Catharine Clark Gallery presents Stacey Steers: The Stars Watch from Long Ago, an exhibition of original handmade collages and related works from the artist's newest animated film. The exhibition is on view November 14, 2026 – January 2, 2027 in the North Gallery, alongside Julie Heffernan: Nature Morte in the South Gallery, with an opening reception for both exhibitions on Saturday, November 14 from 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Stacey Steers is internationally recognized for her process-driven, labor-intensive films composed of thousands of handmade paper collages. Drawing on images appropriated from early cinema, she transforms archival material into original, poetic narratives. In The Stars Watch from Long Ago, a tiny farmhouse spins through the cosmos, carrying silent film star Lillian Gish alone through the vastness of space, joined along the way by Janet Gaynor and Spanish actor Ana Torrent. Wildfire, an existential threat in Colorado where Steers lives, emerges as a central presence in the film, shaping its themes of vulnerability, endurance, and change. The exhibition offers a rare look at the physical works behind the film. Steers cuts her actors from printed frames of silent films and sets them into environments built from nineteenth-century engravings and illustrations, photographing each collage in sequence; a single second of film requires eight. Seen up close, these small works on paper reveal the hand-cut edges and layered surfaces. The film is a collaboration with artist John Romano, who edited the footage.
Steers' award-winning films have screened at the Sundance, Telluride, Locarno, and Rotterdam film festivals, as well as MoMA, Lincoln Center, and the National Gallery of Art. She is a recipient of grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital, and the American Film Institute, and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She lives and works in Boulder, Colorado.
