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STICK STORIES
Story Sticks, Ladders, Windows, Panels

Stick Stories are sticks, ladders and wall assemblages created mainly from the detritus that I search for in my natural environment. I commonly use driftwood to weave my constructions together visually and literally. The bleached branches and fist-shaped knots are so intrinsically beautiful, it seems disrespectful to add marks or color, but I must do it. Although each of the works is individual, they share a common language of birds, fish, ocean, land, and sky. This body of work divides into four categories. “Stick Stories” are poles that can each stand alone or in a group. “Ladders” are the three-dimensional echoes of the flat ladder images that would pop up in my paintings. Each of the “Panel Series” is built on a wood background rescued from the original veneer walls of our house remodel. “Windows” metaphorically frame the surrounding landscape.

Susan searches for driftwood

Beachcombing

Susan applies resin to driftwood

Applying Resin to Driftwood

I gather driftwood (where permitted) and ideas for my art on California Pacific Ocean beaches. My first ocean experience left its indelible mark on me when my family lived a stone's throw from the still untamed shoreline of Jacksonville Beach, Florida. When we returned to my Chicago birthplace, Lake Michigan's beaches became important to my life.

Art as Story
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