S U Z A N N E C R O C K E R
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a v a i l a b l e w o r k :
A R T I S T S T A T E M E N T
B A C K G R O U N D :
Crocker is listed in Marquis' Who's Who in the World. Her award-winning paintings are sold throughout the United States, and she is gaining international attention. Crocker's most influential teachers include Wolf Kahn and Cynthia Packard, two master painters and colorists whose own styles developed from their exposure to Hans Hofmann, a catalyst of Abstract Expressionism. Additionally Crocker studied at Montserrat College of Art and the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated cum laude with a B.A. in the History of Art.
S T A T E M E N T:
The greatest challenge as an artist is to find my own voice. I spent years learning to paint realistically (portraits, landscapes, etc), and then I shifted to expressive representation using a somewhat impressionistic style. Moving on, I took more liberties in experimentation. I began to edit as opposed to copy what I saw. It was exciting to reduce what I was looking at to essential elements; it gave more power to that which remained. As I evolved as an artist, I added more and more invention through color and composition, and I found myself moving from painting from life to becoming a studio painter. In the studio, images came from within as much as from the outside world.
Ultimately painting without reference to anything seen is the highest art form that I can think of....creating something out of nothing is much more difficult than making something out of something. Works that are truly non-objective paintings require an artist to dig deep inside to use gut and instinct. It requires letting go of thought. It means learning how to make the intangible tangible. Even when I hold onto depicting something known (like a barn), there is often just a taste of what I witnessed; instead, I create a place based on memory and based on what feels best. The painting becomes about color, light, mood, surface and composition as much as it is about any external reference.
To shift into a place where all focus is on the process of painting is unlike anything else, but it is similar in some ways to meditation. Painting demands full focus....the more I push thoughts away and just work from feeling, the better things flow. I can paint for many hours losing track of time...lost in the music and work at hand. Music is necessary; it helps to bring me away from thought and to that other place where creativity can take the lead. Conversely, when there is something very strong in my mind (in my personal life), it can be very challenging to paint. I may try to clear the mind over and over before being able to get into a good groove.
Painting is an extremely personal process, and sometimes all of this talk trying to explain a painting takes away from just allowing a natural visceral response to occur in the viewer just as it did as the painting was born. I do not plan a painting...it evolves from feeling and looking at the painting...from putting something down on canvas and then reacting to it.
I once read that when a piece of art cannot be copied, that is a great sign. Through the process of creation, I make unique works of art which have been born out of an authentic passion for painting. People ask how I know when a painting is done, and I will say the same thing one of my teachers answered which is that "It's done when I am at peace with it." To be at peace with a painting means that I can look at it at length, over and over, and not want to change a thing.
Crocker is listed in Marquis' Who's Who in the World. Her award-winning paintings are sold throughout the United States, and she is gaining international attention. Crocker's most influential teachers include Wolf Kahn and Cynthia Packard, two master painters and colorists whose own styles developed from their exposure to Hans Hofmann, a catalyst of Abstract Expressionism. Additionally Crocker studied at Montserrat College of Art and the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated cum laude with a B.A. in the History of Art.
S T A T E M E N T:
The greatest challenge as an artist is to find my own voice. I spent years learning to paint realistically (portraits, landscapes, etc), and then I shifted to expressive representation using a somewhat impressionistic style. Moving on, I took more liberties in experimentation. I began to edit as opposed to copy what I saw. It was exciting to reduce what I was looking at to essential elements; it gave more power to that which remained. As I evolved as an artist, I added more and more invention through color and composition, and I found myself moving from painting from life to becoming a studio painter. In the studio, images came from within as much as from the outside world.
Ultimately painting without reference to anything seen is the highest art form that I can think of....creating something out of nothing is much more difficult than making something out of something. Works that are truly non-objective paintings require an artist to dig deep inside to use gut and instinct. It requires letting go of thought. It means learning how to make the intangible tangible. Even when I hold onto depicting something known (like a barn), there is often just a taste of what I witnessed; instead, I create a place based on memory and based on what feels best. The painting becomes about color, light, mood, surface and composition as much as it is about any external reference.
To shift into a place where all focus is on the process of painting is unlike anything else, but it is similar in some ways to meditation. Painting demands full focus....the more I push thoughts away and just work from feeling, the better things flow. I can paint for many hours losing track of time...lost in the music and work at hand. Music is necessary; it helps to bring me away from thought and to that other place where creativity can take the lead. Conversely, when there is something very strong in my mind (in my personal life), it can be very challenging to paint. I may try to clear the mind over and over before being able to get into a good groove.
Painting is an extremely personal process, and sometimes all of this talk trying to explain a painting takes away from just allowing a natural visceral response to occur in the viewer just as it did as the painting was born. I do not plan a painting...it evolves from feeling and looking at the painting...from putting something down on canvas and then reacting to it.
I once read that when a piece of art cannot be copied, that is a great sign. Through the process of creation, I make unique works of art which have been born out of an authentic passion for painting. People ask how I know when a painting is done, and I will say the same thing one of my teachers answered which is that "It's done when I am at peace with it." To be at peace with a painting means that I can look at it at length, over and over, and not want to change a thing.
