UWaterloo Alumni Podcasts
UWaterloo Alumni Podcasts
Uncharted: Dreaming in colour feat. Stephanie Boutari (BAS ’11, MArch ’14)
Stephanie Boutari (BAS ’11, MArch ’14) blends her passion for painting with architectural knowledge to create vibrant murals. But this career path wasn't a natural step for the UWaterloo architecture alum. In this episode, Stephanie shares her story of taking a brave leap into the world of art. We also discuss her meticulous design process and the landscape of career possibilities for artists.
Read more of Stephanie's story in Waterloo Magazine.
Welcome to Uncharted, a University of Waterloo alumni podcast. I'm your host, Jennifer Ferguson. On Uncharted, we feature awesome alumni who open up about their career journeys, the highs and lows, the twists and turns and anything they've learned along the way.
Jennifer Ferguson:On today's episode, we're welcoming Stephanie Boutari
Stephanie Boutari:From a young age I always thought like oh, you know the starving artist. But I didn't realize that that's not true at all, like there's so many ways to make an income through art to make an income through art.
Jennifer Ferguson:Stephanie and I met up in the library at the University of Waterloo's Cambridge campus, a place she was very familiar with from her time as an architecture student. Now, Stephanie is a successful artist with colorful murals all over the Waterloo region and southwestern Ontario. We're going to learn about how she got started creating murals and how architecture influenced her career. Stephanie, welcome to the podcast.
Stephanie Boutari:Hi, thank you for having me.
Jennifer Ferguson:Let's start with. How did you get started with murals?
Stephanie Boutari:So I was doing my master's of architecture thesis and I was really missing art at that point because it had been several years since I picked up a paintbrush and I still was loving architecture but I wanted to find a way to bring painting and art back into it. So I was doing a lot of research about public art and I discovered murals and I was inspired by graffiti artists and those kind of interventions. Those kind of interventions not just by paint, but actually some of them were more sculptural, but they often brought color and art in a very unconventional way and then would change how people would experience and interact with what would be a typically bland space or a boring building. And then I just started doing more research on the surfaces of buildings and facades and creative ways architects have been manipulating that and then the ways in which the surfaces of architecture have evolved over time. So it was mostly about the surface, but my kind of argument was that that is still architecture and I was kind of approaching my murals were a way of investigating in the surface and architecture and well you know how kind of questioning how in architecture school we don't really talk about it that much, we don't talk about color that much and why not like that has a dramatic impact, and it's not just about the form and the the. You know these models that looking at all around me, they're all one color because they're not thinking about material and and surface, which is fine for for that study. But I guess I just wanted to flip it and focus on the surface, and so murals were a way for me to experiment with that and explore that.
Stephanie Boutari:And my first mural was a crossroads school of architecture. That was part of my thesis exploration and my idea was that I was painting a new architecture. So it was just this plain concrete wall that you know, it is what it is like. But then the way I've painted it, my goal was to create this new, almost like a illusory architecture of abstract windows and this sort of debt, visual depth and playing with your perception of the wall, because I think that's still part of how architecture is perceived. It's not just what it physically is, but how it's how you visually perceive it. And and then how the way you paint it can also affect your perception, not just emotionally but physically, how its sense of scale, or if it has a sense of movement or pattern or rhythm, like it's endless.
Stephanie Boutari:So that's how it started, but I never thought it would be my career. Really. After graduation, I kind of dabbled here and there, did a few murals on the side while working full-time in the architecture job, and then it just kind of picked up. Simultaneously, I started getting some more inquiries and at the same time, I was liking my job less. Not really because I didn't like architecture per se, it was just the specific environment I was in and um, and yeah, and I just took a leap of faith. I suppose I always thought, if it doesn't work out, I have nothing to lose. Um to you know, to do murals and art full-time. Um, it was about halfway through 2017 and then I haven't looked back since then.
Jennifer Ferguson:Your murals are stunning. I think everyone's first reaction when they see them is like wow, like the color and the vibrancy. I would love to know more about what your creative design process is when you're given the assignment of creating this massive mural.
Stephanie Boutari:Yeah, it's. It's kind of become a bit of a methodical process now, like I have, you know, like well, it's kind of split. Actually there's the the methodical and then there's the kind of creative side. So the first part, I do a site visit, look at photos, or, if it hasn't been built yet, which often happens, I look at photos. Or if it hasn't been built yet, which often happens, I look at drawings or renderings to get a sense of what it is. And I get a design brief from the client and understand the scope and all that and then we determine the budget and then, based on that, then I start the creative process of sketching ideas, usually just pencil and paper and it's very kind of loose at that point and then slowly refine it and then bring it into my iPad and edit it and like sometimes, you know, in Photoshop, it's where it becomes a digital rendering and it's usually, you know, an iterative process of kind of trying different ideas until a final rendering is done for the client to approve as a mock-up, basically on a photo of the wall or an elevation view or both. Actually, sometimes I even will do it, put the artwork in a 3D model If the site is complicated.
Stephanie Boutari:You know there's other site considerations and it's not just a straight wall, like there's other features to consider or there's multiple walls or something like that. Um, so yeah, it kind of like uh begins that way and, um, usually I do multiple drafts, so that's why I like to digitize it after sketching, so for easy edits. Um, you know, if a client wants to shift this here, something like that, yeah, each one's a little bit different. Yeah, sometimes I don't have to change anything. Sometimes I have to change a lot, like it really depends on the client. Or you know how much creative freedom or how many, actually truthfully, how many people are making decisions? Yeah, like, sometimes if there's a lot of people involved, they don't always agree and then they can make the process take longer.
Stephanie Boutari:But yeah,
Jennifer Ferguson:well, and you're doing something creative too, and there's something very vulnerable about that as well.
Stephanie Boutari:Yeah, yeah,
Jennifer Ferguson:do you find that you're using some principles from architecture in your mural?
Stephanie Boutari:art. Yeah, definitely. I mean not consciously, but it definitely has influenced both my from a technical point of view, like a lot of skills I've learned and you know, doing design presentations and the software I use and like working at a small scale and doing small scale drawings for something larger. So there's the skill set, but then there's also just the approach. I think I'm always thinking of simple principles like shapes and lines and color and composition and these kind of like basic design principles.
Stephanie Boutari:And also, initially, the very first way I approached murals was thinking of it as an extension of the architecture, which I think is different than, say, if I was already having an art practice driven by specific concepts and creating, say, paintings on canvas and then bringing that to murals. So it's just a matter of like enlarging these images to suit or and like adapting them to suit a context. I kind of it was like the other way around, like I was inspired by the architecture and then created art for it, like Like that was how it started. I mean now obviously it's different, there's a bit of both, depending on the context or who it's for. Sometimes I am given a theme and the client wants something, but I still that influence of the architecture and the site context is I think it's just inbuilt in me Like I can't think of it as an image on its own, that I'm just applying to a wall, like if that makes sense.
Jennifer Ferguson:Absolutely. Now you talked about how you kind of took architecture and went into murals. What's next? Like you're making murals now and you talked about how you got into that from architecture, but are you planning to expand? Making murals now, and you talked about how you got into that from architecture, but are you planning to expand beyond murals? Or like are murals your thing, because there are so many murals around just our area here to go check out? They're beautiful, but I'm just wondering what's next for you?
Stephanie Boutari:Well, honestly, I don't know. I do. I have a lot of dreams that I'd like to go for. I don't necessarily want to do just murals, but I would like to work at a bigger scale than I ever have. I'd love to do a tower, you know, a multi-story building. Cool, that is so cool. That's a dream of mine. Either painting or even just working on a design or artwork that would get fabricated as part of the facade, so I wouldn't necessarily have to be like painting it, although it would be a really cool experience to paint a tower, which I've seen artists do. So that's a dream, you know.
Stephanie Boutari:And to travel for my art, go to new places, see my art in new places and then explore other mediums. That's something I've been wanting for a while. I've dabbled a little, but I haven't gone fully into textile design, fashion design. I want to bring my art into other mediums, but also three-dimensional. I'd love to do a sculptural public art piece, say like collaborating with someone that does sculpture and then I bring like color to it. Or installations, say an exhibit or something like that, where my art is brought into three dimensions. That's something I've always wanted to do as well.
Jennifer Ferguson:I can't wait to see what is next for you. I'm wondering what advice you might have for someone who, maybe similar to you, finds themselves in a place where they feel like it's maybe not the right path.
Jennifer Ferguson:Maybe they need to switch and maybe, specifically, if they're interested in art I know you said it felt kind of risky-
Stephanie Boutari:yeah, you know, actually I read somewhere that if you're in a toxic environment it's more likely to affect you than you are to change it. So better to put yourself in a different environment. So that could be in whatever, whether it's your work or your career, or or even if you're in art but not doing the kind of art you want to do, I mean, but in terms of it being like risky. I think that idea has been drilled into our brains like from from young age. I always thought like, oh start, you know the starving artist. But I didn't realize that that's not true at all. Like there's so many ways to make an income through art, I think the one that's, you know, riskiest is, say, going the route of creating art, putting it in a gallery and then hoping someone will buy it. But that's still. You could still make a living that way.
Stephanie Boutari:But I think that idea that that's the only way to pursue a career in art is very limited. Like that can. You could have multiple streams of income as an artist. You can not just sell your own paintings, but you can do commissions, you can have client work, you can do digital work and sell it, you can teach, you can make products. So there's lots of ways to integrate that creative drive to make art into a career. So it's not as risky as it seems. I guess it's just about taking the time initially to build a portfolio. That's the slowest part, but then, once you've done that and you have work to show, it really picks up from there.
Jennifer Ferguson:Do you have any favorite memories that you could share or that you think of when you come back to the building here?
Stephanie Boutari:Well, the first thing that popped in my head was playing ping pong downstairs, but I don't think it's relevant.
Stephanie Boutari:I don't know,
Jennifer Ferguson:it absolutely is. Often our alum share that their favorite parts were the things that they were doing outside of the classroom because they were so important to them.
Stephanie Boutari:Yeah, and even though, like those were like the most arguably like stressful times, like staying up really late, working on deadlines, there was a sense of community that, like those late nights, everyone being here, and like going on a run for like coffee and whatever I don't know, I kind of weirdly miss it, even though it was stressful.
Jennifer Ferguson:It's. I think you nailed it there, saying it's like community. Yeah, you don't get that in other places of your life except for when you're a student.
Jennifer Ferguson:It feels like,
Stephanie Boutari:and also here like the university, because I did go to University of Toronto for a year before I switched to Waterloo and being on campus is very different like being on the whole, like big campus, very different than being the architecture campus, is very more close-knit, so it did feel like a tight-knit community in a different way than like, than being on on like the bigger campus that's, I don't know.
Stephanie Boutari:That's how I feel
Jennifer Ferguson:not to mention you also have the beautiful view of the river
Stephanie Boutari:yeah, I used to.
Stephanie Boutari:actually, I have a fond memory of sitting along the with our legs dangling over the river, near Melville Cafe me and two of my classmates we were just singing I love that you can remember that that moment it was like one of my earliest memories, like we didn't even know each other that well yet, because it was my first year and we were singing that song Crazy, you're never going to survive unless you get a little crazy.
Stephanie Boutari:Yeah,
Jennifer Ferguson:I love that but, um, yeah, good memories. Stephanie, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Stephanie Boutari:Oh, thank you
Jennifer Ferguson:UWaterloo alumni podcasts are produced and hosted by me, jennifer Ferguson. Stephanie's story is part of the happiness edition of Waterloo magazine. You can read more at uwaterlooca slash magazine. Don't forget to follow, like and subscribe wherever you listen, and for more alumni content, go to uwaterlooca slash alumni.