THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE AMERICAN INTERVIEW
The American chats with Susan Swartz, abstract artist and ...environmental crusader? Looking at your seascapes for the first time, I was reminded of the first time I stood in the Tate Gallery (in those days the only one!) absorbed in Turner’s works. Who are your influences? All the great Masters have been my teachers. Over the past few years, my husband and I have had more time and opportunities to travel to museums around the world – to look, to study, to explore. The more I look into the original paintings of French impressionists – Monet, Sisley, Morisot, Cézanne and Pissarro – the more I see, the more I feel the essence of light, colors, the natural world. They have taught me to trust myself and pursue my own internal vision, to push myself to experiment more. With my exhibition in London, I look forward to visiting both the Tates several times – particularly Tate Britain to absorb Turner’s lessons. Does the astonishing use of color in your work arise from the shift to using acrylic, or did you feel constrained, chromatically, by watercolor, or to a lesser extent, oil? When I first moved to Utah, it was difficult for me to find watercolor paper so I started to really explore acrylics. I also loved the challenge of learning to master a different medium. Acrylics lent themselves to the boldness and drama of the American West – and the “astonishing” range of colors that I expectantly found in every season. Autumn is of course our most dramatic season. As the peak of the aspen glory is upon us in Utah, I am reminded that beyond the biological explanation of foliage – only God could have invented such a preposterous idea. I imagine him up there saying “hmmmm – now let’s really blow their minds!” That’s how I often feel in front of a blank canvas – playing with color and brushstrokes. Autumn somehow gives me permission to break all the rules – chartreuse, eggplant, cobalt blue and tangerine oranges – they swirl in my mind like autumn leaves. After years of using acrylics in Utah, it was then fun to return to the seascapes of the Atlantic Ocean, employing acrylics where I had once only used watercolor. Subtle colors became bold, nuanced colors became bold. I became bold. Is the wide spectrum used in your paintings of trees in part to convey the active, living nature of the forest? Forests are the great subject of my career – the spectrum of colors that is created as light from different times of the day and year pass through the branches and leaves; the shadows they create; the look, feel and sound of wind passing through them; the architecture of their roots and branches. I love listening to the stories of trees. In Utah we have aspens we call “Quakies”. They stand firm and tall and have an interconnected root system—we as humans have interconnected root systems and we can stand firm and tall. We need to preserve our natural habitat to preserve ourselves. When people encounter the term ‘landscape art’ they often expect landscape format. Your paintings are rarely that, frequently square. What is it about that window that appeals to you? Squares are very powerful shapes. Sometimes the feeling I am trying to convey can only be expressed on a square canvas. They are usually the most difficult for me to paint, but I love the challenge. It is often the shape that pushes me in a new direction, such as a recent painting Water Study 001.
I have always been an artist. As I child I was always interested in composition – creating still life vignettes in my house or piecing together outfits that brought together harmony to my eye. Over the course of my life I found landscapes and painting the natural world is where I felt most connected and inspired. Perhaps I approached landscapes first as ‘subject matter’, but through illness the natural world became a refuge and simultaneously a cause. Are you workmanlike once you’ve addressed a blank canvas, or have you ever been so swept away by a view or location that you’ve just said to yourself ‘You know what, today I’m just going to sit here and soak it in’. Or does the act of painting allow you to engage with a place all the more intensely? I am always looking – I often say if I am not painting, I am visualizing and ‘soaking it in’. My landscapes today are no longer of particular views or locations – they are landscapes of my mind and spirit. There are days when I have to put all else aside as I am swept away by a powerful image that I must put on canvas. There are other days that I have set aside to paint, so I do. It is the combination of inspiration and hard work – as most people will agree – that allows us all to create. Your art seems to go beyond the physical or purely aesthetic. Do you think you could paint the way you do, conveying emotion and connectedness, without some dimension of faith? No, my faith is the basic inspiration for me – I start every painting with faith and I end every painting with faith – and I employ a lot of faith in between! I sign every painting with GTG, Glory to God. Incredibly, this is your first exhibition in London. How important is it to you to have Louie Psihoyos and Robert Kennedy Jr join you here to spread an environmental message? Louie, Bobby and I have been friends for many years and have been working together since producing the documentary film Mercury Rising which is distributed with The Cove. You can view it on my website… Viewing the depths of your paintings of trees and forest, I recall the saying that, at one time, a squirrel could have traveled the length of the British mainland from ‘Land’s End to John O’Groats’ without ever touching the ground, so dense a forest was this land. It isn’t like that now, even Sherwood Forest is disappointingly sparse. What message do you hope your exhibition may spearhead for gallery-goers in the UK? That everyone is a stakeholder in our natural world and everyone can find a way to contribute and support in small and local ways and in large and global ways – NOW! How do you react to the phrase ‘environmental crusader’? Proud for anyone to call me that! If my personal experiences can enlighten any one to eat differently, to support the protection of our clean air and water, and to consider their personal responsibility for the future they leave to their children and grandchildren…then call me what you wish! There is nothing of the oil-blackened guillemot or harpooned mammal about your environmental message. Your work is mesmerizingly beautiful and alive. Do you believe that it’s better to accentuate the divine gift than man’s failings when it comes to nature? Absolutely! Why dwell on the negative – so many others do that – why not focus on the natural beauty gifted to and surrounding all of us – from a potted herb to a national park? Why not remind viewers of the spiritual world we all share and that nature so perfectly connects each of us? Hope and faith are powerful. I have a relative – a keen photographer – who suffers from M.E., yet seems to accomplish more than many fully healthy people I know. How did the fatigue, and in your case paralysis, that comes with Lyme disease frustrate your life as a painter, and affect your style as your fought back? When your health is taken away, you have to fight hard and in every direction to hopefully regain it. And as your relative understands, your time becomes precious and valuable – you want to do as much as you are able for as long as you are able. While my illnesses wreaked tremendous havoc on my body, my fighting spirit and sense of urgency shook me out of my comfort level as an artist. I experimented more. I felt bolder. I saw my world differently. My landscapes are now more abstract and very personal. Would you say that the present relationship between mankind and nature is one of failed stewardship, misplaced priorities, or simple ignorance? Really a combination of all three. Often we don’t understand the consequences of our actions. Mankind has the power of our minds. We are creative and can resolve problems. Any process forward requires honesty, good faith and openness, and a willingness to learn not only new things, but from our mistakes and from each other. Do you think humanity is at or near a ‘point of no return’ in its relationship with the environment? No, but we need fast and dramatic action now. Louie Psihoyos’ current film project illustrates that… Britain has no shortage of both inspiring locations and environmental pressures. Are you here to open the exhibition, or will you be taking in the British countryside while you are over here? Last January, my husband and I visited Kent. We spent one very snowy day at Knole, and the park surrounding this amazing stately home inspired my Winter Hush series. We will be visiting friends in Hampshire this trip and look forward to several long country walks – the place for me to find inspiration for my next paintings! Breath of Nature can be viewed until November 24 at the Belgravia Gallery, London W15 4JL. You can find out more about Susan's work at her own website, www.susanswartz.com. |

