Patterned ceramics to paintings of lily pads. Susan Gordon’s art is even getting some Hollywood play!

Moss Rock Festival’s
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT BLOG SERIES:

Susan Dennis Gordon, Painting & Ceramics

What artists have influenced you?

Willem de Kooning, Lynda Benglis, and George Baselitz. Also my mom. She doesn’t really think of herself as an artist, but she has a super sharp eye. Maybe even better than mine.

What exposure to art as a child influenced your career path?

My parents took me to Europe when I was 15. We saw so many museums and so much art but the Louvre probably had the biggest impact on me. I took a sketchpad with me and filled it by the end of the trip.

As an artist, we know you create. But what style of work do you like to collect? Do you have a favorite piece that you must glance at on a daily basis?

I love to collect art from people I know. I have two pieces that I love. One is by Scott Meyer – a small Anagama-fired bottle, and another is an original painting by Whitney Wood Bailey, a New York-based artist and friend that graduated from Auburn with me. I get to look at both of those pieces every day and still am in awe of them.

What kind of work will you be exhibiting for sale at Moss Rock Festival and how was it inspired by nature?

I have a new body of paintings that I’m really excited about. This series, called “Summer Series” is inspired by things enjoyed under the beautiful summer skies of the south; anything from water flowing over a bed a rocks to a pond crammed with water lily pads. Every time I create a painting like this, I am taken back to memories of my childhood. I spent almost all of my time outdoors as a kid – swimming, biking, hiking, riding horses and building forts. Now as an adult, I am lucky enough to spend much of my time painting and creating in my heavily wooded backyard.

I will also have a new body of ceramics. I was actually a ceramics major in college. I love to work with clay.. I would say that my pottery tips its hat to geometry, pattern, and design that is either found in nature, or inspired by nature. I love taking an organic, shapeless ball of clay and forming it into a structure…almost like a flower is born from a seed.

How can people find out more about you?

My work can be viewed at Homewood’s Art Alley gallery, Framing Establishment in Jacksonville, Florida, Kathleen’s in Decatur, AL, Fairhope’s Lyons Share gallery, Auburn’s Interiors Store Moxii, and on my online shop: www.susanbdennis.etsy.com or on my website: www.theswanart.com. Plus if you watch the NBC tv series Parenthood, look out for her work on  the walls of one of the show’s character’s home.

Find out more about Susan, plus see more of her artwork:  Click here.