Creation in the void
Art 4 Shelter regular Susan Davies’ intuitive world
Susan Davies’ paintings include animal portraits full of movement and heightened personality; atmospheric halos; “meditations” and “visual melodies” made of color and kinetic brushstrokes. A few of her works feature the enso – a circular symbol made with a single stroke, and a symbol of simplicity, elegance, and the void in Zen Buddhism.
…Others feature housecats with names like “Carlos” or “Muffin.”
Susan will be the first to admit it. Her oeuvre is all over the place. But the retired teacher turned full-time artist from Buffalo is perfectly comfortable with her creative fluidity. When she works, she often starts seven or eight pieces at a time and goes back and forth between them. It’s often a process of discovery, both for herself and the eventual viewer.
“I usually start painting and let each piece evolve,” she says. “I listen to the work and interact with it until I feel like it’s done, and then, usually, I find out what it’s about.”
Susan has been focusing on her art career full-time for about three years, but she’s been an artist for much longer. When she was a kid growing up in the ‘60s, her days were spent outside, in nature, trying to draw whatever she saw.
Her art professors at Gustavus Adolphus College remarked that she had an “eye” and encouraged her to explore her talent further, but her family didn’t see art as a viable career. They insisted she complete an education degree as well. But even while working for many years as an art teacher, she always set aside time to focus on her creative work.
Retirement from teaching has allowed her to explore even further, finding new forms of expression in energetic lines and surreal colors. You may have seen her pieces on display at Art-A-Whirl or Everett & Charlie in Minneapolis. She’s won two individual awards of excellence from the Central MN Arts Board. But her roots still go back to her childhood love of the natural world.
“People usually feel a sense of being in nature or a connection to the Earth when they look at [the art],” she says. “I think the work is about connecting to the Earth and thinking about the question of why we’re here.”
She learned about Art 4 Shelter through her child, who lived in Powderhorn and spent some of their time collecting and delivering laundry for some of the folks who were encamped in the park. To Susan, this felt like a perfect way to use something she was good at to benefit the entire community. She’s been donating her art to Art 4 Shelter for about three years.
“It’s important to give back, and I like doing it this way,” she says. “I think, especially in Minnesota, you can’t do anything without housing. And it’s such a complicated process to get into stable housing.”
By supporting this Simpson Housing Services fundraiser, she hopes to make it just a little easier.
You can find Susan’s work and so much more at this year’s Art 4 Shelter, May 13-14, at Glass House: 145 Holden Street, Minneapolis. More event details are available here.
You can also find Davies’ work at www.susandavies.site, @Daviescreates on Instagram, and Susan M. Davies Creations on Facebook.