By Riley Eisenbeil
Staff Writer
If you remember the lion murals scattered across campus last fall or the series of portraits made from the soot of a burning match that were displayed in the Arts and Interactive Multimedia (AIMM) building, you have Liz Stahl to thank for her artwork.
Stahl, 26, graduated from the College in December 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Art Education. During her time here, she accomplished a great deal between her student teaching experiences, creations in class, connections with professors, public displays of art and a multitude of works on her own time.
To keep track of ideas that could lead somewhere, Stahl keeps a note in her phone that she updates often called “themes, dreams and ideas.”
One of her most notable ideas at the College was the series of lion murals she created in collaboration with Brianna Titus, another recent graduate from the College. The two were on campus during the summer of 2022 to partake in the College’s Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience (MUSE) program under the guidance of Elizabeth Mackie, an associate professor of art and the program coordinator for graphic design.
When the pair wasn’t working with Mackie on paper making or still frame animation, Stahl and Titus would take walks around campus to pass time. On one of their walks they stumbled upon the public chalkboard on the Golden Spiral.
“We wanted to do something cool, something more than just sign our names,” Stahl said.
This is when the pop-up art display began. The duo did two chalk drawings there — the first was a lion with heart sunglasses and the second was of a lioness and her four cubs, also wearing heart sunglasses. Shortly after completing those, they drew another mural on the AIMM building.
After the lions started gaining traction at the College, Stahl and Titus were asked by Erica Kalinowski, assistant dean for the School of the Arts and Communication, and Lindsay Barndt, director of student transitions, to create another six during orientation week for first-year students — two on the Brower Student Center, two on the Gitenstein Library and two on Mayo Concert Hall.
“It was really great to see our work up [on campus] and to receive public recognition like that,” Stahl said. “It was kind of surprising to have such a strong and positive response from so many people across campus and from the new students and families. [It] was validating and gratifying and exciting.”
The chalk murals were not the only public display of her art on campus. Stahl created the series “Burnt out” when she was enrolled in Drawing III with Mackie in the fall of 2021. After completion, it stayed displayed on the first floor of the AIMM building for about 14 months.
Mackie instructed the students to make a political piece — the prompt was open to interpretation.
“She tends to ask bigger questions or give more vague directions and then see where people are going and push them in the direction that either she thinks they can go in or a direction they are capable of,” Stahl said.
Mackie was focused on allowing the students to have more creative freedom rather than shoving them into a box, which is something that Stahl admired, even if it was a bit nerve-racking.
“Everyone I know is exhausted … and almost every political issue that I care deeply about and brace my heart to hear about is not something I can usually tangibly do something about,” said Stahl. “So ultimately, I did a series on burnout. I did a series of portraits of a nurse, doctor, teacher, mom and me, a college student.”
Stahl roughly sketched the features of the subjects, held a lit match under illustration paper and then used the soot that rose to create the value and the lines of the portraits. Each portrait took roughly two hours, totaling 10 hours for the series.
“There is a certain authenticity to being successful and I felt that [people] felt that [“Burnt out”] was an authentic representation and that meant a lot,” Stahl said.
In part because of the authenticity, “Burnt out” was one of her favorite pieces she has done — although choosing a favorite piece is like “asking a parent to pick a favorite kid,” Stahl said.
Even though she grew a lot as an artist here at the College, she did not find her initial love of art here. Stahl spent a lot of time experimenting with different art techniques and concepts on her own in middle school and high school.
After graduating from Red Bank Catholic High School in 2015, she began her undergraduate journey at the University of Pittsburgh as an undeclared major. She also attended a number of schools, gaining teaching experience, before she found her way to the College to earn her degree.
“I’ve always had some tendency towards the arts,” Stahl said.
Growing up, she was involved in drama, theater and art club. She also had some artistic influences at home.
Her mom did a fair amount of crafts with her and always kept crafts for kids books in the house. Her grandmother, who passed away when Stahl was young, even had a kiln in her basement which Stahl thought was “the coolest thing ever.”
Even with her exposure to art at a young age though, she still had a lot to explore. Art is all about experimentation, practice, repetition and accepting that you are going to fail sometimes.
“Some people are like ‘Ugh, she’s a natural born artist’ and in some ways I hate that sentiment… I have some drawings from when I was younger that are absolute garbage,” Stahl said. “I think there is a tendency towards certain things and then you have to be able to have some amount of discipline to sit down and practice.”
That’s exactly what she did. She would look at pictures and try to copy them or watch tutorials online — even though they stressed her out sometimes.
When Stahl attended University of Pittsburgh, she had a lot of “very well-meaning people” in her life telling her to try to pursue something other than art.
“It’s very frustrating to be hit with that,” Stahl said. “There’s a big difference between being able to pursue medicine or mathematics and wanting to pursue [them] — and if I’m going to do it, I want to want to do it.”
After thoroughly enjoying the art classes she was in, she eventually declared a Studio Arts major.
While she was there, she took a class taught by Anna Divinsky who experiments with fiber and pattern in her art. She is known for providing her students with specific, creative prompts.
During one project, Divinsky took her class through the entomology collection in the Natural History Museum and instructed the students to investigate.
Stahl ultimately created an eight-and-a-half foot grasshopper made from charcoal and India ink. She created the sections, cut each piece out and stitched it back together using embroidery thread. Now, even years later, Andre the Giant Grasshopper lives on the wall of her bedroom.
“It was so valuable to be near someone who I could see being creative at such, what felt like, extreme levels,” Stahl said.
After spending about two years at the University of Pittsburgh trying to find her way, Stahl had to take a step back from school in 2017.
“I don’t want to say [leaving the University of Pittsburgh] was a blessing in disguise — because it sure wasn’t,” Stahl said.
She had to take a pause to prioritize her own mental health. If she had not taken this pause, however, she would not have found her way to the College and she probably would not have met the people she did or found her way to her current job.
During her time between colleges, she worked as an art club moderator at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey. She also worked as an art teacher at both Holy Innocents School in Neptune, New Jersey and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Stahl knew that, since she wanted to keep teaching, it was time to get certified for it. She chose to apply at the College because “they have the best and one of the cheapest options for education,” Stahl said. “Plus, I could still maintain my jobs [while taking classes].”
She began part-time at the College in fall 2019 and transitioned to full time in fall 2020. Since graduating, she has stayed working at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She fell in love with the school during her first interview so it seems fitting that she ended up there.
Through all of the experiences she has had, she found not only her passion, but something that brings her so much joy.
“We live in a world where there is so much standardized testing and so many people looking for the one right answer and in real life that, for the most part, is not a thing that exists,” Stahl said. “That is one of the best parts of art — that there are so many answers to every question and many of those answers are some kind of truth. It’s really amazing.”
