Artist Stephanie Rond

Tim Fulton 0:08Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week, on the occasion of the upcoming Columbus Arts Festival and the second iteration of their Sign Your Art installation, I sat down with organizer and artist Stephanie Rond to talk about her work, the importance of setting and knowing your value, the thorns she sees in the Columbus arts community, and the very charming S Dot gallery. You can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Also, the Confluence Cast is on Patreon. Find out how to support this podcast on our website, theconfluencecast.com, or at patreon.com/confluence. The Confluence Cast is sponsored by Art Makes Columbus, Columbus Makes Art, featuring stories about our city's incredible artists, stories full of inspiration, challenge, passion, and success. For videos, articles, an up-to-the-minute calendar of events, and an artist directory, visit columbusmakesart.com, the resource for all things arts and culture in the capital city. Enjoy the interview. Sitting down here with Stephanie Rond, visual artist, arts administrator, gallery owner, gallery curator?

Stephanie Rond 1:43Sometimes.

Tim Fulton 1:44Sometimes. Stephanie, how are you?

Stephanie Rond 1:46Good. How are you?

Tim Fulton 1:47Doing well. We're sitting down with Stephanie on the occasion of the upcoming arts festival and the second iteration of her community art project Sign Your Art. First of all, Stephanie, tell us about Sign Your Art. We'll get deep into it here in a bit, but let's, let's give the elevator pitch on what it is.

Stephanie Rond 2:06Okay. Sign Your Art is a project that I am working on with another artist, Katherine Bell Smith. This is our second year of doing the project, and the idea behind it is ... The best way I can pitch this is in a what if. So as a creative, a lot of us have what ifs to questions. So, um, what if we had si- like, wood- wood plaques that we then drill a hole through that we can attach to signposts? And what if we hired 64 creatives, uh, to design these tiles? So the creatives are not just visual artists, but they're writers, dancers, musicians. And so they create what we call an anchor tile. And then what if we go to the Columbus Arts Festival and ask the community to also paint tiles, and then we match four community tiles with the anchor tile and put these all over street signs all over the city? And so what if we took a Google pin map on a map and pinpointed each signpost, and then what if that spelled out the word art across the entire city of Columbus?

Tim Fulton 3:17Fantastic. And then that is then a way finding for people to find where these pieces of art are, these, these pretty small pieces of public art, 'cause once you put all five together, it's, you know, the size of a sheet of paper?

Stephanie Rond 3:30Yeah. So each tile is about four by six inches. Um, so if you put five of those together, um, in a, in a, you know, portrait scale, um, on the back of a signpost, 'cause it's actually for pedestrians rather than drivers. We don't want anybody to get in any accidents.

Tim Fulton 3:46Right.

Stephanie Rond 3:46So it's more of a walking tour.

Tim Fulton 3:48Well, people can use Google Maps on their phones, certainly.

Stephanie Rond 3:51Completely.

Tim Fulton 3:52So can you talk a little bit more about the artists that create the anchor tiles?

Stephanie Rond 3:57Absolutely. So, um, the artists that we have this year are 64 new creatives. So we've done the project before in 2015.

Tim Fulton 4:07Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 4:07But in 2017, the artists and the creatives are all new artists.

Tim Fulton 4:12Great. Can you talk about why you guys didn't do it in 2016? Were you worn out?

Stephanie Rond 4:16Uh, g- yes, to be honest.

Tim Fulton 4:18Okay.

Stephanie Rond 4:18We were very worn out. Um, and at the time, um, my partner and I, Katherine Bell Smith, were launching another project, um, with two other partners, Amy Liberen and Lisa McLimet, um, for a project called Columbus Open Studio & Stage.

Tim Fulton 4:31Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 4:31So last year, we spent a lot of time concentrating on getting that launched. Um, and it will be returning this year as well.

Tim Fulton 4:38Great, and no need to grab your notepad. You can get information on all the projects and the artists that we discuss in this episode in the show notes at theconfluencecast.com. Stephanie, let's step back and tell us about yourself as an artist.

Stephanie Rond 4:51Okay. Sure. So I am a Columbus native. Um, I grew up through the Columbus Public School system. I graduated from Fort Hayes, uh, and then went on to the Ohio State University, where I got a Bachelor of Fine Arts. I've pretty much been making art forever. Um, in May it'll be my 20-year anniversary, anniversary of my Bachelor of Fine Arts, uh, exhibition at OSU.

Tim Fulton 5:16Great.

Stephanie Rond 5:17So I will be returning to OSU almost to the exact date to do a, um, it's not really a ret- retrospect. It's more of, like, a history of my work.

Tim Fulton 5:26Okay.

Stephanie Rond 5:26So I have one piece from my senior thesis.

Tim Fulton 5:29Great. And one of your day gigs is running the Carnegie Gallery at the Main Library. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Stephanie Rond 5:36Absolutely. So I, uh, used to work at the m- Main Library, 96 South Grant Avenue, uh, in the Humanities and Fine Arts division. Um, and I left the library to, um, try to make a living as an artist full time.

Tim Fulton 5:52Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 5:53Um, and myself and Chuck Cody decided to found the gallery. It's going on its 11th year-

Tim Fulton 5:59Okay

Stephanie Rond 5:59... now. Um, and we thought that the library was a great place to have a conversation about how visual literacy leads to text literacy.

Tim Fulton 6:07Okay.

Stephanie Rond 6:08Um, and also to give the community an opportunity to see art in a place that they might not usually see art or where, a place where they might not be, um- You know, comfortable going to galleries or museums, but they still have the right to see art

Tim Fulton 6:25But it's something that they almost would stumble upon there. It's, it's in a space that people don't traditionally think that they would find a gallery.

Stephanie Rond 6:33Exactly. And since the renovation last year, um, they have built two bridges to the gallery, so the gallery is actually completely, um, part of the library now, and it's funny, when I'll be-

Tim Fulton 6:45Where is it exactly?

Stephanie Rond 6:46Um, it's on the second floor-

Tim Fulton 6:47Okay

Stephanie Rond 6:47... in the old, it's in the old Carnegie part of the building.

Tim Fulton 6:50Okay.

Stephanie Rond 6:50Um, so there's two bridges over to it, and it's great because when I'll be installing a show and someone will come along and say, "Oh, I had no idea this was here."

Tim Fulton 6:58So it's like the front, as a kid who grew up going to that library-

Stephanie Rond 7:02Yes

Tim Fulton 7:02... it's in the f- second floor, the front portion, which the way I perceive it, or rather the way that I remember it, was just a hallway.

Stephanie Rond 7:09So it's now three separate spaces.

Tim Fulton 7:11Got it.

Stephanie Rond 7:11So that hallway that you're thinking of, um, is there with the beautiful marble.

Tim Fulton 7:16Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 7:16Um, and then one of the bridges is a new gallery, so it's light and bright, and then we also have, uh, another space that used to be reception for administration.

Tim Fulton 7:26Okay

Stephanie Rond 7:27And that's where we originally got the idea for the gallery that w- you know, this was a space that could be used.

Tim Fulton 7:32Got it.

Stephanie Rond 7:32Yeah.

Tim Fulton 7:32And it's always been a public space.

Stephanie Rond 7:34At y- absolutely, yes.

Tim Fulton 7:35Got it. And then is that monthly rotating shows there?

Stephanie Rond 7:39We do six shows a year.

Tim Fulton 7:40Okay.

Stephanie Rond 7:41So the exhibits are up for about six weeks.

Tim Fulton 7:43Got it. And then how are you choosing those shows?

Stephanie Rond 7:48Um, so we ch- we go with other nonprofits.

Tim Fulton 7:50Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 7:50We see this as a satellite space to not only bring art to the community, but to give, um, that sat- that's, that nonprofit more visibility.

Tim Fulton 7:59Okay.

Stephanie Rond 8:00So we work with the Ohio Art League, Roy J. Bev, uh, Creative Women of Color.

Tim Fulton 8:05So all visual art nonprofits.

Stephanie Rond 8:07Exactly.

Tim Fulton 8:07Great. You are known primarily for being a street artist. I know that's not sort of like a title you would introduce yourself as, but doing prefabricated work that then goes up in a, a streetscape, basically.

Stephanie Rond 8:21Yeah.

Tim Fulton 8:22Can you talk about how you got to that art? Is that what you were studying at Ohio State originally?

Stephanie Rond 8:27That's a good question. So I, um, yeah, I, I'm not really into labels, so street art is, uh, how people identify me, and I'm okay with that, um-

Tim Fulton 8:36But you're not gonna introduce yourself that way

Stephanie Rond 8:37... but I'm not gonna introduce myself that way.

Tim Fulton 8:39Right.

Stephanie Rond 8:39Um, when I was at OSU, I was very interested in advertising. So I went to school in the '90s. Um, you know, so I was one of the riot girls.

Tim Fulton 8:49Okay.

Stephanie Rond 8:49Um, so I was really interested in how women were being pur- portrayed in outdoor spaces specifically. Um, so it made sense that I would make the jump to street art, which I did in 2007.

Tim Fulton 9:03Okay.

Stephanie Rond 9:03So I've been doing this for about 10 years.

Tim Fulton 9:05Got it.

Stephanie Rond 9:06Um, and it's hand-cut stencil and spray paint-

Tim Fulton 9:09Got it

Stephanie Rond 9:09... on paper that is then wheat pasted to a wall, usually a natural wall, and I like that because, uh, it won't damage the wall.

Tim Fulton 9:17Mm-hmm. And you just did a piece, uh, inspired by, well, the model for was Lisa McClymont that you just put up at I- is it OSU College of Nursing?

Stephanie Rond 9:25Yeah, no. I actually got to wheat paste on OSU Oval, which-

Tim Fulton 9:29Oh, okay

Stephanie Rond 9:30... um, was kind of one of the, um, reasons why I agreed to do the exhibition in May, 'cause I wanted to do something that had never been done before.

Tim Fulton 9:39Uh-huh.

Stephanie Rond 9:39Um, and Lisa Craig Morton-

Tim Fulton 9:41Not that nobody's ever wheat pasted there.

Stephanie Rond 9:43Ri- no, no, but on the oval

Tim Fulton 9:44But, well a- well, and it was sanctioned.

Stephanie Rond 9:46Y- exactly.

Tim Fulton 9:47Right.

Stephanie Rond 9:47Exactly, yeah. It's probably good to clarify that.

Tim Fulton 9:50Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 9:50Um, but Lisa Craig Morton, who runs the art exhibits at the faculty club-

Tim Fulton 9:55Okay

Stephanie Rond 9:55... which is, um, Orton Hall on, uh, the oval.

Tim Fulton 9:58Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 9:59She, uh, spent about a year making sure that she had all of the permission that she needed to do it, so I'm very appreciative of her.

Tim Fulton 10:07OSU is pretty specific about what they're, they allow outside.

Stephanie Rond 10:11Yes, they are.

Tim Fulton 10:12Definitely. They control the space. Can you talk about some of the other, uh, projects that you've been involved in in and around Columbus?

Stephanie Rond 10:19Well, last year I just finished up, uh, a project called Dare to Be Heard with the Cultural Arts Center, which was, um, an exhibition that ended actually two days before the election, um, took place. But it was, uh, a response to making sure that women creatives had a, uh, space to talk about what it's like being a woman creative.

Tim Fulton 10:41And so what did that look like? Were these series of conversations? Was it, was it actually generating visual art?

Stephanie Rond 10:48Yeah, so it was a, a very large exhibition that encompassed not just visual artists. We did have visual artists, um, from all over the world actually.

Tim Fulton 10:58Okay.

Stephanie Rond 10:58We had 16 large pieces of art. Um, and then throughout the entire exhibit, we had different events. So we had a performance piece, we had, uh, a poetry night, we had workshops on how to make a zine, um, just all ki- all kinds of workshop things.

Tim Fulton 11:15Got it. Let's talk about sort of how you work, and I wanna then delve back into a couple other projects that you've worked on. Do you see your work mostly as project-based in that, you know, every two months you've gotta get a show up at, uh, the Carnegie Gallery and, you know, once a year there's gonna be a bigger project, and then I imagine that you have other commitments as well. Can you talk about sort of how you manage that work as an artist?

Stephanie Rond 11:44Yeah. So, um-

Tim Fulton 11:46You have a calendar.

Stephanie Rond 11:47Yeah. I, um, I happen to be... If you, if you look at my artwork and my stencil cutting, you'll see that I'm an extremely type A-

Tim Fulton 11:55Okay

Stephanie Rond 11:55... um, type of person. So, um, yeah, I actually have two calendars.

Tim Fulton 12:00Okay.

Stephanie Rond 12:00One, one online and then one in print, because I'm also terrified that the online one's gonna disappear and I'll have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing.

Tim Fulton 12:08Okay.

Stephanie Rond 12:09I do have to schedule my creative time-

Tim Fulton 12:12Oh, okay

Stephanie Rond 12:13... and, um, be very vigilant about not cutting into that-

Tim Fulton 12:17Okay

Stephanie Rond 12:18... that creative time.

Tim Fulton 12:19And do- where do you work out of?

Stephanie Rond 12:21I work from home.

Tim Fulton 12:21Okay.

Stephanie Rond 12:22Yeah.

Tim Fulton 12:22And so give me some specifics, like how many hours a week do you say that you need to do it at, five days a week? How much do you do?

Stephanie Rond 12:29Yeah. The- there's kind of a joke between me and my colleagues that I never get a day off, but- It doesn't matter to me because I love what I do so much that I consider, you know, I consider myself very lucky to h- to, to be busy like this.

Tim Fulton 12:44Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 12:45Um, I try to do most of my creative work on weekends.

Tim Fulton 12:48Okay.

Stephanie Rond 12:48Because that's when people are ex- not expecting emails and texts. Like yesterday, I had 40-

Tim Fulton 12:54You don't have to respond to things.

Stephanie Rond 12:55Exactly. I can wait until Monday.

Tim Fulton 12:58Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 12:58Um, and then, um, I try to get in the studio at least two times a week besides that. It just depends on what the project is really.

Tim Fulton 13:07And so given the nature of your work, what's a block of time look like? Can it be as short as like two hours?

Stephanie Rond 13:13It can if I'm doing the creative thinking part.

Tim Fulton 13:16Like the sketching?

Stephanie Rond 13:17Uh, yeah.

Tim Fulton 13:17Okay.

Stephanie Rond 13:18Yeah. That, yeah.

Tim Fulton 13:19Okay. Is it sort of like other project-based work in that you're f- I'm thinking of like a sales funnel right now. Like, is, are you lining up the work and sort of... Like, if I came to you with a project right now and said, "Hey, I've got X amount of dollars," and that amount of money is acceptable to you, would you say, "Okay, I can fit you in here"?

Stephanie Rond 13:41Yes.

Tim Fulton 13:41That's exa- That's, you are that busy, basically. Is it fair to-

Stephanie Rond 13:45I'm that lucky, yes.

Tim Fulton 13:46Great. Good. Excellent way of putting it.

Stephanie Rond 13:49Yes.

Tim Fulton 13:49Excellent way of putting it. And so what are the other, for the most part, what sort of clients do you see come in? Are, is it commercial work? Is it you applying for grants and then fulfilling that grant obligation? Tell me about the type of work as it comes in.

Stephanie Rond 14:05Sure. So, um, I get a lot of requests to do public speaking.

Tim Fulton 14:11Okay.

Stephanie Rond 14:12Um, and also to-

Tim Fulton 14:13Thanks for being here, by the way.

Stephanie Rond 14:14Oh, of course. Thanks for having me. To do public speaking and also do community interventions.

Tim Fulton 14:22Okay.

Stephanie Rond 14:22Um, so for example, last year I was at, um, the Columbus Museum of Art's Creativity Summit, and I was the last speaker, so we did a creativity interruption, so to speak.

Tim Fulton 14:34Okay.

Stephanie Rond 14:35And I also get asked to do a lot of things in the street art culture. Um, I run a we- website called Women Street Artists.

Tim Fulton 14:44Okay.

Stephanie Rond 14:45So I founded the website in 2008, I believe, um, just because I noticed there wasn't a place where I could find colleagues. So I just basically started being a librarian and cataloging all these women street artists. Um, so I get a lot of requests through that. Um, I was just in a, um, international book called Women Street Artists that came out of that website. Um, and then I also get asked to go to schools a lot. So this year I'm at two elementary schools. Last year I was at a high school.

Tim Fulton 15:18Almost as a residency type program.

Stephanie Rond 15:20Exactly, like a residency. Yeah.

Tim Fulton 15:22Okay.

Stephanie Rond 15:22Yeah.

Tim Fulton 15:22And so you're getting, you know, paid for your time. You're getting paid an honorarium or a salary, depending on how they, basically how they term it.

Stephanie Rond 15:30Yes.

Tim Fulton 15:30But you don't have what one would call a traditional 9:00 to 5:00 job.

Stephanie Rond 15:34No. No.

Tim Fulton 15:35You're basically budgeting your time to do your work.

Stephanie Rond 15:39Yeah. The joke is that I'm, you know, I, well, and I really am nickeling and diming my way through life, so.

Tim Fulton 15:45Okay.

Stephanie Rond 15:46Yeah.

Tim Fulton 15:47How stringent do you have to be about setting a price on your time?

Stephanie Rond 15:51That is kind of one of the nice things about working for myself.

Tim Fulton 15:55Uh-huh.

Stephanie Rond 15:55Um, I can look at, for an example, I can look at a school that may not have a lot of money-

Tim Fulton 16:01Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 16:01... um, and charge them one price that is different from a school that may be able to help, help me out a little bit more, um-

Tim Fulton 16:09And so by virtue of that, the, the, again, for lack of a better term, the well-funded school is helping fund your work at the less privileged school.

Stephanie Rond 16:17Yeah. And I'm very honest with them about that. Um, and they've never had a problem with it, um, because it's, I think, you know, all of these kids need to experience ways to, to share their voice and their creativity. So I've never heard a negative from saying that.

Tim Fulton 16:34Absolutely. Well, now I'm gonna add educator to, you know, your list of titles. From the things that you've talked about, it doesn't sound like a whole lot of art production for yourself or for clients. Are you doing grant submissions as well?

Stephanie Rond 16:48I will do a c- I, I do a couple of like juried competitions-

Tim Fulton 16:53Okay

Stephanie Rond 16:53... that, um-

Tim Fulton 16:54You, you submit to?

Stephanie Rond 16:55Yeah.

Tim Fulton 16:55Okay.

Stephanie Rond 16:55Yeah, that sometimes have, um, compensation attached to them.

Tim Fulton 16:59Okay.

Stephanie Rond 17:00Yeah.

Tim Fulton 17:01You've received like artist support grants before. No?

Stephanie Rond 17:05No.

Tim Fulton 17:07Okay. But you don't work in that way, and you don't actually feel like you need those grants.

Stephanie Rond 17:12No. I, I've been fortunate in that, um, people buy my gallery work.

Tim Fulton 17:18Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 17:18Um, not just in Columbus, but in other locations.

Tim Fulton 17:21Okay.

Stephanie Rond 17:22Um, so I've been really lucky in that the gallery sales support doing the street work-

Tim Fulton 17:30Okay

Stephanie Rond 17:30... which gives me the freedom to say and do what I want.

Tim Fulton 17:35Okay. Gotcha. So do you have representation?

Stephanie Rond 17:39I used to have representation in Atlanta.

Tim Fulton 17:42Okay.

Stephanie Rond 17:42Um, I do not have representation in Columbus.

Tim Fulton 17:45Gotcha. And currently you don't have representation at all?

Stephanie Rond 17:48No. No, I don't.

Tim Fulton 17:49For visual artists that are coming up, can you talk about that experience and what the representation artist relationship looks like?

Stephanie Rond 17:57Um-

Tim Fulton 17:57Or what your experience was in particular?

Stephanie Rond 17:59What my exper- Um, the-

Tim Fulton 18:01Don't throw anybody under the bus here

Stephanie Rond 18:02... No, no, no. Of course not. The experience that I had with the Atlanta gallery, um, I really enjoyed it. We had a great relationship. Um, it's really, really tough to keep a gallery open.

Tim Fulton 18:12Okay.

Stephanie Rond 18:13Um, so-

Tim Fulton 18:14Is that place not in operation anymore?

Stephanie Rond 18:16They changed management.

Tim Fulton 18:18Got it.

Stephanie Rond 18:18Um, and I, and I do know there's a couple galleries in town that do representation, and they take really, really good care of their artists. I think that's one of the questions when looking for representation is to make sure that both sides are, you know, benefiting and happy.

Tim Fulton 18:36That it's an equitable relationship, right?

Stephanie Rond 18:37Exactly, yeah.

Tim Fulton 18:38How did they find you?

Stephanie Rond 18:39They found me through, uh, one of my collectors.

Tim Fulton 18:42Okay.

Stephanie Rond 18:42It was a, a friend of one of my collectors that he knew she was starting a gallery and said, "Hey, I think you'd like this artist."

Tim Fulton 18:49Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 18:49And, um, from there our relationship- Really bloo- blossomed.

Tim Fulton 18:53And there were contracts, and there was a negotiation process and, and that all. And so were they simply putting you in shows there in Atlanta, or were they do, were they big enough to be doing art fairs, or-

Stephanie Rond 19:06No, they didn't-

Tim Fulton 19:07And I'm really just curious

Stephanie Rond 19:07... yeah, they didn't do art fairs.

Tim Fulton 19:08Okay.

Stephanie Rond 19:09So, um, they were big enough that they had, um, some celebrity clients.

Tim Fulton 19:14Okay.

Stephanie Rond 19:15Um, so they didn't really do the art fairs.

Tim Fulton 19:19Mm-hmm. They had enough of a client base that they didn't need to do that.

Stephanie Rond 19:23Exactly, yeah.

Tim Fulton 19:24Gotcha. Gotcha. In terms of representation, is that something that you think that you'll eventually go back to, or you're not really interested in that? You're, you're for-

Stephanie Rond 19:33I-

Tim Fulton 19:33You keep saying, "I'm fortunate in that I get to do this." I'm just curious if you view that as something down the road for you.

Stephanie Rond 19:40Sure. I, I prefer to be a yes person, to always leave the doors, windows, everything open.

Tim Fulton 19:47Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 19:48Um, so of course I'd be, you know, open to getting in a relationship like that again.

Tim Fulton 19:54Gotcha.

Stephanie Rond 19:54Yeah.

Tim Fulton 19:55Um, and, you know, so normally I start by saying let's get into the, the nuts and bolts of how you work, but there all that was. Let's step back a little bit, and can you, in addition to female representation in street art, can you talk a little bit about some of the inspiration for your work?

Stephanie Rond 20:11Absolutely. So, um, most of, I make a character that I call Ghost Girl.

Tim Fulton 20:17Okay.

Stephanie Rond 20:17Um, a lot of people think it's because she's blue, but it's actually because I think she represents the ghost of all humanity.

Tim Fulton 20:25Okay.

Stephanie Rond 20:26Um, at least to me she does. Um, and I want to put girls in active, um, in active environments, being citizens, uh, in the environments, rather than objects. Um, a lot of people will say that my work has a whimsy to it, but that there's also some u- underlying, um, you know, social, political, uh, discussions within it. Uh, when I was in college, I was like this super hardcore, you know-

Tim Fulton 21:00Right, girl

Stephanie Rond 21:00... punk rock feminist girl, right?

Tim Fulton 21:02Girl with n- no I and multiple Rs.

Stephanie Rond 21:06R-I-I-I, yeah.

Tim Fulton 21:08Right.

Stephanie Rond 21:08Um, but I was pretty aggressive in college about what my messages were.

Tim Fulton 21:13Okay.

Stephanie Rond 21:13And I realized that I was alienating my audience from the very beginning. So I've learned this trick of kind of m- you know, making the images more comfortable-

Tim Fulton 21:23Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 21:23... so that you feel welcome in the conversation, rather than being screamed at.

Tim Fulton 21:27Mm-hmm. So let me ask you a question there. What is, very general definition, what is art?

Stephanie Rond 21:32Oh, wow.

Tim Fulton 21:34I know, no, I know.

Stephanie Rond 21:35Whoa.

Tim Fulton 21:35I'm ask- I, I, this is a leading question, though.

Stephanie Rond 21:39Uh.

Tim Fulton 21:40How about this, what is art meant to be?

Stephanie Rond 21:42In my opinion, art is meant to be another way to experience the human condition, and to make sure that people don't feel alone in how they're feeling.

Tim Fulton 21:54Great. I would say, I guess, that I believe that art is meant to be challenging, and that there are arts, with an S, that are palatable and enjoyable, and in my mind, those tend to be crafts and something that's replicatable. But that art, whether it be in music or performing art or visual art, is supposed to if not cause a negative response, to at least cause a response. That's what I mean by sort of challenge and, and, you know, scratch a little bit.

Stephanie Rond 22:24Yeah, I would rather that people hated my work than have no reaction to my work.

Tim Fulton 22:29Exactly.

Stephanie Rond 22:30Yeah.

Tim Fulton 22:30Good. Let's delve a little bit more into Sign Your Art, which, uh, people will have the ability to participate in at the Columbus Arts Festival coming up on the riverfront. So people will sit down, and does anybody have the opportunity to pick up a tile and, and go to town on it?

Stephanie Rond 22:48Yeah, so there is a registration system.

Tim Fulton 22:50Okay.

Stephanie Rond 22:50Because we notify everyone that gets into the project wh- where exactly their tile is so that they can go visit it.

Tim Fulton 22:58Okay.

Stephanie Rond 22:59Um, but yeah, it's as easy as giving us your email address, and then each tile has a number assigned, so we write down that number. You can do it at the actual tent at the Arts Festival.

Tim Fulton 23:08Great, okay.

Stephanie Rond 23:09Yeah, yeah. So it's a really, yeah, basically show up to the Sign Your Art tent.

Tim Fulton 23:13Okay.

Stephanie Rond 23:14And you can make a tile.

Tim Fulton 23:15Got it.

Stephanie Rond 23:16Yes.

Tim Fulton 23:16Got it. And no limitation on what medium they use, no limitation on what they actually put on there.

Stephanie Rond 23:25No.

Tim Fulton 23:25It, it does go back to GCAC, and they're the ones that put it up physically.

Stephanie Rond 23:29Catherine and I are the ones that put it up, but yes.

Tim Fulton 23:31Sorry, you put it up.

Stephanie Rond 23:31Yeah, we, that's okay. No, they're, they're our partners for sure.

Tim Fulton 23:35Right.

Stephanie Rond 23:35Um, but yeah, so we, we provide materials, so we, uh, have outdoor latex paint and Sharpies and, um, you know, some people did attach things to it that were, you know, things that they had brought, and that's totally fine as long as it's within the perimeter of the tile.

Tim Fulton 23:52Okay.

Stephanie Rond 23:53Because we did get approval for a specific sized tile.

Tim Fulton 23:56Got it. Is it completed on site at the Arts Festival?

Stephanie Rond 23:59Exactly, yeah.

Tim Fulton 24:00Got it.

Stephanie Rond 24:00They complete them on site. And the, a nice thing about it too is, uh, a lot of the artists that made the anchor tiles-

Tim Fulton 24:07Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 24:07... volunteer. So it's an opportunity for the artists in the community to have a little more face time.

Tim Fulton 24:12That's great. Given that you are a Columbusite and Columbus born and bred, and have continued to stay here, can you talk about, first of all, why you continue to stay here? And then I wanna get a little bit into what are the other things, in addition to your work, the good things that you're seeing in the Columbus arts community.

Stephanie Rond 24:30I'm still here because I really do believe in Columbus as a community. Um, it definitely has its thorns.

Tim Fulton 24:37Okay.

Stephanie Rond 24:38Um, but as creatives, it's our job to kind of expose to those thorns and, and talk about 'em. Um, I think the art community in Columbus is extremely powerful, um, and of course the libraries are fantastic too.

Tim Fulton 24:54Indeed. Can you talk-

Stephanie Rond 24:55My husband's a librarian, so.

Tim Fulton 24:57Oh, I see. I s- now, now I see your affinity.

Stephanie Rond 25:00Yeah.

Tim Fulton 25:01Um, can you talk about some of the thorns that you see?

Stephanie Rond 25:03I think that within the creative community, there's a lot of segregation, and I don't mean, um- I mean, like in, in medium. Like, I think dancers should be talking to writers, writers should be talking to visual art. I think that, um... And I think we're doing better at it.

Tim Fulton 25:19Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 25:19I think that we're talking about it. Um, and I also think there is, um, separations in terms of race.

Tim Fulton 25:26Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 25:26Um, and something like Scott-

Tim Fulton 25:27Something that we've certainly talked about on here. We just did an interview a couple months ago with Scott Woods.

Stephanie Rond 25:32Yeah, yeah. I mean, what Scott Woods did-

Tim Fulton 25:35Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 25:35... um, I know he's probably still recovering. He's one of our, uh, t- anchor artists, actually.

Tim Fulton 25:40Oh, fantastic.

Stephanie Rond 25:41Um, but yeah, what he did was, um, phenomenal.

Tim Fulton 25:44I don't wanna continue to call them thorns, I wanna think of them as opportunities. Are there other things that we should be doing more of?

Stephanie Rond 25:51Um, I would li- honestly, I th- I would like to see more public art space-

Tim Fulton 25:55Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 25:56... or, or more spaces for public art of all kinds, honestly.

Tim Fulton 26:00Can you think of examples of things that you've seen in other metropolitan areas that we could implement?

Stephanie Rond 26:06Um, yeah. So one of the things we could do is start a mural program.

Tim Fulton 26:10Okay.

Stephanie Rond 26:10Uh, I know that you- there's the, the vinyls down in the Short North, and those are great.

Tim Fulton 26:15Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 26:15Um, but if you look at a city like Philadelphia, which is known as the city of murals-

Tim Fulton 26:19Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 26:19... um, I just think that the, um, adding art to outdoor space is a real way to honor and honor a community-

Tim Fulton 26:29Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 26:30... a- and share that, uh, you know, we all deserve the right to see art, and we all deserve to see ourselves represented in art.

Tim Fulton 26:39How would something like that be implemented? Is it, is it an issue of cost? Is it an issue of the city simply... 'Cause most of these are private buildings-

Stephanie Rond 26:49Right

Tim Fulton 26:49... that you're talking about the murals would go on. How does something like that happen?

Stephanie Rond 26:53I mean, I think that's a great question. I think that that would take a lot of research, um-

Tim Fulton 26:57Okay

Stephanie Rond 26:58... to, you know, to start that discussion. I appreciate you asking the question, 'cause certainly it's the, okay, how do we get there?

Tim Fulton 27:05Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 27:05You know, like the what if.

Tim Fulton 27:06But it's not necessarily something you have the answer to.

Stephanie Rond 27:09Not without spending some time researching it, yeah.

Tim Fulton 27:11Okay.

Stephanie Rond 27:12Yeah.

Tim Fulton 27:12Got it. I love how you don't say, "No, I don't know." You say, "My husband-"

Stephanie Rond 27:17Give me time

Tim Fulton 27:18... my husband's a librarian- ... and I will go and figure it out."

Stephanie Rond 27:22Exactly. I mean, I will be happy to call somebody in Philadelphia and ask them.

Tim Fulton 27:27W- that's what we do.

Stephanie Rond 27:28Yeah.

Tim Fulton 27:28We do benchmarking, and we go out and we, you know, figure out how other people did it.

Stephanie Rond 27:32Exactly.

Tim Fulton 27:33Sign Your Art, I certainly don't wanna demean it, but it is a pretty simple what if, then this.

Stephanie Rond 27:38Yeah, what if, what if, what if.

Tim Fulton 27:39What if, then this statement.

Stephanie Rond 27:41Yeah.

Tim Fulton 27:41Right.

Stephanie Rond 27:42I think, um, you know, we didn't know what to expect the first time in terms of how the community would wanna get involved in it.

Tim Fulton 27:49Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 27:49Um, and we actually had to make a bigger tent-

Tim Fulton 27:52Okay

Stephanie Rond 27:52... uh, this year. That was something that we learned, is people were really spending a lot of time-

Tim Fulton 27:57Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 27:57... um, and really thinking about what their message was. So we will have a bigger tent this year.

Tim Fulton 28:03So no one's gonna be... Well, you may fill that one up then.

Stephanie Rond 28:07Yeah, hopefully.

Tim Fulton 28:09Good, g- good. As someone who does street art, can you talk about sort of your view of illegal street art? And not specifically graffiti, but work that is put up sort of without the property owner's permission, whether that be city property, whether that be a public space or a private space. What are... I imagine you have some thoughts on that.

Stephanie Rond 28:31Yeah. So, um, I just gave a talk at Creative Mornings, uh, back in February.

Tim Fulton 28:38Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 28:39Um, and whenever I go out and speak in public, I always ask what people think the difference between tagging and graffiti and street art-

Tim Fulton 28:47Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 28:47... are. Um, and of course they come up with all kinds of answers. And, um, I think they're all right. I think that-

Tim Fulton 28:56You believe all those answers are correct?

Stephanie Rond 28:58I do.

Tim Fulton 28:58Got it.

Stephanie Rond 28:59And I think that the words tagging and the words graffiti, um, are used very derogatory.

Tim Fulton 29:05Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 29:06I think there's a lotta disrespect coming from a place where I, as a maker, know that sometimes you have to make marks 'cause it's the only way you can get someone to listen to you.

Tim Fulton 29:17Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 29:18Um, o- obviously I'm, you know, not into, um, vandal- vandalization myself.

Tim Fulton 29:24Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 29:25But rather than judging somebody who's tagging or graffiti or, you know, doing something illegal, I try to think about where that person may be in their life-

Tim Fulton 29:34Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 29:34... that people aren't listening to what they have to say.

Tim Fulton 29:36Okay. So is it fair to... And I certainly don't wanna put words in your mouth with this. Is it, do you believe that the words tagging and street art are synonymous, or can be?

Stephanie Rond 29:47Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that those are all labels.

Tim Fulton 29:50Okay.

Stephanie Rond 29:50I think that, um, that's why I try-

Tim Fulton 29:52Even down to-

Stephanie Rond 29:52That, yeah

Tim Fulton 29:53... street art is a label?

Stephanie Rond 29:53Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 29:54Okay.

Stephanie Rond 29:54Um, so I try not to use those labels. I understand it's a way to define things in a conversation.

Tim Fulton 30:01Right.

Stephanie Rond 30:01Um, but yeah, I try not to use those terms.

Tim Fulton 30:05Okay.

Stephanie Rond 30:06I guess with the terms tagging and graffiti-

Tim Fulton 30:09Mm-hmm

Stephanie Rond 30:09... I wonder, you know, I wonder what can be done to make sure that those messages are being heard, right?

Tim Fulton 30:16Okay.

Stephanie Rond 30:16Like, what, what-

Tim Fulton 30:17Well, there is certainly a background of photography in that work.

Stephanie Rond 30:21Right.

Tim Fulton 30:21Because it tends to be temporary.

Stephanie Rond 30:23Mm-hmm. And most, uh, quote-unquote, street artists start out as taggers. So-

Tim Fulton 30:27Right

Stephanie Rond 30:28... when you shut somebody down right away without f- figuring out where they are in their life, then you might be-

Tim Fulton 30:34And by shutting them down, do you mean arresting them? Or-

Stephanie Rond 30:37Well, I mean, I certainly don't wanna go to jail. But, uh-

Tim Fulton 30:40Right

Stephanie Rond 30:40... uh, Columbus does have very, um, strict rules, which I un- I understand both sides, I guess, is what I, what I'm saying.

Tim Fulton 30:48Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 30:48I just, I think that you have to be really careful that you're not putting, putting somebody down even more than they need to be, I guess.

Tim Fulton 30:57Well, and this, and I ask this question and I don't know the answer to it, is it fair to say that you've put up work that you haven't been given permission ahead of time to put up?

Stephanie Rond 31:05No. I-

Tim Fulton 31:06That's not fair to say?

Stephanie Rond 31:07No. I-

Tim Fulton 31:08Okay

Stephanie Rond 31:08... um, so I believe in art karma-

Tim Fulton 31:12Okay

Stephanie Rond 31:12... which means I am too old to go to jail and-

Tim Fulton 31:16Okay. Well, I don't think- ... that's what art karma means but-

Stephanie Rond 31:19Well, but well, I, I believe in art karma. I believe that if I do something illegal, then something bad's gonna happen to me.

Tim Fulton 31:26Fair.

Stephanie Rond 31:26That's just my take on the whole thing. Um, so I always ask permission.

Tim Fulton 31:32Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 31:33Um, and my, my style or my, yeah, I guess my style's pretty recognizable.

Tim Fulton 31:39Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 31:39Um, so they could very easily know it was one of my pieces.

Tim Fulton 31:44Right.

Stephanie Rond 31:45Um, most of the time, the only time I really get flack is when I'm trying to take the piece down, and people are like, "Hey, I, I like that piece. What are you doing?" And then I say, "Hey, uh, thanks. I'm the artist."

Tim Fulton 31:58Well, that tends to happen. Well, and that tends to happen because sort of the timeline that it's supposed to be th- it's not because you're collecting it to go sell, right?

Stephanie Rond 32:04N-

Tim Fulton 32:05Or is, or is it sometimes?

Stephanie Rond 32:05No, I mean, like, so the wheat paste-

Tim Fulton 32:07Yeah

Stephanie Rond 32:07... when I go back to a wall, like there's one over on Strong Water right now.

Tim Fulton 32:10Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 32:10I'll probably clean that off pretty soon.

Tim Fulton 32:12Okay.

Stephanie Rond 32:12When I'm cleaning that piece off, I have people that come up to me and w- you know, wanna know why I'm removing that piece.

Tim Fulton 32:17And you're simply taking it down because it's deteriorating-

Stephanie Rond 32:20Exactly

Tim Fulton 32:20... and you don't want it to be, it-

Stephanie Rond 32:22I don't want it to-

Tim Fulton 32:23You don't want it to be up-

Stephanie Rond 32:24Yeah, yeah

Tim Fulton 32:24... in a deteriorated state.

Stephanie Rond 32:25Exactly.

Tim Fulton 32:26Got it.

Stephanie Rond 32:26Right.

Tim Fulton 32:27Got it. One other project that I wanted to talk to you about is the S Dot Gallery. Um, you are the proprietor, owner of the S Dot Gallery. What is the S Dot Gallery?

Stephanie Rond 32:37So S Dot Gallery is, um, just like any other gallery in that we have artists that have been exhibiting in the gallery for, um, going on six years now.

Tim Fulton 32:47Okay.

Stephanie Rond 32:48Um, but the gallery is inside of a dollhouse, so all of the work is-

Tim Fulton 32:53I'm gonna let that land a little bit. Okay.

Stephanie Rond 32:56Um, the galla- the gallery is inside of a dollhouse.

Tim Fulton 32:58Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 32:59So all of the artists make miniature scaled artwork for the gallery.

Tim Fulton 33:04Where is the dollhouse?

Stephanie Rond 33:05It's in my dining room.

Tim Fulton 33:06Okay.

Stephanie Rond 33:07So the-

Tim Fulton 33:07Do you hold public exhibitions of the, the gallery is a piece of art itself.

Stephanie Rond 33:13Exactly.

Tim Fulton 33:14Okay.

Stephanie Rond 33:14Yes.

Tim Fulton 33:15Do you, does it go places?

Stephanie Rond 33:17Sometimes, um, it's a she. Sometimes she makes-

Tim Fulton 33:21Excuse me. Okay

Stephanie Rond 33:21... an appearance.

Tim Fulton 33:22Not it. She has a pronoun.

Stephanie Rond 33:25Sometimes she will make appearances, but mostly it's all online.

Tim Fulton 33:29Okay.

Stephanie Rond 33:29So S Dot Gallery has a complete, uh, website because each exhibition is a collaboration between myself and the artist.

Tim Fulton 33:39Okay.

Stephanie Rond 33:39Because I write an entire story to go with their exhibition, um, each month, and then they also write artist statements. So we kind of create the story because they create the entire environment, so.

Tim Fulton 33:51And so what sort of time, like what's the exhibition schedule for that? Is it, are you doing something, are you trying to do something quarterly, or?

Stephanie Rond 33:58No, we do one a month.

Tim Fulton 34:00Oh, wow.

Stephanie Rond 34:01Yeah.

Tim Fulton 34:01Okay.

Stephanie Rond 34:01Yeah. So, um, right before I came here, I was with the March, um, gallery artist.

Tim Fulton 34:09Okay.

Stephanie Rond 34:09And he, he is working on his install right now.

Tim Fulton 34:12I used to work at the Wexner Center for the Arts, and when you say install, I think of like preparators and, and sometimes the artists themselves, like coming in and, like making sure everything is properly placed. What sort of artists are doing works in S Dot Gallery? They're all visual artists.

Stephanie Rond 34:29Uh, yeah. Yeah.

Tim Fulton 34:31And are they-

Stephanie Rond 34:31They are all visual artists

Tim Fulton 34:32... are they furnishing this dollhouse? Is it, and I apologize for-

Stephanie Rond 34:36No, it's okay

Tim Fulton 34:36... not having seen this ahead of time. Is it open like a gallery is, or are there rooms and like a, a, one of them's the bathroom, that it's always gonna be the bathroom?

Stephanie Rond 34:47Yes. So the whole bottom floor is-

Tim Fulton 34:49I just asked an either/or statement

Stephanie Rond 34:51... completely open.

Tim Fulton 34:51You said yes. Okay.

Stephanie Rond 34:54See, I told you I'm a yes person.

Tim Fulton 34:56I love it. I love it.

Stephanie Rond 34:57So the whole bottom is completely open.

Tim Fulton 34:59Okay.

Stephanie Rond 35:00But I did have to put in a bathroom-

Tim Fulton 35:01Okay

Stephanie Rond 35:02... um, because people have, you know, if they come to the opening, they need a place to go. Um, and then there's three rooms upstairs. And, um, the artists create the entire environment. So I will ask them, like what, you know, "What kind of vibe are you going for?" And it's really interesting. They'll say, "Oh, I'm going for shabby chic," or-

Tim Fulton 35:21So are they furnishing the-

Stephanie Rond 35:23... modern or-

Tim Fulton 35:23Give me an example of an artist who is, who has done a good job of taking advantage of the space.

Stephanie Rond 35:29Yeah. So I have four boxes full of dollhouse furniture.

Tim Fulton 35:33Okay.

Stephanie Rond 35:34Um, and they create a vibe with all of this furniture.

Tim Fulton 35:39Okay.

Stephanie Rond 35:39Yeah.

Tim Fulton 35:40Starting to make a lot more sense now.

Stephanie Rond 35:41Mm-hmm. So-

Tim Fulton 35:42Or more sense. And they will bring their own work, or they will generate pieces for the space as well.

Stephanie Rond 35:50Exactly. So they come over to the house, and they'll have all of their artwork with them. And then I've asked for like a vibe.

Tim Fulton 35:57Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 35:57So say, we'll just say modern for-

Tim Fulton 35:59Okay

Stephanie Rond 36:00... for now. And so when they come over, I'll get out all the modern furniture.

Tim Fulton 36:04Okay.

Stephanie Rond 36:05And then they have a couple different ways they work. You know, sometimes they'll put the art in first. Sometimes they set the environment. Sometimes they do both at once. Um, but they are always thinking of it in terms of what is the story. What is the story that we're gonna write after I create this?

Tim Fulton 36:21I see. And so what sort of, first of all, is this a funded project, or has it been funded?

Stephanie Rond 36:27It's not funded.

Tim Fulton 36:28Okay.

Stephanie Rond 36:28It's funded by me.

Tim Fulton 36:29Just out of cur- I mean, just again, just out of curiosity, is the website the only outlet for it?

Stephanie Rond 36:34Is the website-

Tim Fulton 36:35Like have you-

Stephanie Rond 36:35... the only place to see it?

Tim Fulton 36:37Correct.

Stephanie Rond 36:37Yes.

Tim Fulton 36:38Well, uh, is it, has it always been that way?

Stephanie Rond 36:41Yes.

Tim Fulton 36:42Okay.

Stephanie Rond 36:42So when I s- when I founded the gallery, the conversation was also about accessibility.

Tim Fulton 36:48Okay.

Stephanie Rond 36:48Just like art in outdoor environments, um, this gallery is accessible all the time online.

Tim Fulton 36:54Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 36:54Um-

Tim Fulton 36:55But is also inaccessible in a physical space.

Stephanie Rond 36:58Yeah.

Tim Fulton 36:58Because it's in your dining room.

Stephanie Rond 37:00Yeah. I mean, yeah, it, it's quite inconvenient to open up my house every day. Yeah.

Tim Fulton 37:05Well, absolutely. Or even for even, or even once a month.

Stephanie Rond 37:08Yeah.

Tim Fulton 37:08It's not that, not that easy.

Stephanie Rond 37:10Yeah.

Tim Fulton 37:10Are there other, and I'm just curious sort of, you know- Have you been asked to speak on the S Stock Gallery or do you, have you done, you know, presentations on it in, in artist talks?

Stephanie Rond 37:22Yeah. So, um, we, um, Andrew, Ina, myself, and Dan Gerdeman, we had done this film called Tiny Out Loud, which talks about, uh, S Stock Gallery and the street art and how it's the same conversation.

Tim Fulton 37:34Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 37:35Uh, and Ruth Milligan saw it at the Wexner Center for the Arts and then asked me to do a TEDx talk.

Tim Fulton 37:41So you've done a TEDx talk on it as well?

Stephanie Rond 37:44Yeah.

Tim Fulton 37:45And we should say also that the, the film, it's a festival film. I mean, it's, it's not still touring, right?

Stephanie Rond 37:52No. So it did travel all over the country in film festivals.

Tim Fulton 37:56Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Rond 37:56Um, but y- it's accessible online as well. So it's completely free.

Tim Fulton 38:01Okay.

Stephanie Rond 38:01You don't have to pay for it. Um, and you can just go to my website and see the link for Tiny Out Loud and watch, watch the film.

Tim Fulton 38:07And we will-

Stephanie Rond 38:07It's 12 minutes long

Tim Fulton 38:08... we will link that in the show notes as well.

Stephanie Rond 38:10Perfect.

Tim Fulton 38:11I really do love the idea of that project. Stephanie, thank you so much for your time today. I imagine you will be at Arts Festival helping to administer things during that weekend, so please do go and thank Stephanie for her work in putting Sign Your Art together. Stephanie, thanks so much.

Stephanie Rond 38:29Thank you.

Tim Fulton 38:39Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite artist. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a great week.