We were lucky to catch up with Beth Surdut recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Beth, thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
This current project is so intimate and layered, I’d like to talk about my participation as a visual and literary artist in Uncommon Knowledge, showing at the Ventana Gallery at Roche Diagnostics in Oro Valley, Arizona through December 31, 2023 and online at https://www.saaca.org/roche-uncommon-knowledge-art-exhibition.html. Uncommon Knowledge is a collaboration between 21 employees of Roche, an innovator of tissue-based cancer diagnostic solutions, and 12 artists, writers, and musicians chosen by the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance (SAACA).
I am the only creator who produced both a visual and a literary response. One is for comfort; the other for information. I was well-prepared for my work as a journalist specializing in personal profiles as well as my history as a custom designer listening to clients. In 2014, my journey with healing scarves began when a tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) client asked me if I could paint a headscarf for her cousin who had lost her hair during breast cancer treatments. “Maybe with a little prayer?” my client suggested, and I have been creating them in a variety of sizes ever since.
I chose to incorporate two words that are the essence of the Jewish Misheberach prayer that is said aloud in direct recognition of those in need, in pain, in suffering. The Hebrew words r’fuah shleimah translate and ask for complete healing of body and spirit. The ancient language I incorporate is Hebrew; the desire for healing is universal. As I write this, Israel is at war and I wish I could cover the country in a beautiful tent of healing.
My goal with healing scarves is to create a talisman of beauty and comfort, so I asked Joanna, the person I partnered with from Roche, to describe her perfect day. This is a question I usually ask a tallit client. This was an unusual situation in that healing scarves are commissioned by friends or family as a surprise gift, most often in response to an acute event, and must be created quickly. I often do not know or have contact with the recipient of a healing scarf, so rely on information provided to me by the giver. .
Joanna responded by describing an outing primarily seasoned with scents she encountered on a bike path, then added lavender and lilacs as her favorite flowers. My favorite part? “After this intense hour, my mind is clear, my senses are fresh, and I feel amazing.”
For the scarf, which I call The Scent of Dill with Hints of Pine and Lavender aka Joanna’s Bike Ride, I focused on her favorite colors along with the scents of plants and the view from a moving bike, then stretched white Habotai silk, drew hard-line definition with gold-flecked gutta, used sumi brushes to layer jewel-toned dyes within that framework, judiciously applied the bully salt that pushes dyes around, assessed, walked away, looked again, critiqued, decided the piece was done. Steamed the silk for 2 hours to set dyes. Rinsed to disperse excess dyes in a special bath, ironed. As always when I finish, I am a little surprised and grateful to be able to do this.
As a seasoned journalist and essayist for print and radio, I focus on nonfiction. I have covered the gamut from sewers to senators, and am the creator of The Art of Paying Attention multi-platform nature series originally heard and seen on Arizona Public Media. For this project, what started out as a profile, blossomed into information sharing, which led to an audio piece called The Mechanics of Listening.
A key to the many interviews and profiles I’ve done, no matter how challenging, is finding the road to empathy. That begins with listening, observing, and attempting to see the world from the other person’s perspective.
My first radio piece aired on Marketplace on NPR so long ago that only after interviewing Joanna for Uncommon Knowledge and recording The Mechanics of Listening did I realize I’d come full circle. That first piece was about going to a doctor who was more interested in covering his ass than diagnosing the source of pain in my breast.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My untethered curiosity, attention to detail, and ability to express myself visually and verbally offers a set of skills that infuses my output as an award-winning artist, writer, and radio commentator who creates the multi-platform Art of Paying Attention nature series that is exhibited nationally and heard on NPR, as well as the Listening to Raven drawings and stories that was the first-place winner of the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Award for Nonfiction. Certified as an Environmental Educator, I combine storytelling, intricate wildlife illustration, and science to observe, understand, and learn from the creatures with whom we share our lives. I believe that paying attention brings care, care brings love, and love engenders protection. The Art of Paying Attention is not only the title of my nature series, it is my daily life practice that entwines in the process of all that I do, including creating uniquely beautiful and personal custom hand-painted silk tallit, healing prayer scarves, and what I call journey scarves.
Paying attention fosters my penchant for custom projects. If you have an idea for something beautiful, especially inspired by nature or myth, do come to me and we will see what we can create. Some of my best work has been generated by “what if” and “could you possibly…” which has manifested as stained-glass windows, including 24 panels for a Middle Eastern palace, intricate glass and stone mosaic murals, textile designs, paintings, and large museum exhibits.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The nature series, which combines intricate drawings and written/verbal essays, is meant to spur discussion and awareness, so when people respond by telling me their stories about the animals in their neighborhood, especially if the encounter broadens a person’s awareness of our wild neighbors, I feel that I am doing what I set out to do. More people hear me on the radio than in any other venue. When a stranger figures out that I am that person they heard on the radio, and that the story was so compelling that they had a driveway moment, meaning they couldn’t get out of the car until they heard the whole story about what happened to the hummingbird …hallelujah! When someone decides that my art resonates with them so much that they purchase a piece because they want to live with it or give it as a special present, I am delighted. When a person tells me, “I don’t know anything about art, but I love this,” I am deeply touched.
The healing scarves take the place of the magic wand that I wish I had so that I could take away suffering. But I seem to have misplaced that elusive tool, and until I find it, I settle for being able to create something beautiful, a tangible message of caring, a talisman that gets someone through the dark times.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I balk at the designations of non-creative and creative. I believe that creativity can be present in all of life’s actions. Creativity takes so many forms, that when someone compliments my work and then says ruefully, “I don’t have a creative bone in my body,” I wince. I think every person is potentially creative and wants to be seen for their individual talents, but identifying them can be challenging in a societal structure that tends to fast-track and foster only the obvious, especially if it might lead to financial stability as a career. I know from my own experiences that just because I can do something–meaning I have the ability to complete a project well– doesn’t mean I should be doing it, especially now that my definition of forever is shorter than it used to be. You use the word struggle. What that brings to mind is the love-hate relationship people have with those of us who have integrated our careers with what we love, with what we see as our purpose and, in balance, our joy. Early on, I decided that in consideration of the proportion of time people spend working, I should choose what thrills me. So, I decided not to go to law school. That doesn’t mean I always knew exactly what path to take. I do think it behooves every person to figure out what they can contribute, not just take up space on the planet. The quest and the reality can morph over a lifetime, especially if one is willing to be open to learning.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bethsurdut.com
- Instagram: @surdutbeth
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Beth.Surdut.Visual.Storyteller
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethsurdut/
- Twitter: @bethsurdut
- Other: www.payingattentiontonature.com