Relief work is how Stephen began creating fine art pieces. The techniques used in these pieces blend American craft techniques like quilting and embroidery, with fashion fabrics, and three dimensional mounting techniques. Each of these pieces starts with a background that is constructed out of fabric and mounted to an art board. The backgrounds consist of diffe ent types of fabrics that are often manipulated, painted or dyed. Once the fabric is complete, it is stretched like a canvas and attached to the backboard. The second layer of the relief works is the upper image. These are designed separately and embroidered using fashion fabrics from Chanel, Hermés, Oscar De La Renta, and more. Once the embroidery for the upper image is fabricated, raised 3D mounts are created using laser-cut pieces of wood. Each piece is then mounted onto the background using stainless steel standoffs in varying heights. The upper image fabric pieces are then affix to the mounts, creating a breathtaking, mosaic-like, 3D work of art. The subject matter for these pieces varies from exploded butterflies, to flowers to fashion icons, depending on the series to which they belong. The work in this section has been featured in museum shows around the country. All of the embroidery for this piece features Hermes scarves. quilted and board wrapped. The gasmask is stitched in velvet and mounted in relief 69"x 56"
