I was slightly late for this lecture as I'd been sat in the wrong room for the first 20 minutes, along with others so it wasn't just me!! But we came in as she was talking about her balloon dress. What I've always loved about Susie's work is her ability to make unconventional materials look beautiful. Whether it be 1000s of needles constructing a gown, mussel shells covering the walls, or hair nets hanging in a church. The lecture was really inspiring, and it was great to hear how her career has progressed from when she finished he MA in Fine art in 2001 to now, exhibiting all over the world!
Susie has done a lot of site specific installations including 'Shell' at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. Researching the history of a site is always important when realising a project for Susie as this will influence the outcome. The story of Pallant House is kind of tragic. The wealthy couple who lived in there in C18th put all their time and money into the house. But once it was finished they had nothing to hold them together as they were never really in love. Susie's installation consists of 1000s of mussel shells covering the walls of the staircase. The shells are filled with red silk velvet which just looks amazing. I would love to have seen it when it was exhibited as I'm sure it was even more stunning in real life. The wall looks really sensual and alive. Velvet was a really good choice to fill the shells. It's so luxurious and the light reflects off it too. Her work is also very metaphorical, the shells represent the empty shell that was the couples marriage, and the grand house they had devoted them selves to that had no love to fill it and be lived in.
Throughout the talk Susie was very clear that although she had created some beautiful garments, she is not a designer. Her pieces are 'garment sculptures' where by she felt clothing was the best suited to the materials. 'Widow' is a dress covered in 2 inch dress makers pins, which are lethal if rubbed the wrong way. This piece was created after she sadly lost her husband to cancer. Susie explained how she had found the reactions of the people around her very strange when they found out about her loss. As if they they didn't know how to react, and were almost scared of her. I get what she meant. Death is something most people do not know how to deal with, you don't know what to say to people who have lost someone, and can feel uncomfortable. Which is weird because this can leave the person grieving feeling like they need to comfort you. So 'Widow' was a metaphor to how Susie was feeling at that time, as if people didn't want to get too close. I felt a bit emotional when she was telling us about the piece. It's so beautiful, but created as a response to peoples negative reactions, when I suppose she would have needed comforting the most.
Another of Susie's site specific installations is 'Echo' displayed at York Saint Mary's. The room was filled with hanging hairnets which were stuffed with used violin bow-hair. The effect is really beautiful, and slightly haunting. The transparency of the materials makes them look so delicate, almost ghostly.
 |
| 'Widow' 2009 |
 |
'Shell' Pallant House Gallery, Chichester 2006/7
|
 |
Echo
Site specific installation, York St Mary's, York Museums Trust 2006 |
No comments:
Post a Comment