Susanne K Arnold / Art in the Time of Coronavirus: Circe’s Garden

Artspace Member Spotlight Exhibition

Mixed Media

April 26 - May 18, 2024
Elisabeth Flynn-Chapman Gallery

Artist 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 social isolation and fear of contagion felt by me and others throughout the world due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Removed from activities of daily life during the pandemic, I used encaustic and these found 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 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. Today Circe can be seen as a strong, resilient and courageous woman. The faces of Circe and Telemachus are portrayed in a broad range of racial skin colors and ethnic characteristics that serve as metaphors for this global pandemic.

Biography:
A painter and sculptor, Susanne K. Arnold exhibits her work regionally and nationally. She holds a BFA, an MA in Museum Studies and an MFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University. Honors include two Virginia Museum Fellowships 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. Her talk on “Ephemeral Figures in Wax,” was presented at two International Encaustic Conferences in Provincetown, MA, and printed in ProWax Journal. Ms. Arnold has presented workshops throughout Virginia as an Artist-in-Education for the Virginia Commission for the Arts and taught state-wide on a contractual basis. She is a member of Artspace Gallery in Richmond.

Website: skarnoldarts2.com
Blog: skarnoldnews.blogspot.com