Susan Stillman
For the past 35 years, Susan Stillman has made a study of her local surroundings much like a personal still life, revisiting motifs over and over in changing circumstances. Light is the main protagonist in her work, and it’s ephemeral effect on color is what fuels the daily walks she takes to gather inspiration. The scale of the work has an impact on how the images are perceived, as larger paintings invite the viewer to enter the space created and smaller scale work feels fragmentary, echoing the experience of moving through the landscape, noticing flashes of color on the periphery. An absence of the figure is deliberate, disallowing any imposition of ‘story’ and leaving the focus entirely on the moment captured and it’s specific qualities of light, color and tonal saturation. The simplicity of the subject is transformed by the moment of illumination and by our unexpected attention.
Susan Stillman's landscape paintings manifest her preoccupation with light and its transfiguration, using the backdrop of her own suburban neighborhood as well as views from her extensive travels. Stillman holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Brooklyn College. She spent a year in Rome studying painting in RISD’s European Honors Program. A life-long educator, Stillman has been a faculty member at Parsons School of Design since 1983. Her work has been featured in many publications, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. In her early years as an illustrator, she worked with clients such as New York Magazine, The New York Times, and numerous others. Stillman was chosen to illustrate a special centennial edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and she worked with writer Pete Hamill to illustrate his book, The Invisible City, a New York Sketchbook. Her paintings have been exhibited at George Billis Gallery in NY, George Davis Gallery in Savannah GA, Silvermine Galleries, Equity Gallery, and Garrison Art Center, among others. Stillman lives and works in White Plains, NY, USA