The new work consists of pieces of sheet metal formed into spherical segments which are assembled onto round forms attaching to the body as brooches. Some, which she refers to as "soot balls", are covered with black enamel and then powdered diamond lending a lush sensuous surface. Others are formed from pieces of enameled steel. In the forming process, some areas of the enamel begin to chip away, leaving a raw steel surface, while in other areas the enamel adheres but begins to craze. What interests Susie is how these objects begin to decay over time. The steel, left to the elements, will begin to rust and additional pieces of enamel will chip off, exposing new areas of metal which, in time, will change. The "soot balls" will begin to lose small pieces from their surface. This is the idea of Luxury vs. Change: Beauty in Distress.

 

While teaching at Penland last fall, I had the opportunity to visit the studio of the sculptor Hoss Haley in Asheville. Hoss was recycling metal objects such as old cabinets or washing machines and doing much the same thing... shaping them into large spherical forms and re-assembling them into sculptures. I know that Hoss and Susie are good friends, but I don't know how or with whom the idea generated. I am interested in seeing how two visionary artists take a common approach and push it in different directions. Having looked at the work of the sculptor John Chamberlain, who recently had a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in NY, I see a thread of that work influencing both Hoss and Susie.