About Susan Ward
Susan Ward is not only an artist but also a mother, wife, sociologist, and insurance broker. Her inspiration comes from nature’s awesome patterns and mysterious rhythms. Her detailed graphite drawings and vibrant acrylic paintings convey the relaxing, stress-free atmosphere offered by the forests she hikes through. Her series “Ice Forest” is based on minute ice formations that covered a small wooden bridge she and her dog passed over daily during the pandemic. Her bold colors and abstract shapes act as escapism, yet a careful viewer can discern their real-life sources. Equally, as the viewer gazes upon the products of many months’ laborious effort, one can think of how nature creates these forms effortlessly every day.
New Brunswick Art Salon 2018 – All Media: “Visceral and Visionary”
New Brunswick Art Salon 2021 – Winners: “Resonant Becoming”
Artist Personal Website: www.susaneward.com
Artist Email: sueeldridgeward@gmail.com
Artist Statement
This work is based on the awesome and sometimes mysterious rhythms of nature. When Covid hit I could be found in one of two places – at home with my family or in the woods with my dog. My daily hikes became a place of escape from the stress of quarantine. As I hiked, it occurred to me how the woods themselves and the life of my dog, even, had not been affected by the virus. How comforting! I took dozens of photographs of the patterns around me. These small, meticulous graphite drawings and large, colorful acrylic paintings are based specifically on minute ice formations that covered a small wooden bridge we passed over every day. I saw both a rendered landscape and an abstract graphic pattern simultaneously. I then spent months laboriously drawing and painting layers upon layers of materials that nature had created so effortlessly.
Exhibitions
SOLO
- It’s All Fun and Games 2017 Noyes Museum of Art Atlantic City, New Jersey
- The Earth 2015 Pine Gallery Fair Lawn, New Jersey
GROUP – Selected
- Thoughts and Prayers, Another Round 2020 Of Vacant Stares BSB Gallery Trenton, New Jersey
- JAM at MAM 2020 Montclair Art Museum Montclair, New Jersey
- The Place Called Home 2020 Studio Montclair Montclair, New Jersey
- Affair of the Ar t 2019 Studio Montclair Montclair, New Jersey
- Interrogations: Artists at Work 2019 Newark Arts Festival Newark, New Jersey, Curated by Adrienne Wheeler
- Divergent Evolution 2019 Studio Montclair Gallery Montclair, New Jersey Curated by Emma Wilcox
- Burning Love 2019 LITM Jersey City, New Jersey
- Nice/Nasty 2018 Newark Open Doors Arts Festival Newark, New Jersey
- Hahne Building, Curated by Armisey Smith
- Haunted 2018 LITM Jersey City, New Jersey
- Welcome to the Jungle 2018 LITM Jersey City, New Jersey
- The Earth Speaks 2018 Barron Arts Center Woodbridge, New Jersey
- Visceral and Visionary 2018 Alfa Art Gallery New Brunswick, New Jersey
- Group Show 2017 Newark Open Doors Arts Festival Newark, New Jersey
- Our Earth, Our Future 2017 Bridge Art Gallery Bayonne, New Jersey
- The Elephant in the Room 2017 Hamilton Street Gallery Bound Brook, New Jersey
- Enjoy/Endure: The City and Its People 2016 Newark Open Doors Arts Festival Newark, New Jersey
- Jersey City Art & Studio Tour 2016 JCAST Pop Up Gallery Jersey City, New Jersey
- Vanity 2016 Jersey City Theater Center Jersey City, New Jersey
- Missing 2011 Oualie Art Orange, New Jersey
- Detritus 2011 Williamsburg Art & Historical Center Brooklyn, New York
- Studio West Orange Arts Council 2011 The Loft West Orange, New Jersey
- Out of the Box 2010 Ironworks Gallery Orange, New Jersey
- Site – Site-Specific Public Art Installation 2010 Valley Arts Orange, New Jersey