We are excited to be welcoming artist Susan J Schrader to our family of artisans and small businesses who exemplify the best that Marblehead has to offer! Marblehead.Works, launching May 19th, will offer an online shopping portal that will showcase a curated selection of the finest wares from Marblehead's local artisans and businesses. Visit us online or follow us on Facebook
Susan J Schrader Artist Statement
My work is about life. About release. About letting go. About giving oneself up to what life has to offer: happiness, love, friendship, wonderment, grasping/releasing. My paintings show my love of drawing! I draw very organically with the India ink on the blank canvas and see what creatures will come to life. Then I begin to add my color – I’m in love with bright, vibrant colors and loads of detail — dots upon dots! My paintings are about life and love and friendships. They are about relationships within yourself as well as with other people and moments in life.
I communicate emotions through the simplicity of my quirky, little figures. These creatures live amongst themselves on their own or together in a moment in time. How they themselves interact with each other upon the surface of the canvas invites us to perhaps ponder how we feel when we are faced with a moment in our own lives that brings us connection to someone or something.
I enjoy the work of Chagall, Alice Neel, Matisse, Cy Twombly, Giacometti and Quentin Blake to name a few. Each of these artist focuses on the importance of drawing, composition and emotion. Their use of color, texture and line build towards a single snapshot of our world.
My drawings/paintings on canvas are created intuitively and organically. There is no pre-drawing or pre-conceived ideas. My paintings are about mark-making and the activity that happens right on the surface of the canvas. There is hardly any depth or implied perspective. It is created with drawings done in India ink, and painted with acrylic paints, varnishes and textured mediums. I hand made the wooden stretcher. The cotton canvas is of high quality and has been prepared with many layers of gesso ground. Most paintings are framed with a handmade painted or varnished frame.
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My work is about plunging into the moment with my pen nib and ink. My method relies on my reaction to the first figure that finds his/her way onto the surface of the canvas. I am aware of both the positive and negative spaces as I am drawing and how these spaces relate to the marks and the development of textures and color. The spontaneous gestures and movements of the figures allows the viewer to see their own connections to themselves or to another.
