is coming in a couple weeks actually.
[0:26:45] BB: Ooh, great.
[0:26:46] LHL: We love Arts In Reach. They're amazing.
[0:26:49] SD: Yeah, they've been great. I've only worked with them – this will be my second time this year. But yeah, super cool. What a great idea.
[0:26:54] BB: And then people from Riverwoods. Elderly communities.
[0:26:56] SD: People from Riverwoods often come. And we have a lot of regulars. And students do come. They just tend not to come to workshops. That space that people can just drop in on. There's students throughout the day, depending on what their schedule is. There was a girl there today making paper bracelets. And sometimes they come in groups. And sometimes they just come when they have a time. That's sort of like a big part of what I'm enjoying about the space is like I've never been – I very much shy away from and get cringey about any type of gallery, or artist exhibition, or space that you have to be –
[0:27:32] BB: Your high ground. Yeah.
[0:27:32] SD: Exactly. Like, "This isn't for you."
[0:27:36] LHL: Well, I think elitism is exactly what drives – it drives away people's curiosity. And art is so welcoming. It should be accessible to everybody. And so many people feel that there's a barrier that they're not in in the no. So it's not for them.
[0:27:49] SD: Exactly. It's not for them. I mean, really, I always get the phrase. Like whenever people come, they always say, "Well, I don't know anything about art." And I'm like, "I don't care. That's fine."
[0:28:01] BB: And they probably know more than they think they know.
[0:28:03] SD: You know what you feel. I mean, I went to art school. I work in a gallery. I do not read art magazines. I find them pretentious and obnoxious. I mean, I'll flip through them and be like, "Oh, that's a cool artwork." But I don't read articles unless it's like an article about our gallery.
[0:28:19] LHL: Yeah. When you say like the art world, I feel like there's so many different neighborhoods of what that is. When I think of the – no offense, folks in New York City and Soho, and these places that you think – that's what you think a lot of people they go to, where a painting is $25,000. And you need to have a fancy car, blah-blah-blah.
[0:28:37] SD: And you need to have a gallery representation.
[0:28:38] LHL: Right. But then there's pockets in the digital painting world that go to the LightBox Expo and create animations and stuff like that. There's a bunch that do performance. I mean, there's just so many different – and there's a lot of underground artists. The whole Wrong Brain crew. I mean, just so many pockets. Yeah.
[0:28:56] SD: Yeah. That's the thing. And it's welcoming. I mean it should be. But I do also understand. That's what I hear a lot of people say, like, "I don't know anything about art. I can't draw a straight line."
[0:29:07] BB: I can't draw a stick figure.
[0:29:08] SD: I can't either. But I use a ruler. But at the same time, if you were to get me in the gym and hand me a basketball, I'd be like, "I don't know anything about sports." We do understand where it's coming from. And everyone has that.
[0:29:23] LHL: Yeah. It's just called practice. Anything you're willing to try, you can do.
[0:29:27] BB: Yeah. I think we need to jump into rapid-fire –
[0:29:29] LHL: No. We will in a second, but I did want to ask you about your experience being an artist represented by Nahcotta Gallery in Portsmouth, which is a very lovely gallery. I'm a big admirer of their work. But then also kind of diving into marketing your art in general. What has the process been for that? Because younger or artists who haven't had experience with galleries, how did you approach that, and what advice would you give?
[0:29:54] SD: So, working with Nahcotta has been lovely. Deb, she's awesome, the owner. I am very lucky I sort of fell into that. There was a small gallery in Portsmouth that I had shown at – I mean, I'm going to say 20 years ago. And they closed. And Deb just happened to see some of the artists that were in that gallery and reach out. So, she actually reached out to me.
And I've been a part of their gallery – her gallery, excuse me. Woman-owned. Sorry. I had to put that out there. For years. Longer than I've lived here. I've lived in the Seacoast area for 17 years, and I've been a part of the gallery longer than that. And I've always just been part of her Enormous Tiny Art show. I paint small. I don't paint super big. And a lot of what that show is about is making art accessible and affordable to people. And honestly, the artwork that I own that I didn't trade an artist for, I bought from that show also. And I should say I bought it if I sold artwork. Yeah. If I sold artwork, then I would buy a painting.
[0:30:59] BB: That's wonderful. And you also have a wonderful collection at home of lots of tiny artwork.
[0:31:02] SD: Thank you. Yeah, lots of small works. Well, I have a tiny house, too. Let's face it. But yes, I will be in the next Tiny Art Show which is opening in April. April 1st. And then I'm actually – did I tell you? I'm going to be at the Rochester Museum of Fine Art.
[0:31:21] BB: Oh, yes.
[0:31:22] SD: Yes. In September.
[0:31:21] BB: We have friends over in Rochester.
[0:31:23] LHL: That's right.
[0:31:24] SD: Yes. So I'm making bigger work right now.
[0:31:27] BB: Nice. Awesome.
[0:31:27] SD: Hopefully, it's done.
[0:31:30] LHL: So exciting. The Rochester Museum of Fine Art is a partner of Creative Guts, and I'm on their board. And so I'm very, very excited.
[0:31:36] SD: Thank you. Other part of your question was marketing. I don't do a lot. I will say I am lucky enough that I have a full-time job that is creative in the arts that I get to use that part of myself. And I market there. For myself, I really only have my Instagram account. I kind of shy away from personal sales to be honest with – especially if it's a stranger. I won't sell my work to just some stranger. So I do shy away from personal sales. So everything has been through Nahcotta.
There's another gallery I have shown with in the past in Arlington. But in terms of marketing, I had a mailing list, and I stopped sending emails. I mean, that worked. I should probably take that up again. And then, yeah, most of it is just Instagram. And then Nahcotta does a beautiful job marketing. They have a really good marketing person, and they sort of letting them handle some of that because I do. I have a full-time job. I don't have to make money from my artwork. It's just a bonus. Full-time job artist and a mom. I don't have a lot of time.
[0:32:45] BB: It's a lot of work.
[0:32:46] SD: Yeah. So, I'm mostly just doing the painting. And then when the painting is done, that's when I'm like, "Oh, I should post some pictures of this and write up my Instagram." Usually, it's right before I have a show, I'll post a bunch of stuff and be like, "Go find it here." Other than that, it's more, "Oh, I did this today." But I don't think it's actually a marketing plan. It's just a marketing what happens.
[0:33:10] BB: Well, it would be really fun. Just because process is so important to your creation, it would be really fun to see a time lapse, or stitched images, or something.
[0:33:18] LHL: I'm dying to see it, Stacey.
[0:33:19] SD: Yes. Well, and I also paint over paintings. I have a lot of paintings that if they're just hanging around too long, I paint over them.
[0:33:27] BB: That's great.
[0:33:28] SD: So, I did do that once where I showed one painting and then the paint over. That was probably a while ago. I don't know. If you're trying to find it, it might not be found. There might be a little bit of process on my Instagram. I don't know.
[0:33:40] LHL: Maybe you want to keep it a secret. This is your little world. I don't now.
[0:33:45] SD: Yeah, I forget, because I'm so used to the layers, the pictures of it, the collage portion of it that I forget that other people don't know. I just posted one on my Instagram. If you go right now, you'll see.
[0:33:56] BB: Oh, I think I saw one of Morgan also helping out with the process, right?
[0:33:59] SD: Yeah, she was also helping me. Yeah. When you share a studio with a seven-year-old, you got to put her to work. But yeah.
[0:34:09] LHL: All right. This is amazing. I feel like it is time for rapid-fire now. So, we're diving right in. The super first, easy, quick one. What other artist has influenced you the most?
[0:34:24] SD: Oh, that's another easy one.
[0:34:25] LHL: I know. I'm so sorry.
[0:34:29] SD: I was hoping you wouldn't ask.
[0:34:30] LHL: The rest will be pretty –
[0:34:31] SD: You know what? I don't know if I have like one art, because this is what everyone says, right? They don't have one artist. It is funny. The people that I'm drawn to, I guess I'll just say it that way, is a lot of times people that don't do anything like what I do at all. I really love looking at the work of people that do murals, and like public art, or like weird sneaky public art.
I think they're French. There's some artist that fixes potholes in the sidewalk with mosaics. That's the kind of stuff I'm inspired by, even though it's nothing to do with what I –
[0:35:06] BB: Well, it influences the landscape. And you are playing with parts of the lands.
[0:35:10] SD: I play with lands, parts of the landscape.
[0:35:11] LHL: That makes sense.
[0:35:12] SD: Yeah. I like that. I like muralists. And I will say, when it comes to social media – because I feel like that's where we get all of our artists now. We used to just look through magazines and look through art books. And now it's like all on Instagram. For me at least.
I will say if I follow someone whose work I like but then they post too many images that seem very composed, their studio seems like it costs more than my house, I will unfollow. I prefer to see like a very real –
[0:35:46] BB: You don't follow Jeff Koons?
[0:35:47] SD: No. No, thank you. Or I tend to actually follow a lot of artists that have other jobs and have kids. And it's the juggle. I mean, everyone's life is different. And if someone – yeah, the ways people make work is fine. But that's what I prefer to see is just to be like, "Okay, this person is also making it work." But yeah, not one specific artist.
[0:36:15] BB: Then we've got a series of really quick ones.
[0:36:16] SD: Really rapid.
[0:36:18] BB: Ready for this one? Okay. What is your favorite color?
[0:36:19] SD: Green.
[0:36:19] BB: Yes.
[0:36:21] LHL: Favorite scent?
[0:36:21] SD: Burnt toast.
[0:36:23] BB: What?
[0:36:25] LHL: That is a new one.
[0:36:27] SD: Yeah.
[0:36:28] BB: Love it.
[0:36:28] SD: Yeah. Burnt toast and sawdust.
[0:36:31] LHL: Oh, sawdust is one of my favorites. Your father is a woodworker.
[0:36:34] SD: He's a woodworker. And burnt toast. I think my grandmother would burn toast a lot. Yeah.
[0:36:38] BB: Favorite sound?
[0:36:40] SD: Okay, it's a long explanation. I like rain early morning when the windows are open in the summer.
[0:36:47] BB: Nice. Yes.
[0:36:49] LHL: That transports me.
[0:36:50] SD: Because, yeah, you don't hear anything.
[0:36:51] LHL: It's very atmospheric.
[0:36:53] SD: Yes.
[0:36:53] LHL: Yeah. Favorite texture to touch?
[0:36:56] SD: It's something soft like corduroy. I don't know. Fleece. I like polar fleece.
[0:37:00] LHL: Fleece. Fleece.
[0:37:01] BB: The most inspiring location you've traveled to.
[0:37:03] LHL: Is it Gloucester?
[0:37:05] BB: Is it Gloucester?
[0:37:06] SD: I lived in Gloucester for two months. I know. But it's not Gloucester. I moved out of Gloucester. No offense, Gloucester. I don't travel a lot. I don't travel a lot out of New England. Let's just say that. So, yeah. I guess just like the Seacoast.
[0:37:25] LHL: I have a question. I have a question for you. Do you have a favorite type of house that you've painted?
[0:37:32] BB: Oh, good question.
[0:37:33] SD: Yes. Yeah, they tend to be –
[0:37:36] LHL: Or a very specific house, like the yellow one on the corner of this street, or like –
[0:37:39] SD: I like it when – the older houses you see sort of down some of these side streets here in Exeter. But it's the older houses that are two stories, and the windows are not symmetrical. I know that sounds weird. But you know when they're narrow and you can tell that this window up here is the staircase because it's like a step down. It's not like window, window in line window, window, window in line. This window's like at a funny, almost like halfway between the –
[0:38:08] LHL: Yeah. They were less precious about architecture.
[0:38:11] SD: Yeah. They were like, "Let's just shove a window in the staircase because we need light so we can see." It tends to be like the houses that are kind of wonky. I haven't painted it, but Oba Noodle.
[0:38:21] LHL: Oh my god.
[0:38:22] SD: It's going to fall.
[0:38:22] LHL: It's going to fall dry.
[0:38:23] BB: You have to paint that.
[0:38:25] LHL: You got to take a picture before it goes. I mean, every time I go there, I'm astounded.
[0:38:30] BB: How does this pass zoning regulations to have a restaurant and apartment in there?
[0:38:34] LHL: One side of this building is like a U going out into the road. It is just a complete –
[0:38:40] SD: That one. And in Newmarket, there's a building, and I think it's for sale, that has this bracket across it horizontally that's attached to this enormous beam that's holding it at an angle. So it's like holding the building from budding out to the left. It's like holding it to the right. And when you walk out the side door, you have to be careful not to hit the beam. It's right in downtown Newmarket. It's like an eyeglass place on the first floor.
[0:39:07] LHL: Okay. I know that building. I'll have to check. And the one next to it doesn't –
[0:39:11] BB: Yeah, that's near my hairdresser.
[0:39:12] LHL: Yeah. The one next to it doesn't have a beam, and it's like –
[0:39:14] SD: Restyle studios in Newmarket.
[0:39:15] LHL: There you go. Yeah. It's across from River Works.
[0:39:19] BB: That's awesome.
[0:39:20] SD: I like the buildings that you're just like, "You're a little off."
[0:39:23] BB: I see you. Yeah. Well, those are details that we don't necessarily take in.
[0:39:28] SD: No. Because it's just building, building, building.
[0:39:31] BB: It's just monotonous, and it blends together sometimes. But it's when you really stop to take a look and you see those details.
[0:39:37] SD: Or when they all look like – of course, they're neighbors. They're houses. But they look like friends because they're so close. Of course, they're neighbors.
[0:39:46] LHL: Let's hang out, guys. Let's hang out. We can't move.
[0:39:51] BB: All right. What is the last new thing you've learned?
[0:39:54] SD: I do workshops at the gallery.
[0:39:57] BB: You learned how to do –
[0:39:59] SD: I learned how to make paracord bracelets. But the problem was is that I didn't learn in time for the workshop. And then I luckily was sick. So I canceled the workshop, and then I learned. So I rescheduled the work – because I was like I can do this. This is just making knots. No.
[0:40:17] BB: A lot more complicated.
[0:40:18] SD: A lot more complicated. I learned how to make those, and then I rescheduled the workshop for two weeks from now.
[0:40:22] BB: There you go.
[0:40:24] LHL: Nice. That's awesome.
[0:40:24] SD: So, it worked out that I got sick. But I really did not know how to do it.
[0:40:30] LHL: All right, our clincher question. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?
[0:40:37] SD: Does it have to be just younger self? Because there's still advice that I could use. So, I would say younger self and current self, that nobody really has it figured out. That person that looks like they got themselves put together, they probably don't.
[0:40:51] LHL: They probably have a team.
[0:40:52] SD: Or they have themselves put together today.
[0:40:55] BB: Yes.
[0:40:56] SD: And not tomorrow.
[0:40:57] LHL: That's a great way to frame it.
[0:40:58] SD: Yeah. Because some days I feel put together and some days I don't. Yeah. I think it's very easy to just assume, especially when you're in a moment where you don't feel like you got it. I think it's really easy to assume that everybody else is doing better than you, and they're not.
[0:41:13] LHL: And maybe it's relative, too. Someone's put together might not be someone else's. Yeah, I feel like it kind of just –
[0:41:19] SD: Levels of togetherness.
[0:41:21] BB: It's all a journey.
[0:41:22] SD: Yep. Yep.
[0:41:25] BB: Stacey, this has been awesome. Just hearing about your journey and your process, especially. I love diving into that.
[0:41:31] LHL: I have 7,000 more questions. For another day. But yeah, it has been a true pleasure.
[0:41:36] SD: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[0:41:39] LHL: Thank you again, Stacey, for being on Creative Guts. And with that –
[0:41:42] LHL, BB & SD: Show us your creative guts.
[0:41:50] BB: Huge thank you to Stacey for being on the podcast. We could have gone on and on and on.
[0:41:55] BB: In fact, after we stopped rolling, we did. I had to ask her 12 more questions about her process because I am just fascinated. I mean, talk and shop, I guess we're all artists here. She even dove into more of the specifics. And it's so amazing. It's a very unique process. And I just really admire her.
[0:42:13] BB: Yeah. And one of the things that I loved most about our conversation was her talking about how she, very early on in her art career, learned to recognize that art isn't precious. And that came from her printmaking practice, which she doesn't really do much of anymore. But how she's so flexible in being able to take things apart, reassemble them, paint over things, try again, fail again, fail better, and just keep working. She just produces. She just makes. And it doesn't stop her if she isn't happy with it. You just try it again.
[0:42:46] LHL: Yeah. Process, not product. And that she's so embraced that. And with such a unique process, too. That's just so amazing to me. I think that's so wonderful. And in fact, I was telling her the Creative Guts Discord had a conversation recently with a couple of artists who were kind of talking about how they are being too precious. They feel like it's going too slowly. And they just don't have necessarily the freedom in their minds. I'm kind of paraphrasing here. Because no one said this exactly. But to be able to just make marks, make the move, do the next thing. It's like you're constantly thinking and analyzing with the end results in mind. And that can be such a hindrance.
[0:43:28] BB: Yeah, it can be. And I think we get so caught up of comparing ourselves to other people's, really, Instagram stories. Like, "Oh, look at this. They did that. And it's so amazing and beautiful." And then we get caught up if we can't do something that's perfect right out of the bat. But that's not what's important.
And also, Stacey was talking about if she could go back and tell herself, give herself some advice, is that nobody has it figured out. And when you come to recognize that, gosh, you can just let that melt off your shoulders a little bit and just enjoy the process, enjoy the making, enjoy the experimentation and play. Because when you get so caught up, you ignore those things. And then it just isn't fun anymore.
[0:44:11] LHL: Yep. That moment you're in it. You only got one life to enjoy it.
[0:44:16] BB: Oh, one of the things that Stacey also – she sforgot to include when talking about her process, and in addition to cutting apart the xeroxed images of buildings that she's photographed in that urban landscape. But she has also included collaging parts of to-do lists into her work. So, there's some like little hidden gems and additional texture that kind of impacts some of the work.
So, when you guys get – we'll, of course, include the links in the episode description. But take a look, get close, explore it. And also, she's got a whole new body of work going to be popping up in early April at Nahcotta. So, shout out to Nahcotta. Go and see the work in person if you're able to.
[0:44:59] LHL: Heck, yes. You can check out Stacey's work at staceydurandart.com, and follow her on Instagram where her handle is Stacey Durand Art.
[0:45:10] BB: As always, you can find all sorts of links about Stacey and even more on the episode description and on our website, creativegutspodcast.com.
[0:45:18] LHL: You can find us, Creative Guts Podcast, on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Discord. If you're not on social media, but you want to stay in the know with what we're doing, join our newsletter. We're on Substack, and you can find the link to sign up on our website.
We'd like to give a huge thank you to Kennebunk Savings Bank for their sponsorship of the Creative Guts podcast.
[0:45:38] BB: And a big thank you to friends of the show, Rochester Museum of Fine Arts, where Stacey Durand will also be having a show this coming fall.
[0:45:45] LHL: That's right. And an enormous thank you to Art Up Street Studios and Gallery in Exeter, New Hampshire for providing a space where Creative Guts can record.
[0:45:53] BB: If you love listening and want to support Creative Guts, please make us a donation, leave us a review, interact with our content on the socials, purchase some merch, whatever you are able to do, we appreciate it.
[0:46:04] LHL: Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll be back next Wednesday with another episode of Creative Guts.
[END]