Breaking the Spine: Susie Grant

Susie Grant

Bio:

EDUCATION

B.A. University of California, Berkeley  

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

2010
Breaking the Spine: Rare Device, SF, CA
The Book Show: Donna Seager Gallery, San Rafael, CA
New Works: Susie Grant and Devon Yurdin-Kelley, Erica Tanov, Berkeley, CA
2009
23rd Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition: Emeryville, CA
  Juror: Kimberly Johansson, Johansson Projects and Suzanne Tan, Berkeley Art Center.
Proliferous Precisions: Amanda Hughen, Susie Grant and Katie Lewis, Propeller, SF, CA
ECOArt Show, Berkeley, CA
2008
Collapsitalism: Johansson Project, Oakland, CA
New Visions: Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA
22nd Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition: Emeryville, CA
2007
21th Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition: Emeryville, CA
Triple Base, San Francisco, CA
2006
Box Art Auction: Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA
20th Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition: Emeryville, CA
Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
New Visions: Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA
Herringbone, Berkeley, CA
Exploration in Art & Language: Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA
  Juror: Laura Richard Janku, editor-in-chief of Artweek.
21th Annual Juried Show: G.R.O., Point Reyes, CA
  Juror: Stephan Jost, Director, Mills College Art Museum
2005
In the Abstract: Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA
  Juror: Carrie Lederer, Curator of Exhibitions & Programs, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
Local Voice: Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
  Juror: Marian Parmenter, SFMOMA Artist Gallery
The Four Galleries, San Francisco, CA
      Auction and Gala to benefit Larkin Street Youth Services
19th Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition: Emeryville, CA
  Jurors: Barbara Anderson and Berin Golonu, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Mona Lisa Postcard Project: Michael Rosenthal's collaborative mail art project,Works, San Jose, CA
50under50: LoBot Gallery, Oakland, CA
Fools: Works, San Jose, CA
O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA
Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA
20th Annual Juried Show: G.R.O., Point Reyes, CA
2004
Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
2003
Crossings: Nexus Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2002
Bryant Street Gallery, Palo Alto, CA  


  AWARDS AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

2009 City of Walnut Creek Library Project
2006 City of Emeryville Art in Public Places Purchase Award 2006: Honorable Mention.
2005 Bedford Gallery, Juror Prize: Marian Parmenter

Statement:

MATERIALS

Found books, sheet music, pamphlets: printed material that was discarded and no longer appreciated *is the source for the medium of the work. I find great pleasure in the use of these materials because *they function as an antidote to the create-consume-dispose culture in which we live. This typography *and images have survived for 30, 50 or 100 years despite the 24 hour news cycle, around-the-clock *cable TV, satellite radio, blogs and Blackberries. It was created in a mechanical age and shows the *wear of time, environment and use. Working with this material is fundamentally humanizing because *there is not only a connection to the past but the earth (dyes on wood.) It is wonderfully antithetical *to the short attention span of our digital age. 

PINNED COLLAGE

The pinned collage, is the product of two main influences. As I searched bookshelves *and bins for collage material I found century old dictionaries and encyclopedias. When I opened them *I was struck by the illustrations living within the pages. i was intrigued by the intricate and pristine *beauty of these highly refined "technical drawings". These immaculate renderings were created by *hand before the digital age, with an actual pen to paper. They are like precious specimens destined *not just for disposal but perhaps threatened by extinction with our digital age. Carving out the printed illustrations from the page, I pin/display them, elevated in a box frame commonly used for the *preservation and appreciation of insects. As I assemble them in the frames, what develops is a type *of diorama that unites the past with the present, each with a unique story to tell. This technique *of pinning the paper pieces has expanded to include more then these precious century old illustrations. *i enjoy working with printed images, text and aged paper of the more recent past as well. By re-using *and re-configuring them i hope to redefine their use and meaning. 

Also influencing this new work are our current issues of "fair-use", where  ownership, and creative vs. commercial use are being redefined for our digital age. Copyright laws were created at a time when *copies were the exception. Now, with the "sharing economy" making copies is a common daily practice *in both our business and personal lives. As always sharing, repurposing and creativity often can find *themselves in conflict with commercial interests.