Susan Wahlrab – ‘Garden in the Forest’

Join us for the opening reception of this remarkable show, Saturday December 4th from 12-2PM! Susan Wahlrab will be in the galleries to talk about her varnished watercolors on archival clayboard, a new technique developed by the artist. Stop in to say hello and enjoy some refreshments!

About the artist:
Life often happens in a spiral rather than a straight line, and this is especially true when it comes to the art making process. Experimenting and exploring the limits of watercolor led Susan Wahlrab to a new technique that is informed by 35 years of experience. Moving from paper to an archival clay surface mounted on hardboard, Susan layers watercolor, building a complex surface that is varnished and stable without glass. Revisiting years as an experimental printmaker, the challenge of applying washes on the clay is more like the lithography stones she mastered while doing graduate study at the Rhode Island School of Design. The clay also makes it possible to draw and work into the surface, similar to her multi-process intaglio prints in museums throughout the world. “Experience has led me to a whole new chapter. This lifetime of infusing with the natural world created a big ‘A-ha moment’. All of nature is represented in a flower. There is abundant literature, folklore, and symbolism related to flowers. Most people have their own connection and stories with these amazing creations. Even those living in a concrete space, in a high-rise, in a busy city, find a way to bring flowers into their lives. As Einstein once said, ‘Look into Nature and you will understand everything’. As a child I made sense of the world around me by drawing whatever happened each day. Living in the woods, my time was spent exploring the magical world of trees, plants, rocks and nearby ocean.” The artist’s entire career has been inspired by this connection to the essence of the landscape. “The results are a part of, what is at times, a maddening process of attempting to describe walking between worlds of matter and energy, seeing where everything, as Einstein said, merges.”