Assistant Professor
A native New Yorker, Stevie Famulari currently lives in Fargo, North Dakota after having lived in New Mexico and California. She is a Professor at North Dakota State University and continues to travel nationally for her work. Stevie's business' LIVINGSCAPES, Green Responses and SUGART Environmental Art & Design originated in New York and were further developed in California and New Mexico. Stevie creates LivingScapes and Environmental Art- landscapes, indoor and outdoor greening, green murals, green fashions, building fronts & windows, sculptures, and design events nationally. Stevie's Earthworks range from temporary to long term. In her artwork, Stevie strives to illustrate a site's energy, stories, and changes through a time period. Her art inspires others to appreciate the amazement, stories, and fun of landscapes with ephemeral, changing and long-term designs.
Her recent LivingScapes explore Phytoremediation and Environmental Art/Earthworks- using plant materials to remove a variety of toxins from the air, soil and water in both outdoor and indoor sites; while telling a narrative about the stories of the sites. Stevie's Earthworks exploring this topic include 'LivingScape 5', 'LivingScape 4', 'Moss Green', 'Green Mondrian', 'Spiraling Staircase of Plants', and 'Revealing and Concealing Narratives'. Her designs gray the lines between the indoor and outdoor worlds, while cleaning the site. She will be presenting the 'LivingScape 6' to the International Phytoremediation Conference in Colorado.
In addition, she worked with Ric Richardson and Mark Childs to create the Policy Principles and Design Guidelines for UNM West, a paper which defines the overarching sustainability planning principles and driving forces that will shape the key policies for the UNM Campus, presented in Spring 2007 at a Sustainability Conference. In addition to her own works, Stevie returned to NYC in 2005 for a few months to work on Christo & Jeanne-Claude's 'The Gates' as crew captain.
Stevie teaches and lectures about Earthworks and Sustainability in Site Specific designs, site work and environmental art & design. She recently taught a Phytoremediation Graduate Studio at the University of New Mexico. Stevie has also been invited to guest teach and guest critic for additional courses in the undergraduate and graduate department of Landscape Architecture and Architecture at the University of New Mexico. Furthermore, Stevie has taught Environmental Art, Plant Selection and Landscape Construction at Central New Mexico Community College.
Stevie's clients and projects include public as well as private sites and events. Most recently, 'Weaving LivingScapes' her remediation design for Piedra Lumbre, Education & Visitor's Center at Ghost Ranch includes elements for international visitors of all ages. Additionally, her work for Piedra Lumbre encompasses master planning for the multi-acre site, ADA paths, water features, brochures, and environmental art.
Stevie received a B.F.A in photography at New York University (N.Y.U). The desire create site remediations (and to encourage others to do the same) led Stevie to environmental remediation & earthworks and a Master's degree in Landscape Architecture with a concentration in Fine Arts-Sculpture from S.U.N.Y College of Environmental Science and Forestry & Syracuse University, respectively. She also received a Certificate in Pastry Arts from the School of Confectionary Arts in N.Y.C, and has taken coursework at the Center for Book Arts, Fashion Institute of Technology, and Long Island University.
Questioning traditional landscape practices has been a large part of Stevie's artwork. Revealing Landscape Narratives has been part of her practice for over 12 years. Understanding the ecological processes, using the community and individual stories of a site, and working with light, color, texture, scent, scale are part of the process she uses to create site-specific Earthworks. She is widely recognized for the interactive nature of her work as well as her inclusion of humor, remediation and environmentally friendly media that speak volumes about her environmental consciousness.
Stevie Famulari, LivingScapes, and SUGART have been featured in over 100 newspapers, magazines, books, television programs, radio programs, and other publications.