As an artist and educator, Steve Rossi has broad interdisciplinary interests that are reflected in his creative practice and pedagogy. His most recent work explores how we live in relation to water in our built environments. Referencing both the paths of rivers that have historically been polluted by heavy industry as well as groundwater-management policy in the Great Plains region, his work is informed by natural resource stewardship considerations, labor histories, and geological formations. Through relief sculpture, installation, painting, and new media, Rossi works across two and three dimensions, with geometric abstraction, minimalism, modernism, and land art being among his primary art-historical influences. His recent material and technical processes include metalworking, woodworking, hand embroidery, augmented reality, addressable LED lighting, 3D printing, and metal casting.
Rossi received his BFA from Pratt Institute in 2000 and his MFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 2006. His work has been exhibited at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, the John Michael Kohler Art Center, the Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, the Wassaic Project, and the Visual Arts Center at Mississippi State University, among many other venues. He has held artist residencies with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Vermont Studio Center, and Gallery Aferro. His work has been supported by funding from the City of Newark Creative Catalyst Fund, Arts Mid-Hudson, and the Myers Foundation at West Virginia University School of Art and Design.
Rossi has presented at the “Art—what is it good for?” conference, hosted by Linnaeus University, in Vaxjo, Sweden; the College Art Association conference; and the International Sculpture Conference. He has also been a frequent contributor to the College Art Association’s CAA Conversations podcast series. In 2024, he was named an Affiliate Fellow with the Center for Great Plains Studies, at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Digital Art History Journal feature
Exhibition review in Whitehot Magazine.
Curriculum feature on partnership with the Barnes Arboretum.
Curriculum feature on collaboration with the Occupational Therapy Department.
steverossisculpture.com
