For Rebekah Stoneberg, art is not just about what can be seen on the canvas — it’s about what’s felt, remembered and imagined in between. Her breadth of work includes painting, drawing and mixed media, all exploring “presence, loss, and becoming,” she says, often using recurring subjects like children, women and animals.

“I’m drawn to the symbolic nature of these figures and look for their repetition across contexts — from stories of old to the familiar gestures of everyday life,” Stoneberg says. “Through the work, I seek to express the experience of becoming as one grounded in mystery.”

A graduate of Wheaton College with a degree in art history, Stoneberg also studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the New York Studio School and Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at Ceres Gallery in New York, Woman Made Gallery and ARC Gallery in Chicago, and Wheaton College. A recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for emerging figurative artists, she continues to expand her practice and her reach.

Stoneberg first joined Water Street Studios in Batavia as a resident artist in 2020, then returned again this past January. “I love the industrial cool vibe of Water Street Studios, and the studio spaces they offer are a unique and valuable asset to artists living outside of the city,” she says. “Even more important than aesthetics and location are the warm and supportive faculty and residents.”

Stoneberg credits Water Street’s volunteers, board members and artists for their dedication. “It takes a committed team with a clear vision to sustain art-focused communities,” she says. “I’m so grateful to these folks as well as to the broader community for their commitment to the arts in Batavia.”

Beyond her studio practice, Stoneberg invests deeply in community arts engagement. She serves on the Creative Arts Exhibition Team at Gary United Methodist Church in Wheaton, organizing community-based shows that encourage people to make, view and reflect on art together. Their debut pop-up exhibition, “Shared Spaces,” featured more than 20 artists exploring the environments people create and share.

“Through that show, we saw meaningful multicultural and multigenerational connections develop through participation in the arts,” Stoneberg says. Encouraged by that success, the team is now planning its next show, centered on the theme “Courageous Love.”

Recently, her work was also featured in “Shared Spaces” at Burning Bush Gallery, an exhibit she describes as “a collaborative effort to engage the local community in the exhibition, appreciation and consideration of the environments we co-create and share.”

As for what’s next, Stoneberg says she’s focusing on scale and materiality — “working larger, experimenting with surfaces and allowing more openness in my process.” She’s also exploring how her ongoing graduate studies in mental health counseling might deepen the emotional and psychological layers in her art.

“The power of expression through art belongs to everyone,” she says. “A community like Water Street — through its exhibitions, open studios and educational opportunities—does an exceptional job of making art accessible. This work matters because it invites people to form their own unique relationship to art, a life-enriching process at both the personal and communal levels.”