Steff Rocknak has always been around talent, growing up with her mother who refinishes antique furniture, her father as a professional carpenter and an art instructor, and her grandfather who owns a wood shop. Sculpting was not her first choice when she choose to train as a painter. It was her trip to Europe where she was greatly impacted by the influence of temporal figurative expression with sculpting. Steff stated, "I was shocked by the degree of detail and emotional integrity; these artist had pushed figurative expression in wood to a level that I had never seen before.""My work is figurative, fairly realistic, and is modeled after the Medieval tradition of woodcarving. I think that viewers can relate to my work through their almost innate comprehension of figurative expression. The human figure inevitably moves us, and thus, the most successful figurative sculpture catches us off-guard, allowing us to see an aspect of humanity that might otherwise be veiled. I attempt to provide a somewhat uncomfortable look inside."
