About.
Stefania Medeiros is a Rhode Island based artist whose unsettling and surrealistic sculptures and paintings beckon us into deeply textured and haunted worlds. Medeiros’ background working in the film industry lends attention to detail that further accentuates her original creations.
Medeiros takes inspiration from the forms and textures in the world around her, transmuting them into dark, yet ethereal concepts that speak to her interest in playing with reality and exploring the unconscious mind.
After taking a step back from the film industry in recent years to focus on her own work, Medeiros has also taken a bold step to close the doors to her physical retail store in 2022 to pursue working as an independent artist. Aside from working as an instructor at the Rhode Island School of Design, Medeiros has also recently stepped in as executive director at ASTRO (Arts, Sports, and Technology Resource Organization), a nonprofit after school program which encourages social and emotional development through creativity and self-directed learning.
Interview on the Drawing From Experience podcast
Instructor Spotight: Stefania Medeiros | RISD CE
“My journey to RISD CE began by chance, and I didn’t expect it to become such a significant part of my life. While I was living in California working as a makeup and special effects artist for film and TV, I began making jewelry as a hobby. Soon after moving back to Rhode Island, I pursued the Jewelry + Light Metals certificate program as well as the Product Development + Manufacturing certificate program. The opportunity to become an instructor fell into my lap. Over the last couple of years I have been building and teaching classes such as mask making, prosthetic design, armor design, mold making, jewelry design, and crown & helmet design.
The most difficult course to design so far is our mask making course for teens. The challenge is finding the perfect balance between delivering the right amount of content to students without putting too much on their plate for the time we are limited to.
The best part of RISD is that everybody you work with is so wildly different. You can give the same assignment to 20 people, and each of those 20 people will take that assignment and create their own world around it. Whether I’m teaching or attending a class, I always feel energized and refreshed after a day of working alongside people who have such unique and different perspectives.”
—Stefania Medeiros, RISD CE instructor