ABOUT SMaack
Stephanie Maack is a mixed media artist and storyteller from, Santa Cruz California. As a former foster youth, she has a long history of using art as a form of healing, heavily influenced by change and transformation. Aside from creating art independently and in classrooms for the last 20 years, Stephanie has experience as an illustrator for Beyond Bounds Creative, and as the art director for both “An Evening with Neuroscience” and the neuroscience magazine, “Grey Matters,” at the University of Washington.
Hi, my name is Stephanie Maack, but you can call me SMaack! I spent most of my childhood in Santa Cruz, CA, after being adopted from a group home when I was 9. My childhood in foster care was pretty dark and colorless, but I found refuge in my art. In my big brown eyes, there was an entirely new world of colors, shapes, and possibilities living within me, ready to explode.
BOOM
Twenty years after leaving foster care, and I'm swimming in those colors and possibilities. But as the years go by, I've noticed that I'm not the only one in need of a colorful existence; I think we all need a little more color in our life, more now than ever. So that's what I aim to do: add color and little SMAACKS of fun to every aspect of life that I can!
Artist Statement
Mission Statement
The mission of Art by SMaack is to not only fund the artistic endeavors of SMaack but to help fund and ignite creativity in other former and current foster youth. Our mission is to take the sad hues of foster care and paint something new!
At Art by SMaack, we are committed to working towards this goal. A portion of our annual income is donated to organizations aligned with our mission.
Publications
2023 Quickest Flip, Issue QF2023
poem: Tony Hawk Pro Skater
2023 Quickest Flip, Issue QF2023
Artwork: Ollie-Most There, Board Little Doodle
2021 Grey Matters, The Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal, Issue 21
Out on a Limb: Phantom Limb Syndrome
2021 Grey Matters, The Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal, Issue 20
Treating Glioblastoma
2020 Grey Matters, The Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal, Issue 19
To See or Not to See
2020 Grey Matters, The Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal, Issue 18
An Immune Attacker: T-Cells Gone Wrong
2010 Aptos High AP Art Calander cover
2006 Aptos Jr High Yearbook cover