Spark Artist

Sculpture‍

Using a wide array of materials, Stephanie Simek makes works in two dimensions, three dimensions, sound and performance. She has lived in the Pacific Northwest since 2007. At that time, she began performing with instruments she made from dismantled electronics. This foundation in mechanical deconstruction transitioned into a study of the physical properties of minerals, and led to an artist residency at Portland’s Museum of Contemporary Craft, titled Jewels/Joules, followed by a research residency at Signal Culture in New York, where she studied the magnetic recording potential of minerals. Continuing to examine unseen material processes, Simek spent two years assisting a physicist in the fabrication of ultrasonic sensors for the semiconductor industry. Select projects include a room-sized crystal radio, self-assembling keys and an observatory tower in Corinth, VT. She has worked on several occasions with experimental violist and composer Jordan Dykstra, producing such collaborations as a conversation between two pieces of wax—a long-distance performance involving a synchronized time-release candle and vinyl record—and the 2025 exhibition Binnenstebuiten (whole #33), which included a score for a video landscape filmed inside a ceramic vessel with self-organizing glazes. In recent years, Simek has been an artist in residence at MASS MoCA, where she received the Ford Family Foundation’s Oregon Visual Arts Fellowship; Tobichi Art Museum (Japan); A.R.E. (Netherlands); Viborg Kunsthal (Denmark); and the Museum of Glass (Tacoma, WA). She was a recipient of the Oregon Arts Commission’s 2024 Individual Artist Fellowship and 2025 Career Opportunity Grant.