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Susan J. Blackmon
My earliest
influences were from the experience of having the accessibility to
fine crafts produced by Blue Ridge Mountains artisans near
Asheville, where I was born, and equally from sewing with my mother,
whose Huguenot roots permeated her family with skills in sewing,
crafts and a desire to create with one’s hands. Immediately after
obtaining my BFA degree in painting and printmaking from the
University of N. C., Greensboro, in the mid-1970s, I was hired by a
company which mass-replicated scenes and still-lifes, intended for
hotel chains and office environments. I switched into the field of
graphic design for several years and later my direction and interest
steered me towards the applied arts – through customized painted
furniture and floorcloths, and professional framing. More recently,
I am exploring techniques and possibilities in mixed media, within
an abstract context.
Both viewing art and the act of painting are such a sensory
experience for me, and I find a great deal of gratification in the
play of utilizing paints mixed with elements like torn papers,
fabric or found materials, taking a layered approach most often
while employing random wipes and strokes or spatters to energize the
surface. At the end of the day I’m delighted to see something which
hadn’t previously existed. I attempt to let intuition tell me how to
respond with my tools, medium and elements.
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