Susan Phillips
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Susan Philips
Susan Phillips is an award winning artist who resides in New York City and Woodstock, NY. Her mediums are photography and collage. She is an active member of the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, and the National Association of Women Artists, in New York City. She is also the Gallery Coordinator, and on the Board of Directors of N.A.W.A., the oldest women’s art organization in the US.
Other organizations that Ms. Phillips is associated with are: The Center for Photography, Woodstock, The International Center for Photography in NYC, and the Woodstock Byrdcliff Guild. She is currently represented by the Tappen Z Gallery in Tarrytown, NY.
Ms. Phillips’ photographs have been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in Brooklyn, NY, The Bergen County Museum, Paramus, NJ, The Belskie Museum of Art, Closter, NJ, and The Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, Or. Her photographs and collages have been showcased in both the NYC and Woodstock areas, as well as throughout the US, and can be found in corporate and private collections.
Ms. Phillips was selected by the Kennedy Publishing Company for inclusion in the 2011 book entitled: Best of American Photographers, Volume II. In 2012, she will be in their Collector’s Edition online gallery. She continues to expand her photography portfolios of Graffiti, Puddle Reflections NYC, Rain, Pond Reflections and Street Seen among many others.
Artist Statement
As an artist, my self-expression is manifested through the art forms of photography and mixed media collage, working differently within each medium. I have recently been experimenting with monotypes and paints, working abstractly with both. I am fascinated with, and inspired by, the ever-changing, translucent qualities of water and its reflections, whether in an ordinary puddle or a larger body of water. Each moment is meeting and intangible until captured by the camera.
When I photograph, I choose the elements that I wish to freeze in time, making conscious decisions to capture natural lines and patterns or graphically appealing designs. I search for aesthetic possibilities in that which passersby may overlook: graffiti, gas and water caps, rusted hinges, and eroding street demarcations. I hope that viewers will transcend the reality of the subject matter and bring a new perspective to the commonplace.
In my photographic work I usually compose within the camera frame before shooting. this process is inverted in my collage work. Instead of a whole, I start with a transferred image, or two or three separate components, proceeding to manipulate them until the composition evolves. Creating something visually exciting from unrelated, pre-existing objects, each with its own texture and dimensionality, is the challenge.
Although the collages are often abstract or seemingly without a subject, they may still reflect emotional states, suggest the passage of time, hint at landscape or even trigger the recall of forgotten dreams or memories. The process is not predetermined but open and serendipitous. The element of surprise is always energizing and joyful, even if it takes months to find the last essential component to complete a piece.
Momentary Reflections
All of our senses allow us to reflect upon the world. Dreams and conscious musings are based on the qualities of these reflected perceptions. Puddles hold a special fascination for me because of their ephemeral, multi-layered nature. They are transitory, changing from one moment to the next at the whim of the wind, a passing truck, or people stepping blindly into them. The ongoing magic of these images lies in the myriad of possibilities that they present. Each photograph may lead the viewer to a mysterious, enigmatic and surreal world.
Presenting not just a mirrored effect, each one offers a trip to a phantom, floating city, a fictional underground world that exists beneath the pavement or on the nether side of the curb. It is available only to those who will “slip” into the puddle by allowing their preconceptions to dissolve. I know that each site will be different when the next puddle arrives; as well, the next viewer will bring his or her psyche and illusions into play. Hopefully those who peruse these photographs will come away seeing - in these reflections - that puddles can allow us to visualize a temporary, beautifully vivid, yet altered reality.
Solo Exhibitions
2011 Unison Arts Center, New Paltz, NY
2011 Thaddeus Kwiat Projects, Saugerties, NY
2008 Chair and the Maiden Gallery, New York, NY
2006 Hammond Gallery, Fitchburg State College, Fitchburg, MA
2005 River Rock Gallery, Woodstock, NY
2005 Wright Gallery, Kingston, NY
2005 Richart Design, New York, NY
2004 River Winds Gallery, Beacon, NY
2003 Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY (Solo Show
Juror: Milton Glaser)
2003 Richart Design, New York, NY
2002 Wright Gallery, Kingston, NY
1997 Ashokan Artisans, Ashokan, NY
1982 Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY
1982 Educational Alliance, New York, NY
1981 Horticultural Society of New York, New York, NY
1980 Kata Soho Gallery, New York, NY
1976 Modernage Discovery Gallery, New York, NY