We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Suzanne Scott. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Suzanne below.
Suzanne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Artists are natural risk takers, right? But really I think we like our world to be pretty secure, and as stable as possible so we can then remain open to risk taking within our work. I recently made a life changing decision to go back to art school. I’m over 50 years old and had never finished my undergraduate degree. I felt like my artwork was getting stale and I wanted to push some boundaries and break my own rules. Going back to school gave me permission in a way to do this. It has not been an easy path, it has been filled with ups and downs; questioning of my work, putting myself in uncomfortable places, pushing through unknowns. Not to mention the practical side of balancing the financial aspect of paying tuition and rent while being out of work, I lost my employment in 2020, and remained unemployed in order to deeply immerse myself in school. My collectors didn’t understand what I was doing and therefore I lost a lot of support there. They couldn’t understand why I would change my work so very much- I went from abstract to figurative, narrative work. However, almost three years later I can happily report that my excitement for my work has returned tenfold, I am exhilarated by the path my paintings are taking and I have undiscovered territory ahead to continue to explore. Reigniting my passion for making art is more valuable at this point in my life than most anything else, it provides purpose and a new sense of curiousity.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Born in New Jersey in 1973, Suzanne Scott has exhibited nationally and internationally including New York, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Monaco, and Massachusetts. She has completed three advanced, post-graduate art residencies in France, as well as attended the DNA artist residency in Provincetown, MA in 2021 and 2023. Recent exhibitions include, “Boy, That Was Fast”, solo show at Catskills Gallery in TriBeCa, NY December 2021 and group exhibition, “Dog Day Afternoons”, August 2023 at READYMADE gallery in Orleans, MA, a satellite of Freight + Volume, NYC. She has studied anatomy at the Art Student’s League in NYC and completed her G.G. at the Gemological Institute of America, NYC. She continues her study of painting within the Certificate Program at the New York Studio School with a completion date of 2025. Scott maintains a studio in New York City and continues to serve on several non-profit boards with the pursuit of creating modalities for disabled artists to create art.
For 20 years my work has been focused on non-traditional portraiture, in which I create an abstracted image taken from an individual’s fingerprint. This intensive study of dermatoglyphics led me to consider what hands and gestures can further signify. My paintings transformed into an investigation of Hindu gestures known as mudras, in which the positioning of one’s hands and fingers express everything from mystical or magical vows to self-care and empowerment. This then morphed into a study of hands and the connection to humanity acting as a literal and spiritual network or web of visual complexity. My work is increasingly tending towards a questioning of spirituality and religion across many cultures. Currently, I intend to incorporate a more narrative approach in order to delve further into these inquiries. I am now utilizing transcriptions I make based upon master works in order to make an updated statement on our society. Multiple drawings and pastels are created before the final oil on canvas is completed. This allows for variations on the same theme until I feel the desired core statement is revealed. In conclusion, the culmination of my work is a dialogue of networks, connections and the diverse ways we can describe the energy we feel when relating to eachother in a complicated world.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The answer to this is tied into my decision to return to art school. As I look back at the goals I had as a young and ambitious artist in NYC, I’m very happy that I took that route at that stage in life. I worked hard to find my voice and vocabulary and made the most of it. I did the networking, the marketing, and built the business so to speak. At this point in my journey, I am focused on fulfilling my deeper soul, the part of me that aches to make art every day, not because I have to, but because I want to, because I am excited about the content I am creating. If and when there is an audience for it is surprisingly unimportant at this very moment, however, I do believe that will change, as I think it’s vital to have a dialogue within your work with the outside world.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I do wish there were more modalities for living artists to feel secure financially, whether this be housing, studio space or even art supplies. This freedom would encourage artists of all ages to take risks and not be tethered to making work that they may have lost interest in. It is a very expensive enterprise to be an artist, it is also highly competitive and certain markets are oversaturated. I don’t know the answers but I do long for the days of patrons of the arts.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.suzannescott.art
- Instagram: @suzannescott
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzanne.scott.1420/