Exhibits & Events

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“All human life involves movement — from the blood coursing through our veins to the first breath of air. My work embodies movement — the movement we experience as we live through time. It is this journey — that can range from moments of celebration to moments of anguish — which we all travel and which the work addresses.

The language I speak is the language of line, shape, and color moving in space. These elements construct a composition of positive and negative space — the presence and absence, the yin and yang of the visual world. The relationships inherent in the interaction of these elements tell a story — the story the artist speaks and the story the viewer interprets. The literal narrative is not a limit I impose on this process. I engage the viewer in a dialogue that is both personal and universal.

I work with oil on canvas and oil on paper in my two-dimensional work. I find the oil colors to have the most depth and resonance. In addition, they aren’t quick — they dry over time – and so are mutable, changeable, alive.

In my three-dimensional work, I work with steel and fiber, sometimes with the addition of Hardware Cloth for support or as part of the design. A sculpture teacher I had, Bella Feldman, once said ‘The closest thing to welding is sewing’. In both cases, you are making a seam.

Unfortunately, gender roles often separated the welders (except for Rosy the Riveter and those women who then lost their jobs after the men returned from the war) from the seamstresses. I explore a fluidity in both media — an intersection that provides new possibilities for both.

Movement becomes gesture — the gesture of love for the world in all its pain and glory.”

About the Artist

A Northern California native, which informed her sense of color and scale, Susan Morrison received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from the Pennsylvania State University. Currently a Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, she creates both 2D and 3D work.