Artist Bio

Sue Swinand is a visual artist, originally from the Philadelphia area who has been living and working in the Boston area since 1984. She was an adjunct painting and design instructor at Clark University from 1992 till 2003 and has taught various classes at the Worcester Art Museum since 1986. She also currently teaches a painting class in the greenhouses at Wellesley College.

Sue received her BFA from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia. A Sartain fellowship allowed her to travel in Europe and study in Austria with Italian painter, Emilio Vedova. On her return, she attended the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia for two years where she studied the Philosophy and Appreciation of Art.

Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions up and down the east coast including one person shows at Woodmere Art Museum, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Vorpal Galleries NYC, Arden Gallery in Boston, the Berman Museum at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania and the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA.

Her work has been selected for "The Boston Drawing Show", the Cambridge Art Association’s National Prize Show and the Fitchburg Art Museum 1998 Biennial, New England/New Talent. She is a two time recipient of the ArtsWorcester Biennial Best in Show Prize She received the Reale Memorial Award at the American Watercolor Society’s 132nd International Exhibit in NYC and and the Paul Remmey Award in the 139th International. Her work will be part of their 2006-2007 Traveling Exhibit throughout the U.S.

Artist Statement

Each work of art involves a spiritual journey for the artist as well as the viewer. Painting, or even looking at a painting, is a solitary act of courage. it is a journey into the unknown. The artist, in order to create, must make 'the hero's journey' into uncharted territory, seeking to reach some fundamental reality or knowledge beyond what is already known. The painter faces the emptiness of the canvas and with simple colors and marks, intuitively forges a cohesive order. Each new painting is a fresh adventure. What keeps painting relevant over the centuries is it's ability to discover new, significant forms that have the power to transport us to a reality beyond the material.

My paintings are almost never planned or drawn out beforehand. The shapes and structures appear in the process of working. I realized long ago that all forms in the universe are a result of energy acting on matter. I begin by manipulating materials, pouring my energy into the materials to initiate some dialogue or engagement with the paint, perhaps making puddles of color, gestures, rubbing away, etc. Then I try to respond to the events that are taking place on the canvas. Each painting becomes a little world unto itself, complete and self contained.

My process then, through trial and error, numerous improvisations and variations, becomes one of trying to discover some authentic form and impose some kind of order on the chaotic abundance of our experience. Life is change. I have tried to reflect the process of creation in these paintings, where paint and energy are the active ingredients, generating forms that seem compelled to move, and become.