About four years ago, Columbus artist Stephanie Rond was listening to a talk by former NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan. In 1984, during a mission in the space shuttle Challenger, Sullivan became the first American woman to go outside a spacecraft in her space suit. As Rond listened to Sullivan describe working on the Hubble Space Telescope in a later mission, the artist was struck by a particular word the astronaut used.
“She kept talking about ‘spacewalkers’—the people that go outside of the ship,” Rond says on a warm afternoon in late July, surrounded by spray paint, stacks of stencils and a tattered, 30-year-old “thinking chair” in the art studio above her Clintonville garage. “My work has always been about how women take up space, how we perceive women who take up space, indoor and outdoor. So, thinking about how my work is about space, place and power, and hearing the term ‘spacewalkers,’ I was like, that’s it. That’s where I’m going.”
Ten years after her last solo show, Rond will launch “Spacewalkers” at the McConnell Arts Center of Worthington with a reception on Sept. 19. The exhibition, which runs through Nov. 14, will occupy all floors of the MAC, including the lower level, which Rond refers to as the “bargain basement.” “I want it to be about accessibility,” she says, “so I’m slashing prices. I’d rather it live on somebody else’s wall than in my storage.”
In one series of tall, narrow paintings on wood panels, Rond places women on pedestals alongside signifiers that speak to their character. “When I’ve traveled, especially abroad, I’ve seen museums full of statues. But they’re all men,” Rond says. “I wanted to reverse that.”
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Some of these spacewalkers are Rond’s friends, like her hair stylist, whom Rond says “really needed antlers.” Others have faces that visitors might recognize, like “Warrior,” which features Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Jami Goldstein paired with an owl (“Jami is one of the most intelligent humans,” Rond says), or “Queen,” featuring artist Queen Brooks (bedecked in a crown, of course).
The first 100 visitors to “Spacewalkers” also will receive yard signs with Rond’s artwork featuring women. The giveaway continues Rond’s focus on accessibility while fulfilling her mission as a street artist to take art out into the community. It’s also no coincidence Rond is making yard signs during another divisive election season.
“I’m disheartened by the way we are going about our lives as if it’s a sport, like one team versus the other, with blind allegiance,” Rond says. “The idea behind the signs is to hopefully allow everyone to just take a breath and remember that we are part of a larger community, and that we have to be better.
“My art is my way of trying to help put good in the world. … I want to give a breath of hope.”
This story is from the September 2024 issue of Columbus Monthly. Subscribe here.
