IN MEMORIAM-November/December 2010

by James Marshall

Stephen Pace lived in singular pursuit of the idea that making art was the most remarkable adventure that life could offer. Everything about him exuded his commitment to and passion for art. He was a man of few words who preferred drawing to talking and was almost never without his favorite Parker pen and sketch pad. His eloquence was the language of line, of form and color. His paintings—which first led him to international renown as a New York School abstract expressionist and later as a truly unique master of the American landscape (of Maine and Indiana scenes)—are works of visual daring created through a process of exquisite painterly choreography that defy their compelling simplicity. He was a painter’s painter whose body of work is stunningly beautiful.

Stephen was also a wonderful teacher. I was fortunate to first meet him in the mid-seventies as a student at American University in Washington, D.C. He was completely different from anyone I had known up to that point in life, and his impact on me was immediate and profound. His quiet self-confidence and practical approach to living a life that would focus on the making of art opened me to the possibility that I, too, could be an artist. His example was the greatest gift that a young person could receive and one for which I will always be indebted to my friend Steve.