Monique Stanton

Artist Statement

Informed by an extensive background in visual art education and museum studies, Monique draws upon her lifelong love of the shoreline as a treasured source of inspiration and material.

Utilizing a medium born from nature, her work speaks to the resurrection and reimagining of nature’s discards into a work of distinction. Each piece of wood is idiosyncratic in form, inhabiting a unique life cycle before finding its way into her studio. Those narratives place her work at the intersection of fabrication, storytelling, and transition. The wood’s natural intricacies steer the composition of her work which nuances the life cycle of trees as it mirrors human experience. She continuously works in tandem with the wood, letting the medium guide the work as her pieces evolve. The assemblages create a dialogue between their parts that aim to strike the viewer visually and invite recontextualization.

Her new foray as an artist has been marked with multiple juried shows across the U.S. Her first large scale piece was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC where it was photographed for the Smithsonian Magazine. Her written work has been published online at ArtsEdge Kennedy Center, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Holding a BS in Art History from The Fashion Institute of Technology, a BA from Fordham University, and a MSEd, Monique leverages her education and experience to support practicing artists in The Met’s Creative Practice Department. Her passion for embracing new opportunities to learn and create is the driving force behind her artistry.