A Philadelphia native, Stephen Talasnik developed an early interest in engineering and architecture. Intrigued with everything from exposed infrastructures of bridges to transportation systems and transmission towers, Talasnik’s early stylistic mentor was Frank Lloyd Wright, whose drawings he meticulously copied as part of the process of learning his craft.

Talasnik earned his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and MFA at Tyler School of Art. At RISD, he was introduced to photographers Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan, whose lectures on the nature of the black and white image influenced his investigation of drawing. While a graduate student at Tyler’s Rome…