Stefani McNutt

Stefani McNutt – Artist & Founder, Stay Lost Studios Rooted in the high-desert expanses of the Southwest, I am a self-taught artist working under the name Stay Lost Studios. My creative world is shaped by geology and myth—by the whisper of wind through canyon walls, the memory of ancient stones, and the notion that the wildest landscapes exist not just outside us but within. My Story Drawing from the desert’s ambiguous terrain—its threshold between emptiness and animation—I create work that explores the shamanic, the spirit world, the unseen guides, and the liminal spaces we pass through. My art is steeped in folklore and ritual: I imagine figures emerging from the dust, forms shifting just beyond clear sight, anchors of story hidden in textures and layered pigments. Stay Lost Studios is a touchstone—a call to surrender fixed direction, to wander, to lose the familiar map and find new vision. My Work Over the years, my portfolio has evolved—beginning with simpler compositions and growing into complex mixed-media pieces that blend painting, sculpture, and ritual motifs. Each work becomes a map of transformation: raw materials undergo shifts, figures hover at the edge of recognition, and the land becomes more than setting—it becomes a living presence. The spirit of the shamanic journey is central—crossing from one state to another, seeing what hides at the border of light and shadow, and listening to what the landscape has to tell. I invite viewers not just to look but to enter—to pause, wander, get lost, and perhaps find something unexpected along the way. My Invitation In my art you may see the stillness of the desert: horizon lines, faint footprints, wind-worn stone. But you’ll also feel its restlessness: rising shapes, emergent lives, and the sense of what’s shifting beneath the surface. Whether you’re drawn to the tactile surfaces, the ghost-traces of myth, or the interplay of figure and terrain—I hope you are invited to linger. Thank you for joining me here in this creative wilderness.