Create, Connect, Grow with Stephanie McMillan

The Storefront

As part of McMillan's residency project at The Storefront, "Our Loving World" is an installation that invites you to learn and create works based on South Florida's native plants and animals.

Create, Connect, Grow: Activities and Art by Stephanie McMillan

• Coloring Station
• Plant Identification Games
• Make Your Own Nature Journal
• Share Art, Recipes, Growing Tips
• Share Seeds and Cuttings of Edible & Medicinal Plants

The Storefront: Stephanie McMillan: Our Loving World will be on view July and August 2025. The closing reception will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 5-7pm. All are invited!

Artist Statement: 

A consistent thread through my art has always been a lighthearted visual style combined with seriousness of intent. Evolving from 25 years of drawing comics, my colorful paintings, drawings and sculptures feature characters of various species who affirm values such as reciprocity, solidarity, and social transformation toward living in harmony with a thriving Earth.

My current multi-faceted project, called “Our Loving World: A Celebration of South Florida’s Edible and Medicinal Plants," aims to connect community by learning together and sharing observations, knowledge, ideas, and experiences. Components include humorous illustrations for plant labels and plant identification games, coloring pages, noncommercial ways of distributing art, food forest and garden tours -- all focusing on getting to know the plants who sustain us, care for the land, collective creativity, and strengthening local resilience.

As a third-generation Fort Lauderdale resident, I feel a deep fondness for local plants and wildlife. Making art is my effort to spread love and respect for all the living beings who make this place unique and beautiful.

Bio:

Stephanie McMillan, a visual artist born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, continues to live and work in her hometown. McMillan received a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University (1987). For 25 years she worked primarily as a cartoonist and illustrator producing award-winning editorial cartoons, syndicated comic strips and graphic novels, several of which have been translated and published internationally. Clients have included the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Scholastic/New York Times, and her hometown daily paper, the Sun-Sentinel.

In recent years she has focused on drawing and painting, plus assemblage using recycled and found natural materials. Her playful figurative work, evolving from her career in comics, focuses on ecological and social transformation.

Solo exhibitions include "Rewild Florida," Flamingo Gardens, Davie, FL (2024); "We Are All Related," Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, FL (2024); and "The Political Art of Stephanie McMillan," California State University at Northridge (2011). Selected group exhibitions include "Power Lines: Comics and the Environment," Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Ohio State University, Columbus (2021-2022); SCOPE International Contemporary Art Show, Miami Beach, Florida (2014); and "Too Hot to Handle," San Franscisco Cartoon Art Museum, California and Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2003-2004).

Since 2022, McMillan has been an ongoing Artist-in-Residence at the New River Inn History Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She received an Artist Innovation Grant from the Broward County Cultural Division and Community Foundation of Broward (2024-2025). She also has received Artist Support Grants from the Broward County Cultural Division (2022 and 2024), the RFK Journalism Award for cartooning (2012), and the Sigma Delta Chi award for editorial cartoons (2010). Sixteen of her illustrations, collectively titled "Love is All Around," were commissioned by the Downtown Development Authority and are permanently installed on utility boxes in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida (2023).

Her art is in numerous private collections worldwide. Her original sketches, illustrations, comics, and papers are archived at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University.

The Storefront is a contemporary art space located in Broward County Main Library. This project is made possible in partnership with the Broward County Cultural Division. 

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