Artist Statement: New Yorkers use the city's parks for many things to suit their needs. A park is used as a meeting place, a stage, a soap box to state your opinion, a bike path, a place to rest, a gathering place to attract a crowd, or a place to read alone while still being surrounded by people. I believe the public spaces in New York bring strangers together in order to foster interaction. My piano depicts the people in the park before they meet, before they are affected by the unexpected, before they change their plans on a whim and begin to interact with one another. The colorful scenes on my piano often cross over an edge to remind the viewer to "see all sides." The point of view of each park-goer is different, much like in reality. There are stairs in each background to reinforce the various points of view and to lead the viewers eye in the direction of the other people.
Stephanie Tartick was born and raised in Buffalo, NY and currently lives in Astoria, Queens. She moved to New York City in 2007 to pursue and complete a BFA in Illustration at Parsons School of Design. For the past four years she has split her time between restoring antique furniture at Fitzkaplan Restoration in Manhattan and assisting the portrait painter, Tim Okamura, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. She is an avid painter and often illustrates for publications. In 2011, she designed a t-shirt for the band, Matt and Kim, for their “Sidewalks” tour and in 2013 her design was chosen by the Center for Anti-Violence Education for their Punchathon! event in Prospect Park. She recently illustrated a page in the memorial booklet for Jocelyn Cooper, a political activist and writer who lived in Brooklyn. This is her first year creating a piano for Sing For Hope.
