Kitchen Theatre
Located at 417 W State/MLK Jr St, Ithaca
Carla Stetson: Water Ways
Carla Stetson lives and works near Ithaca, New York, in a converted 1850s era barn that is also home to quite few wild creatures. She and her partner have a small apiary and harvest honey. Stetson’s work demonstrates the connectedness of human and natural realms, explored in drawing, mixed media, sculpture and installation. Before moving to the area to teach art at Ithaca College, Stetson lived In Duluth, Minnesota, for twenty years. There she is best known for public sculpture, especially the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial, the first large-scale memorial to victims of a lynching in the United States. Her recent awards include being selected as a finalist for a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in 2023, and selected as Best in Show at the Southern Tier Biennial in 2021. Residency awards include the McColl Center in Charlotte; the Saltonstall Foundation in New York; the Jentel Foundation in Wyoming; the Kimmel Harding Nelson Art Center in Nebraska; and DRAW International in Caylus, France. During her residency in France, Stetson visited Pech Merle, one of the few prehistoric caves that may still be toured. The experience of going deep underground to find caverns and rock chambers housing drawn and carved prehistoric and extinct animals has greatly affected her work. Her work is in collections of the Carolinas Healthcare, the City of Duluth, Minnesota, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, the Tweed Museum of Art, Minnesota, and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as numerous private collections.
