Suzanne Bean Art and Design — Studio 9, Art Works Downtown

1337 Fourth St., San Rafael, CA 94901
415-223-3946 - www.suzannebean.com  - art@suzannebean.com

Artist’s statement
Making art forces me to define myself, to make decisions about how I live my life and experience the world, and helps me to be a better human being. It also feels good.

I believe art making should be first and foremost a personal experience, to do it for one’s own personal satisfaction, however that might be defined. Beyond that, communicating one’s experience can give joy and food for thought to others and confirmation to the artist.

I love making designs. Indoors and out, synthetic and natural, I see a world of design elements: shapes and lines, values of light and dark, patterns and layers, puzzle pieces that fit together in a balanced natural composition. Shapes of leaves and shadows; the geometry of bark and lichen; patterns of scaffolding and insect wings; big clean areas of color, little bunches of complex, precise details.

Deconstruct, redesign, reconstruct. I feel compelled to take these things I like and put them together, layer them, maximize or minimize the texture, color, contrast, adjust the opacity, simplify, flatten, and open up—see what else can happen, what new designs  can emerge.

Art education and development
A native of Chicago, I majored in Art at the University of Iowa and have taken instruction locally in Northern California in figure drawing, painting, caricature and cartooning, graphic design, and photography.
My career as a graphic designer introduced me to the wonders of digital imaging.

In 2002, I temporarily set aside my watercolor paints and brushes, took up digital photography, and started to develop my abstract digital art. Mmm, Photoshop . . .
Abstract digital art. These images begin as digital photographs of motifs, structures, patterns, and values of light and shadow that appeal to me in their shapes, composition, and dynamic movement.

I enjoy art that draws me in with color and composition, and keeps me interested with curious details and movement, an intriguing bit of something that looks familiar . . . or does it?

Studio work
My digital work since 2002 has helped focus and defines my artistic vision. In 2010 I acquired studio space (http://www.artworksdowntown.org/) where I can work on larger pieces and in other media. While not abandoning digital abstracts, this larger physical workspace allows me to return to painting and also explore mobiles and stabiles, constructions that expand on my desire for balance and movement.

I think I have found the medium that best expresses how I see the world. I am intrigued by the shapes and harmonious patterns I see in old buildings, walls, window frames, stairs and railings, old signage, wiggly cables and gnarly pipes, piles of junk in alleys, distorted reflections of sunlight bouncing off window glass onto blank walls, overpasses, bridges, trestles, and the shadows cast by and on these components. So I photograph them with my digital camera.
Using image-editing software, I combine two or more shots — sometimes complementary views of the same subject, sometimes contrasting subjects, often introducing the same shot or element multiple times and applying different transparency effects. I reduce components to abstract shapes by removing or flattening details until I have a pleasing composition. The icing on the cake is adjusting the hues and color saturation.

In other words, I Photoshop the heck out of it until I've got this new, juicy, abstract image. It's extremely satisfying.

Exhibits/Shows
Marin Society of Artists, open juried exhibit, August 17–September 14,
Marin Art & Garden Center, Ross, California. Two pictures accepted.

Marin County Fair Juried Art Exhibit, July 2-6.
Three pictures accepted.

Marin Art Festival, June 14–15, San Rafael, California. Invited artist.

Photography With a Twist, group exhibit presented by Marin Arts Council,
June 9–September 19, Marin Civic Center First Floor Gallery,
San Rafael, California

Dig It, digital art exhibit presented by Sun Gallery, May 30–July 30,
John O'Lague Galleria, Hayward City Hall,
Hayward, California

Belvedere-Tiburon Library Solo Exhibit, January 8–February 2,
Tiburon, California