By Gabbie Burton
Contributing Writer

For Lancaster County artist Stacy Caldwell, art is not just a pastime, it’s a practice. 

This practice of art is what Caldwell has focused on for her upcoming exhibit “Daily Encounters” at the Oxford Arts Alliance starting Aug. 2. It is Caldwell’s first solo exhibition and features over 160 pieces of charcoal sketches and oil paintings created by the artist.

In 2021, Caldwell decided to sketch a charcoal drawing every day of something she saw from memory. Three years later, she has created a collection of sketches, 125 of which will be on display at her exhibition that show the “little miracles” of everyday life that too often go unnoticed.

“We miss so much when we aren’t paying attention,” Caldwell said. “The gift of making art is being able to notice so much more around you.”

Caldwell’s art is heavily inspired by her Lancaster roots. Her landscape oil paintings often feature the open fields and farmland she has spent her life surrounded by, but before she came to focus on landscapes, she began painting dog portraits. In 2009, Caldwell asked her Facebook friends to send photos of their dogs for her to paint, and if they liked the painting, they could purchase it and Caldwell would donate half of the proceeds to the Humane League. That year she painted over 30 dog portraits.

“That was a fun way to get myself into the studio,” she said.

Caldwell has since grown away from her dog portraits and now primarily focuses on her oil painting landscapes and charcoal sketches. While her charcoal works sometimes feature similar scenes of landscapes and nature, the sketches are drawn from memory and use invention, allowing Caldwell to develop and explore her creativity further in ways she hasn’t in other mediums.

“I’ll see something for a split second as I’m driving and I’m thinking ‘Oh, I should draw that,’ and you have no idea how and then you just start drawing and this thing evolves,” she said. “With oil painting I’m directly in front of what I’m painting for hours, and the charcoal feels more like playing.”

Caldwell shared that this playfulness requires her to find a “balance” between the fun and seriousness of art, and while she does not want to take herself too seriously, she also wants to create meaningful and beautiful art that resonates with both her and her audience. Balance is just another lesson from art that is influencing her life.

“A balance I try to find in my art that I think also translates to life is the balance between the familiar and strange,” Caldwell said. “We want that recognizable, familiar comfort but yet we also want that surprise and that feeling of strangeness or newness so it’s all these little balances we’re always trying to find.”

Balance is something Caldwell is familiar with. Although she has certainly found a passion in art, she also works a day job as an administrative assistant at Thaddeus Stevens College. Keeping up on her art practice isn’t always easy while working a full-time job, so she spends most mornings, breaks and evenings practicing her art. Squeezing in that time to completely focus on her art is essential for her now but that was not always the case.

Caldwell shared that while she always had an interest in art, she didn’t start to dedicate time to it until she was almost 40. She was a single parent with a full-time job and did not have the spare time to dedicate to art, and while she knows how hard it is to balance life and art, she shared her feelings of regret for not practicing her art sooner and expressed the importance of finding the time to cultivate those personal passions.

“If people are out there, especially women, who are so busy taking care of everyone else, it’s really important to have something for yourself,” Caldwell said. “Being creative…there’s no way to do it wrong.”

From her belief that “anyone can be an artist” to her living by example, Caldwell’s emphasis and belief in creativity is consistent and shining.

“There’s so many ways to be creative,” she said. “Creativity is basic to our humanity. It’s what makes us human.”

The opening reception of the “Daily Encounters” exhibit will be on Friday Aug. 2 from 5-8 p.m. at the Oxford Arts Alliance and will remain on display through Aug. 30. The Oxford Arts Alliance is located at 38 South Third Street in Oxford. To learn more, visit www.oxfordart.org.