a non-profit gallery for the visual and performing arts |
2833-A Hathaway Rd., Richmond, VA 23225
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Circe's Garden
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Circe's Garden
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Circe's Garden
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Circe's World
Encaustic Assemblages
Group Installation
Circe 8
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Telemachus 3
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Telemachus 1
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Statement
For years I have collected and saved discarded objects and pieces of rusted metal from Richmond’s alleys and parking lots, attracted by color, texture and shape. I have drawn from this collection of found objects and combined them with encaustic to create assemblages that express the uncertainty, social isolation and fear of contagion felt by me and others throughout the world due to the Coronavirus infection.
I have used my available materials to explore the ancient Greek myth of Circe. Banished by her father Helios to a deserted island for misbehavior, Circe lived a forced solitary life of grief and loneliness, similar to that which we are experiencing today. She used her powers of sorcery for protection and to turn marauding sailors into pigs and other wild beasts. Only the visiting hero and adventurer Odysseus was immune, as was his son Telemachus, who loved her. I have portrayed the images of Circe and Telemachus, both resilient and courageous, in a broad range of skin colors and ethnic characteristics to serve as metaphors for today’s global pandemic.
Biography
A painter and sculptor, Susanne K. Arnold exhibits her work regionally and nationally. She holds an MA in Museum Studies and an MFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University. Honors include a Virginia Museum Fellowship and national artist grants from the Ludwig Vogelstein and the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundations. Solo exhibitions include the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Portsmouth Museum,1708 and Artspace Galleries. A retrospective of her artwork was held in 2013 at McLean Project for the Arts in McLean, Virginia. Ms. Arnold has presented workshops throughout Virginia as an Artist-in-Education for the Virginia Commission for the Arts and teaches state-wide on a contractual basis. She is a member of Artspace Gallery in Richmond.
artspaceorg@gmail.com | (804) 232-6464
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