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Susan Woodward Torrance Welsh macon, georgia email: susanwelsh@cox.net
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For more than a century, the modern woman has struggled to achieve balance: harmony, proportion, equipoise between opposing elements. Central to achieving balance is not just defining it but also defining the opposing elements and the dynamic relationships between those elements. Balance and how it is defined, achieved, and maintained is a commonly explored universal theme; our pursuit of equilibrium is part of the human condition. While this struggle may not be unique to women, it is certainly part of the feminine experience. In addition to gender-based, work-life balance struggles, a deeper inner struggle to achieve balance between contrasting qualities of strength and vulnerability further impacts women. I see this concept best expressed through abstract figurative painting using the female figure. Visually the female figure perfectly captures a balance of strength and vulnerability; metaphorically the female figure captures the beauty of the human struggle within the feminine experience. Although to me, even a state of imbalance defines beauty when it represents an early stage in the pursuit of equipoise.
My largest body of work to date includes more than forty different paintings in a series on literary heroines. They are abstract nudes inspired by my favorite works of literature. Most are either oil on canvas or acrylic on paper. This series encompasses my interests in literature, painting, art history, and feminism. These paintings have several layers and depict something about a character’s stage in the process of pursuing balance. Portions of original literary text appear, legibly and illegibly, in each layer.
My work with the literary heroines has evolved into a new body of work, which I refer to as the bird cages. Within these paintings, the bird cage represents obstacles and trappings of the feminine experience. In many ways, the bird cage simply replaces the use of nudity from the earlier series on literary heroines. Instead of united through the naked body, and stripped from their places in literature, the heroines in the bird cages appear as one silhouetted universal woman. She often appears in a yoga pose engaged in exercising a strong sense of well-being and health. Newspaper and magazine clippings are collaged into the paintings to represent the passage of time and the external influences of media, and also to reflect universal woman’s knowledge of and interest in current events. Universal woman is educated, focused, cultured, strong-willed, and accomplished domestically and professionally. She is not unaware of her situation in the bird cage; worse, she is unmoved by it.
EDUCATION:
1991 Bachelor of Arts (English), University of Georgia, Athens, GA
2005-present Bachelor of Arts (Studio Art Drawing & Painting and Art History), Wesleyan College, Macon, GA
PUBLIC MURAL INSTALLATIONS:
Sonny Carter Elementary, Macon, Georgia (8 murals)
Brookdale Elementary, Macon, Georgia
Springdale Elementary, Macon, Georgia
Bibb County Board of Education, Macon, Georgia
EXHIBITIONS/PUBLICATIONS:
2001 Middle Georgia Art Association, award winner non-juried section 2002 Idle Hour Club, Macon, Georgia
2003 Educational Mural Project published in "Scholastic Instructor" magazine
2004 Educational Mural Project published in "Scholastic Instructor" magazine
2004 Macon Little Theatre
2007 Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia
AUCTIONS:
American Cancer Society's HOPE Ball Gala Memorial Art Auction, February 2003.
Atlanta Community Foundation/Atlanta Charity Clays, Inc. 2003 Silent Auction.
Junior League of Macon Inc. 2002 Market Place Auction: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005.
Macon Museum of Arts & Sciences Festival of Trees Silent Auction: 2002, 2003, 2006.
Macon Museum of Arts & Sciences Festival of Trees Live Auction: 2004, 2005. |
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