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Projections
Recent Paintings
By
SHEARY CLOUGH SUITER
Artist's Statement
Many of the paintings in this show
reflect my interest in the uniquely human ability to
project internal ideas, feelings or attitudes onto
external reality, interpreting the outside world
through the lens of the personal.
A fundamental requisite of being an
artist is the willingness to project one’s emotions
and history onto paper and canvas, and then to subject
the work to the viewing public. If the painting
succeeds in evoking an emotional response in the
viewer, he or she in turn interprets the painting’s
"meaning" based on a set of personal
projections, separate but equal to those of the
artist. By this means, art objects come to signify
different things to different people.
My goal is to create paintings with a
strong design in order to catch the viewer’s
attention from a distance, entice them to come closer
for a better look, and then to capture their interest
as they explore the finer nuances of the media
application and multi-layers.
My approach to making such a painting
begins with child play, building random patterns of
color, texture, and shape, based on choices that
appeal to me in that moment. Projecting personal
symbols onto the chaotic shapes of the under-painting
defines the course of the painting and ultimately, the
subject matter, as well.
I am a mixed media artist,
incorporating watercolor, gouache, acrylic, mediums,
pastels, encaustics, and collage on supports ranging
from watercolor paper to canvas to wood.
Although my BFA and graduate work at
the University of Alaska, Anchorage was in Creative
Writing, after the birth of my daughter Lauren in
1993, I
re-directed my creative energies toward Visual Arts by
signing up for a beginner’s watercolor class with
local artist and teacher, Diane Gill. Now a signature
member of the Alaska Watercolor Society, my passion
for drawing emerged under Bill Sabo’s instruction,
and for the next ten years my painting skills
developed under the tutelage of master artists such as
Katherine Chang Liu, Gerald Brommer, Christopher
Schink, Mary Todd Beam, Maxine Masterfield, Pat
Deadman, Michael Schlicting, and Pat San Souchie.
Recent national and regional exhibitions include the
Northwest Watercolor Society’s Waterworks 2004
Juried Exhibition, Bellevue, Washington, and the
International Society of Acrylic Painter’s 2005
Juried Exhibition, Seattle, Washington. |
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