Crystal Stokowski is a mother, surfer, and autodidactic multidisciplinary artist who primarily works with second hand, upcycled, & found materials. She expresses in a variety of media including print making, quilting, woodwork, pyrography, clay, painting,video, social engagement, pocket sized zines, creative writing & large scale mixed media installations. Motherhood, social and environmental injustices, and the experiences felt within those realms, inform her work.
Crystal has freelanced for over 20 years providing education, design, creative programming, and support centered in environmental sustainability to galleries, arts organizations, and small businesses. She is an alumni of Space 1026 , has served as the Vice Chair of the Delaware Surfrider Foundation, and is the founder of The Water Collective, a non profit artist in residence program based in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Stokowski has exhibited her art extensively from 96 Gillespie in London to Galleria Candela in San Juan, Puerto Rico to multiple galleries and institutions in New York City, Honolulu, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago. She has given talks & workshops at MOMA NYC, ICA Philadelphia, Clocktower Gallery NYC, and Siren Arts Asbury Park. Stokowski was selected for three Artist Residencies funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation & The National Endowment for the Arts in 2013, 2014, and 2017. In 2024, she was awarded a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts for her documentary film making. Stokowski was also awarded for graphic design by the Delaware Health Equity Report through Delaware State University. She is also part of an outdoor permanent installation in Camden, New Jersey & a permanent group exhibition in the Philadelphia International Airport. Crystal has taught classes in pyrography and upcyled quilting at Fleisher Art Memorial, Folklore Philadelphia, Maas Building, and the Rehoboth Art League. Stokowski has had a variety of work published in several magazines such as Sea Together Magazine, Coastal Style Delmarva, Ready Made, Foam Symmetry, Awkhold, and a number of installation books through Space 1026.
Crystal has spent over a decade working and touring with the band Modest Mouse. She has recorded and toured with her own musical projects including M-ax Noi Mach, Lil' Crissy, Summer Jam Band, Black Black, and Noon Mothers.
In 2011 and 2012, Crystal volunteered with the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii restoring the double hulled voyaging canoe, Hokule'a, for its upcoming Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage. On March 8th, 2012, Stokowski helped return Hokul'e’a back into the water. Just a few months later Crystal moved to Noosa Shire, Queensland to live and work for master surfboard shaper Tom Wegener and his family. Her time in Australia with the Wegener family informed her surf and art practice. With years living on the South Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, and surfing at the forefront of her lifestyle Stokowski became a surf instructor and surf coach. She still offers private surf lessons and coaching in the Mid-Atlantic.
When moving back to the mainland in 2015, Crystal spent two years taking courses and apprenticing with herbalist Susan Hess in Elverson, PA and Mays Landing, NJ. Then in 2017 she trained and received her Shinpiden Reiki Master and Teacher certificate. Crystal eventually relocated to be closer to the ocean and co-founded TPAIRR, an artist in residence program at her home in Delaware. Which gave artists & the like, a place for connection, reflection, & inspiration.
In 2023, Stokowski coordinated with DNREC and DSSP large scale marine debris cleanups on the Northside of Indian River Inlet. Within a years time more than 420 tonnes of infrastructure marine debris was removed from the most popular surf beach in Delaware. Stokowski has been documenting Indian River Inlet since 2017 and is currently working on a documentary film about the history and marine debris efforts. In 2024, she was awarded a grant from the DDOA in support of her documentary filmmaking about IRI. Stokowski started a free monthly Surf Film Night in her community to bring awareness about the marine debris, highlight local filmmakers, and surf films that convey proactive solutions to climate change and social injustices in mainstream surf culture.
www.watercollective.org
