West 20th Street, mixed media collage by Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips has been exhibiting photography for the last 30 years. In the last five years, she has begun creating collages which utilize a number of different resources, including transferred images, torn fragments of paper, encaustic wax, dried flowers and leaves, metal and other found objects. From Oct. 1 through Oct. 29, The Wright Gallery in Kingston will present “Perceptions,” a showing of Phillips’ smaller, mixed media collages.  An opening reception will take place on the first day of the exhibit from 5-8 p.m. in conjunction with Kingston’s “First Saturday.”  What follows are some of Phillips’ careful introspections about her life and her craft.   

Danny Lanzetta: What kinds of pieces can the public expect to experience during your exhibition at the Wright Gallery?

Susan Phillips: In this show, I am presenting many smaller pieces. They require the viewer to experience the art up close. Hopefully, the time spent perusing each work will give people the opportunity to see the various layers and details, and perhaps notice other design elements within the original design.

DL: Why is the exhibition called “Perceptions?”

SP: Since each person's perception is derived from so many sources, including awareness, viewpoint, memory, intuition and psychology, each person's visual and visceral reaction will be unique and different. Although this is, of course, true for all art, viewing abstract art or non-objective art is quite different from seeing a realistic piece that is defined for us in many ways.  Most of my works are abstract, seemingly without a subject. Yet they may still reflect an emotional state, suggest the passage of time, hint at landscape or trigger the recall of forgotten dreams or memories. Thus, the title, "Perceptions."

DL: Talk a little bit about your lifestyle and how it is reflected in your work.

I consider myself very fortunate. Our lifestyle allows my husband and I to divide our time between New York City and our home in Woodstock, N.Y. and we enjoy them both. Being in the city enables us to see art and go to the theater. For me, walking in the city each morning with a friend provides me with numerous photographic possibilities. Upstate, the beauty of the Hudson Valley – the magnificent vistas, the sunsets, the daily and seasonal changes – is just  incredibly inspiring. I can look into my pond or garden at any time of the day and find something to photograph or preserve in my artistic memory. I also tremendously enjoy traveling, whether in the United States or abroad. It is all incredibly fascinating, and every trip leaves an imprint upon my senses.  I am certain that these travel experiences do influence, consciously and subliminally, any art that I produce.

DL: Describe your process and how your collage work differs from your photography work.

SP: When I photograph, I consciously choose that which I wish to freeze in time. It is usually a decision to capture a composition that is a whole in the viewfinder, although cropping and altering can always be done later if necessary. I may be responding to the interplay of texture, light and shadow, the random juxtaposition of found or discarded objects, graphically interesting patterns or just pure color.  I am currently working on two thematic photographic portfolios. One concentrates on the subject of graffiti, isolating particularly appealing sections from the greater whole. The other portfolio, like the first, is ongoing and is titled “Momentary Reflections.” It captures puddle reflections in New York City, which hold a particular fascination for me because of their ephemeral, transitory nature.   My artistic process is inverted when I do collage work. Instead of a whole, I begin with one or two components or an image transfer. I then proceed to bring in other elements – scraps of paper, pieces of metal, dried flowers, watercolors – and manipulate them until something that interests me begins to evolve. Creating a work that is visually exciting from unrelated, pre-existing objects, is the challenge. At times, I completely destroy a piece of work that I am unhappy with, by cutting it into smaller pieces. When I begin to re-arrange these smaller pieces, often something exciting happens and suddenly, there exists a new piece of art.

 DL: What non-artistic experiences have influenced your work?

SP: Teaching third and fourth graders for over thirty years definitely influenced how I work. Observing the uninhibited way that children plunge themselves into art, with abandon, and joyfully go on artistic voyages helped me to loosen up and approach art in a more free, playful way. The children and I encouraged each other to stop worrying about mistakes. There ARE no mistakes! It was a great lesson for me. Today,  "mistakes" are merely transformed into  something else.

DL: Who are your artistic idols?

SP: I have too many artistic idols to mention, but I will try to name a few. Some of the photographers whose work I love are Eugene Atget, Minor White, Paul Strand, Walker Evans, Brett Weston, Wright Morris, and Berenice Abbott. There are many more. As for painters, I love the Impressionists, The Fauves (especially Matisse, Gaugin, Derain and Kandinsky) and the abstract expressionists. I never tire of Jackson Pollack, Lee Krasner or Robert Rauchenberg. Finally, I love the work of Joseph Cornell, Hannah Hoch and my absolute favorite collagist Kurt Schwitters.

DL: Some of your pieces are extremely colorful.  How does color help you express yourself emotionally?

SP: This is a difficult question for me because I think that my subconscious is totally in control of what I create. I do believe that the happier I feel, the more I'm open to trying a variety of  unusual color combinations.

DL: You have exhibited in many solo shows and group shows as well.  Which do you prefer and why?

SP: It is always a terrific honor to be asked by a gallery  to present a solo show and I appreciate every opportunity that I have been given. It is extremely satisfying to watch people respond to my work, and to have strangers approach me to ask questions, or share their feelings. The ultimate compliment, for me, is when someone chooses to purchase my art, because they want to continue to be able to see it. However, it is also very gratifying to be in exhibits with talented artists whose work I admire (of which there are so very many in the Hudson Valley). It is really thrilling to be part of a group when the cohesive whole exists ONLY because of the additive affect of each individual artist's contribution.

DL: Is art still a viable way of creating cultural change in the current social and political environment?

SP: The simple answer to this very complex question is that I would like to think that it has been in the past and it can be in the future. Historically, I think that art has always been a precursor to change because it challenges the existing political and social environment to become more aware of itself, in order to move forward. Specifically, given my years as a teacher, I would like to see music, art and dance incorporated into the curricula for all children and funded in meaningful ways. I have seen the power of people's responses to art and have felt it myself.

DL: What is your personal definition of art?

SP: Art is anything that causes a person to stop and wonder about it and appreciate it. Whether it be a passage of music or literature, a painting, a color that fills the senses, the landscape, hearing and viewing the surf come and go, seeing the forest by the light of a full moon, being amazed by the elusive quality of cloud formations, studying the bark or formation of a tree, feeling the texture of a sculpture … all of it is art.

Sailing, Tahiti

Birches

Hurtling Toward Reality