Art Wall Artist

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Artist Statement

Since returning to Michigan in 2003 from many years in California, my creative energies have been increasingly engaged with the effort to bring a transcendent sensibility to images of everyday experience. The past few years have witnessed a gradual transition away from the dreamlike, metaphorical landscapes that had previously occupied my studio activity for so long.

In treating real-life subjects, my approach now is characterized by a focus on luminous, glowing light sources, reflective surfaces, evocative color combinations and areas of subtle gradations of tone along with passages of deep shadow and dramatic contrast. My goal is to present these motifs with convincing realistic perspective, using a classical compositional strategy called Dynamic Symmetry. Many of my painting techniques have been gratefully learned from an art school friend and colleague, California Realist Patricia Chidlaw, whose work I have admired for more than 30 years, and from my graduate school mentor, Prof. Donald E. King, (Ret.).

My intention is to invite the viewer to experience that "field of the greater measure" which my hero, Robert Henri, discusses so elegantly in his book, The Art Spirit. I hope to suggest in my paintings the presence of highly-refined, very positive, transformative qualities inherent in commonplace views, ordinary scenes not necessarily thought of as exhibiting such potential.

In other words, my imagery is meant to stimulate an awareness and an appreciation of the idea that not only can one get There from here, but indeed, that we are Already There.

--Suzanne Blaine Siegel