statement of practice

Steve Scheibe is an accomplished and awarded artist with nearly two decades of professional art experience. He works in a variety of media including, serti-painting of silk, print media, stone lithography, landscape design, etched glass, and music and sound - with commissioned works mostly in oil, silk, and glass. His most recent site-specific artworks are in silk and glass; celebrating the illusion of fragility and the transparency of these solid (fluid) materials.

Steve envisions new applications of the ancient medium of painted silk – employing it in huge, feather-light murals, and three-dimensional sculptures. He is always investigating the advantages of silk; a “green,” nearly weightless medium, washable, dry-cleanable, strong as steel and naturally inflammable – silk maintains its structural integrity even when fused between glass in a kiln. New technology in cool-burning, long-lasting, UV-free LED lighting makes for zero-maintenance illumination of silk.

Steve demonstrates his commitment to cooperating with contractors and architects to create relevant and excellent art pieces, even in adverse conditions. In the “Bear Mountain Birch Glass” project, he completed etched walls of glass (120 square feet) working indoors and out, on location in arctic Alaska. He drew inspiration directly from the icy setting as he worked, resulting in true expressions of the environment.

Steve intentionally integrates visual themes, imagery, and materials with the site’s history, demography, environment, and site use. In the making of Issaquah’s “Fish Ladder” the project goal was to soften an imposing two-story, rock chimney with artwork. Working with the contractor and existing architecture, Steve created a suspended silk painting that flows over the chimney like a waterfall. He draped this vertical space with natural materials and natural imagery fitting to the region’s annual salmon run and location in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The palette echoes the glass, stone and slate, wood floor, walls and beams with accents in azure and reds.