Page 14 - the NOISE MAY 2016 Edition

eNGUlFed iN ART
StEPPING INtO thE CREatIONS OF SUSaNNa KORtE
StORy By
clAiR ANNA ROSe
Many a classroom was decorated by the work of dozens of tiny plastic scissors snipping beautiful web of pattern. I love the patience and clarity needed in order to pull off a long
away at folded white typing paper, and when the clipping was finished, the paper unfolded into symmetrical snowflakes or a row of dolls holding hands — the first sight of Susan Korte’s pieces readied for her upcoming show at Gallery Beyond Words, “Love notes From The Universe” brings these memories to mind.
Unlike the little paper dolls and snowflakes of youth, cut spontaneously without too much attention to detail or planning, Ms. Korte’s installation will feature large paper abstraction geometries cut by blade with precision and a significant amount of planning.
Born in Alton Illinois, Ms. Korte’s childhood involved a lot of moves around the state of Arizona before her family settled in Prescott where she graduated from Prescott High school.
Her interest in art began at Granite Mountain Middle school in an art class — making paper in a blender and learning ceramics. In high school black and white photography became a passion. “My enthusiasm for seeing natural gorgeous forms and desire for putting beautiful things in the
worldhasbeenstrongallmylife,”sheshares.“Iwastrainedinacrylicandoilpaintingincollege,Ireally took to acrylic and did big textural paintings — usually monochromatic and analogous colors. I’ve become much more thoughtful and purposeful in my creating as I’ve had more experiences. It’s become more symbolic and expansive, more spiritually motivated.”
The artist says her art is split in two distinct styles — geometric line drawings produced on paper and through screen printing, and portraits done in oil paint. Instead of focusing visually on the subject as she paints, she lets the personality of the person come through in her art.
Her sister Anna runs AK Studio in Portland, Oregon, and Ms. Korte says she was instrumental in her decision to go to art school in Manhattan. “we both applied to The Fashion Institute of Technology, she for the Fashion Design department (the most competitive program in the school) and I for Fine Art (the easiest),” the artist recalls. “It was the only school I applied to and was accepted, my sister was not, and I left a couple months early to work at a summer camp outside of yosemite where I had a job in the kitchen. we would party at night and swim nude in the day — a bunch of us from the Bay and around the world. That summer I went from camping in the woods to sharing a dorm in Manhattan with Fashion Merchandising and Marketing girls! we were really different and I only stayed there one semester before venturing onto Craigslist and finding a room to rent in Brooklyn.”
she stayed on in new york for six more years, studied a semester in Florence Italy, and received her BA in painting and sculpture. now she has found her way back to Prescott and tells me about her installation work. “A handful of other installation artists I’ve seen throughout my life have taught me the impact possible when you get surrounded by an art piece that is really big and engulfs your perceptions,” she explains. “swoon helped me out with the paper idea, she is a nyC artist who does big beautiful linoleum prints of people and embellishes them with gorgeous patterns intermingled into her compositions. she cuts them out and wheat pastes them all over nyC. Last year she did a big installation in the top floor of the Brooklyn Museum I saw that blew my mind!”
The installation made paper seem to be a “magical medium” for the artist, and she wanted to share the experience with others. “I love how it’s possible to create such a beautiful space, a space where people get to come in and explore parts of themselves through this unique visual and emotional landscape.”
To begin, the artist creates a design in pencil,“some are very tiny — then I scan, enlarge, print, and ink the design,” Ms. Korte describes. For more precision the artist may take her design to Adobe Illustrator. “The designs are done one step at a time and built to create a complex
smooth curve by pencil, marker, or by blade.”
The name of the show “Love notes from the Universe” has significant meaning for the artist.
“I think it speaks to where these works come from inside me and my intention put into the creative process. I am constantly re-calibrating back to alignment with my best and highest good and put artwork out there that is constructive and supportive of this idea; the best and highest good I can create to support the best and highest good in others.”
Last year, Ms. Korte did another installation of this nature. At the show she met Gallery Beyond words’ Annie Alexander, and was soon after invited to do another installation. “The installation will be made up of multiple cut-out pieces of paper suspended from the ceiling with mono-filament so they look like they are hanging in mid-air and gently swinging with air currents, similar to the installation I did last year but with more color,” she tells me. “They’ll be arranged so when one enters the space they are enveloped by the magic of the designs and are transported into another realm.”
with her installation Ms. Korte tries to cater to the other senses as well. “Visual, aroma, with inviting texture, and interactive soundscaping — a walk-in experience open to the public and all over the country and world, so people could experience something really beautiful and profoundly magical — we need more of that,” she reflects. “My aim is to help people do more than survive the mess we›re in by exploring how creating realms of experience can give us new access to parts of ourselves. As we explore our surroundings we explore ourselves, and as we explore ourselves we relate to others. I hope people come in and get a breath of fresh air and mind/clarity they never expected — a healing in a part of them that relaxes them in their bones and fuels their passion to be their own hero/bada*s — like these lacy web snowflake designs are some visual keys to unlock/enliven the divine order/spark in us.”
In addition to her installation, Ms. Korte will also have some small acrylic paintings on display. For these pieces there were many steps involved to bring them to completion. “I screen printed on some beautiful art paper and then cut out the design and certain parts of it with a Xacto,” says Ms. Korte. “I then attached those to a thinner piece of white paper, ripped and painted a piece of cheesecloth and put this on the paper too. Then I applied various colored lines of paint with an applicator bottle and special thin tip to trace outlines and give more depth to the shapes — It really helps it pop.” An out of the ordinary medium, the artist also used shimmery eye shadow on one scarab-inspired piece.
The artist describes the larger pieces to be hung in the show, “I›ll have large paintings, mostly collage, with different designs made of the colorful paper cutouts then attached to a clear acetate alternative called Dura-lar. They are transparent and have other transparent color layers added, so the whole piece becomes an intricate lacy pattern color-splosion suspended in air.” An unnamed work-in-progress oil painting of a man will round off the body of work on display.
“Love notes From the Universe” will be on display at Gallery Beyond words, 204 n. McCormick street Prescott, May 6-15. The gallery is open Friday-sunday 10AM-7PM or by appointment. There will be two openings for this show, the first on Friday May 6 and on sunday May 8 the second will be a special Mother’s Day Art Opening with tea and cookies, and from 3PM-5PM there will be a crystal bowl sound healing with Linda Kavak. Indigoskins@gmail.com
| Clair anna Rose is known to employ a Xacto in her artistic adventures.
clair@thenoise.us
14 • MAY 2016 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us