Describe your art:
It is an exploration of movement, composition, color, and text. It is a process of discovery never knowing when it will end. It is abstract.
Biggest challenge:
Some people are turned off by non-representational art. I work in a frame show, too. My work was on display. A customer said, “What’s that! My 5 year old could do that.”
Were you an artsy kids:
Geeky artsy. It helped me talk to girls because I could draw pictures of their hairband heroes.
Earliest art memory:
In elementary school studying the ocean and drawing underwater scenes. There was a line of kids at my table asking me to draw sharks in their pictures.
As an artist, people expect:
I can draw anything.
Super power:
Empathy.
At what are you inefficient:
Being prolific. I like to linger over a piece.
Rituals:
Cleaning and organizing. Less efficient about the cleanup but if a painting feels wrong, I pick up and start over.
Finest of all colors:
Blue.
Favorite tool:
Cheap brushes and house paint brushes.
Pass it on to your child:
Try hard not to project my interests. Foster what is of interest to him. He did make a mark on a painting once.
Art Crush:
Charleston folk: William Halsey, Shepard Fairy, Tim Hussey. Veterans: Rauschenberg, Diebenkorn, Basquiat, Stella.
Clear seeing place:
On the coast, empty of people. Any large open space that gives a sense of wonder and awe at the ocean and the stars.
Why does Art Matter?:
Science can answer questions but there is still more out there. Religion and faith still exist because there are still questions, or it doesn’t reach the masses. Art plays a role. It is storytelling of unseen and expresses own personal view of the world. It fills in the blanks.
Why are you beautiful:
My capacity for love. I have a genuine love for humanity. Warts and all.
Susan Irish is the founder and owner of Fabulon – Center for Art and Education. Each month she inrterviews a different local artist.
