Multiple Mediums, Same Creative Well

Miranda Stokes uses her multifaceted artistic prowess to create one-of-a-kind art

By Ben Schulman
Published: July 23rd, 2010 | 1:25pm

When printmaker, collagist and illustrator Miranda Stokes picks up a guitar, her name becomes "Red Delicious." The Providence, RI native and current Chicagoan sticks her foot in many different artistic pools, but clearly draws a distinction between her visual art persona—who retains her namesake—and her musical alter-ego. The divide in personalities has much to do with Stokes' idea of permanence towards the ideas behind her work: "With music, once it's out there, the idea is gone. But visual art has more resonance," says the 24-year-old over coffee and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

While the form and the name they manifest themselves under may differ, all of Stokes' creative output seems to be drawn from the same well. Her collages echo displaced childhood memories, and her drawings have a sly impishness caught somewhere between the dark innocence captured by Henry Darger and the playfulness of Amelia Bedelia. She prefers "dirty, gritty-looking prints" that she sometimes photocopies over and over, purposely altering the image before applying to silkscreen. As Red Delicious, Stokes' sounds come across as a subtle cacophony, with scratchy guitars, plinking sound effects, and puckish lyrics delivered with reverb-heavy vocals. The effect is like listening in on what you wish you could have conveyed as a child to those around you, but didn't have the capacity to say.  

Stokes states that although she felt dissuaded to use her personal history as an artistic source while studying at Providence College and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her large family and past are her biggest sources of inspiration. When a thought takes hold, usually the subject in question will lend itself to the right medium, she says, noting how one of her brothers is "unethchable" while another lends himself to watercolors. Up until her recent gallery showing at Roxaboxen Exhibitions in Chicago, she spent more time working as Red Delicious than as Miranda Stokes, but that may be changing. “I can speak softly about things through art more than music,” she notes. With a dedicated schedule that sees her devote at least three hours a day to creating, it would seem that no matter which hand creates, Stokes will have endless material to mine.