Indigo Dream

Indigo Dream is Stephanie Garmey’s vision of the voyage that elephant herds take across the African savannah to the Salt Caves of Mt. Elgon in Kenya. Led by the herd’s matriarch, these journeys are made at night, under the stars. Knowledge or memory of the route has been passed on through the matriarchal lineage for thousands of years 

From an imagined bed in her “Dream Hut,” Garmey immerses the viewer in what she describes as “the innate, learned, and shared knowledge of the incredible animal world we share the earth with, including elephants, monkeys, weaver birds, and the grey-crowned crane. The animals and foliage reach out in this installation to share their amazing intelligence, beauty, and knowledge.”

The artist draws her inspiration from natural objects, fossils, and antique taxidermy. Her meditations on nature use a variety of media including painting, intricately cut paper, book arts, drawing, clay, and light projection.

Garmey is a member of the faculty in the Drawing and General Fine Arts Departments at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She received her MFA degree in 1995 from MICA’s Hoffberger School of Painting, her MA in 1985 from Purdue University, and her BFA in 1983 from MICA. She has received individual artist’s grants in Crafts and Painting from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Arts and Culture, and was a semi-finalist for the Trawick Prize for contemporary art in Maryland.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.