Susan Beiner | Sugar Fields
May 31 - July 13, 2019
Opening Reception: Friday, May 31 , 5-7 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, June 1, 2-3 pm
Arizona artist Susan Beiner forges new glazing techniques for her solo-exhibition, Sugar Fields, featuring modular works of opulent floral forms which examine the tension between organic and human-made structures.
Santa Fe, NM—“I have a new outlook,” says ceramicist Susan Beiner. “By utilizing repetition and multiplication, I create dense patterning–but with spaces to take a breath.”
This May, Beiner returns to form & concept for a solo exhibition featuring a large-scale, modular installation. The wall sculptures will feature Beiner’s characteristic floral forms, a porcelain garden of tactile blooms with allusions to architectural structures. Though it reads as one unit, each piece will be a unique work, showcasing Beiner’s vocabulary of encrusted forms.
“The installation will be encrusted and glazed in different ways,” Beiner explains. “There’s a pattern, but the surface will bring variation to a large scale.”
Despite the fragility of Beiner’s medium, her work maintain an air of resilience. With more than thirty years of experience, the Arizona State University professor has crafted a body of work that examines the tension and symbiotic relationship between organic and inorganic forms. In recent years, Beiner has incorporated plastic, rubber, acrylic, and other man-made materials into her ceramic works.
“Introducing conceptual materials allows me to convey a deeper meaning,” Beiner says. “Color, tactility, shape, and form. That’s what makes me excited about making. I witness my environment growing and changing, and consequently, my own practice grows and evolves.”
Beiner’s ceramic art is often dominated by vivid, mottled greens. For Sugar Fields, the artist strived to develop new methods and incorporate a new color palette. “I started thinking about color in a more illustrative way, allowing form to develop as a graphic element,” the ceramicist said. Beiner layers multiple glazes to create deeper hues, which allows an illusion of depth to coat the surface. The appearance of drippy glazes envelops the piece, evoking the kaleidoscopic effects of sunlight passing through the leaves of a plant.
Sugar Fields will span the second level of form & concept through July 13th, concurrently with Currents’ Beyond Punchcards.