a non-profit gallery for the visual and performing arts

2833-A Hathaway Rd., Richmond, VA 23225
in the Stratford Hills Shopping Center

Gallery hours beginning Saturday, January 22, 2022:
Noon to 4pm, Tuesday - Sunday
Free and Open to the Public
Purchase artwork from our online store

Susanne K. Arnold
Pasiphae (detail)
2020, Wood, beeswax, encaustic, 14 x 10 x 8 inches

Susanne K. Arnold
Odile
Wood, root, beeswax, 15 x 12 x6 inches

Susanne K. Arnold
Ovid’s Daphne
Root, wood, beeswax, 13 x 7 x 9 inches

Artist Statement

"For many years I have been making small experimental sculptures out of encaustic and salvaged discards from my garden and neighborhood as a means to push the boundaries of my creative ideas, medium and process. Classical myths often serve as metaphors for the creative process and for the conflict I see taking place between nature and civilization.

I dig up, find, and collect stones, roots, pieces of rusted metal and other salvaged objects, including old drawings. In the studio, I remake them as their shapes bring to mind certain forms. Most of the time, the idea or theme is already in mind, and I must search for natural or man made objects to fit and complete that theme; other times, the found objects themselves suggest a form, image or new direction and they just need to be manipulated, carved and painted to release/realize the inherent image. Encaustic (hot beeswax and pigment) is the binding ingredient as it can be added, carved or painted to enhance or transform objects into art.

My head has always been crowded with ideas and images, both ancient and contemporary. But it is my physical connection to my materials, and to nature itself, that gives voice and resonance to my work. My art begins and ends with the transitory flotsam, the artifact, the remnant – be it root, stone, paper or pigmented beeswax."

— Susanne K. Arnold