Stephanie Hubbard
Where Will Her Map-Making Take Her Next?
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED APRIL 1, 2026There’s something mesmerizing about Stephanie Hubbard’s abstract paintings that requires a closer look to take in the intricate yet abstracted topographical map elements within the work. Stephanie is an interdisciplinary artist and landscape architect whose work explores the balance between structure and spontaneity, layering organic forms with lines and patterns that evoke intentional order within nature’s wildness. Shaped by early connections to the natural world and her education in landscape architecture, she brings a unique perspective to her compositions.
"Chief Peak," mixed media on wood, 6x6 inches
"Terrain," mixed media on wood, 12x12 inches
ARTIST STEPHANIE HUBBARD
Stephanie has two distinct websites: one as Hubbard the artist, the other as an award-winning landscape architect. Her paintings often reflect the same swaths of color featured in her “curated meadows,” carefully selected plantings of riotous “nature” as part of a contemporary designed garden.
“I can see the influence of my landscape design aesthetic in the completely abstract work, even if that connection lives mostly in my process rather than in the final work,” she explains. When I asked if she plans to meld these two disciplines more closely, she flashed a bright smile, pointing to an architectural model she has constructed where she plans to do just that.
Her recent residency at Taft Gardens and Nature Preserve marked a significant step to that end. Using geological and topographical maps as her starting point, along with streambeds, Stephanie created large, flowing paintings on sheer fabric panels that hang freely and billow in the breeze. After many drawings, paintings, and rounds of cutting and pasting, Stephanie incorporated layers of materials based on these maps to explore the essence of place with abstraction. She has continued this work with maps of the Ojai Valley in her current paintings at a smaller scale. With the larger format, Stephanie’s imagery seems even more abstracted and somehow freer than her smaller paintings that have more detailed linework.
It is easy to imagine the larger, free-flowing panels as part of the new projects Stephanie has planned for the future. I can’t wait to see the continued blending of her artistic work within a designed landscape with her unique sensibilities and color sense.
On Saturday, April 11 Stephanie will open her studio as part of the Ojai Studio Artists Second Saturday Tour. She will be exhibiting some of the mapping series as well as new work using gold leaf — which seems to be taking her into a new color palette.
