Artist Susan Denniston/About the Artist

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

"One chooses an object which, when gradually deciphered, reveals a state of mind."
- Stéphane Mallarmé

The objects which are so compelling to me have been the seawall, the human figure, and small pieces of our environment. Each is a container, a repository of a truth that endures.

Seawalls are built by man and changed by the ocean, sometimes reflecting a delicate balance, other times a powerful imbalance, between nature and man, between us all, between what is revealed and what is concealed, between sorrow and joy, between isolation and connection.

The figures reflect a search for connection with the other; a cry for contact, communication, compassion, and community; a struggle for truth, tolerance, tenderness, and transcendence; a faith in our shared humanity.

For me, the very process of layering color, shapes, and lines in the search to bring forth an image comes to embody our entanglements and the inherent messiness and imperfection of connection.

Through observation and contemplation of the image that emerges through the layers from the flat surface of the paper, I hope subtle and perhaps uncertain currents and undercurrents of recognition and possibility begin to stir in the viewer who pauses to gradually decipher the image through their own perceptions and memories.

I hope a glimpse of our connectedness is revealed and recognized.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2009	Abstract + Concrete, James Library and Center for the Arts, Norwell, MA Solo exhibit featuring work from the Seawall Series and the Bone Shadows Series Article in boston.com (click here to read)
2007	Fragments of Place, Paul Pratt Library, Cohasset, MA Solo exhibit of seawall monotypes and wisteria gelatin prints sponsored by SSAC Article in the Cohasset Mariner, September 7, 2007 (click here to read)

GOUP SHOWS
2009	Water, Wellfleet Public Library and Mass Audubon/Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Wellfleet, MA Curated by Terry Gips Exhibition catalog available [ www.coldmeadow.com/thewaterproject.html ]
2009	Layer upon Layer, Seven Printmakers, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA Curated by Monice Morenz
2009	Inside/Out, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
2007	Five Printmakers, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA Group show in conjunction with TechArtIII

SELECTED JURIED EXHIBITIONS
2010	Water, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA Juried by Jennifer Wood
2009	65 th CAA Members Prize Show, Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge, MA Juried by Joseph Ketner, Henry & Lois Foster Chair in Contemporary Art, Emerson College
2009	Our Towns: Scene and Unseen, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA Juried by Carole Bolsey
2009	Unlimited Vision: One-of-a-Kind Prints, Endicott College Center for the Arts, Beverly, MA Juried by Dwight Pogue
2009	54th Annual Festival of Arts Juried Show, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA
2009	Northeast Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA Juried by William Stover, Curator, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
2009	Impressions – Printmaking, New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, NH National show juried by Parker Potter
2009	Black, White, & Shades of Gray, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA National show juried by Sidney Hurwitz
2009	Endless Possibilities, LynnArts, Lynn, MA Juried by Kurt Wisniski
2009	35 th Annual Winter Juried Show, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA
2009	Point of View, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA Juried by Arthur Dion, Director, Gallery NAGA
2008	Blue, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA Juried by Jen Mergel, Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
2008	Printmakers of Cape Cod Exhibition, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA
2008	All New England Juried Show, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA Juried by Robert Douglas Hunter, Carol O'Dell, Robert Roark
2008	Off the Wall, Danforth Museum of Art, Annual Juried Members Show Curated by Carole Anne Meehan, Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
2008	ceX2, Grossman Gallery, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA Juried by Abigail Ross, Executive Director/Owner, Judi Rotenberg Gallery Kristen Dodge, Director, Judi Rotenberg Gallery Jed Speare, Artist and Arts Manager, Studio Soto, Mobius
2008	Different Voices, Courthouse Center of the Arts, West Kingston, RI Juried by Katherine French, Director, Danforth Museum of Art
2008	34 th Annual Winter Juried Show, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA Juried by Marc St. Pierre, Sergio Roffo, Franny Andahazy
2007	From Ink to Image: A Show of Unique Prints, Mill Brook Gallery, Concord, NH
2007	52 nd Annual Festival of Arts Juried Show, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA Juried by Christopher Chippendale, Shannon McDonald, and Michael Price
2007	9 th Annual National Juried Small Works Exhibition, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA National show juried by Beth Conrad McLaughlin
2007	Decent Exposure, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA Juried by Jennifer Liston Munson and Tom Rassieur
2007	Coming of Age, Lewis Clark State College Center for Art and History, Lewiston, Idaho
2007	Passages and Process: The Unique Print, The Perkins Gallery, Stoughton, MA Juried by Kurt Wisniski
2007	33 rd Annual Winter Juried Show, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA Juried by Damien DeBona, Diane Levine, Elizabeth Pratt
2006	Printmakers of Cape Cod Fine Print Exhibition, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA Juried by Candy Nartonis
2006	Coming of Age, MGNE 20 th Anniversary Traveling Portfolio Juried by Joann Moser, Senior Curator, Smithsonian American Art Museum
2006	Sea and Sky Annual Juried Show, Hull Lifesaving Museum, Hull, MA
2006	51 st Annual Festival of Arts Juried Show, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA
2006	Spring Open Juried Show, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA Juried by Jim Peters
2006	8 th Annual National Juried Small Works Exhibition, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA National show juried by Katherine French and Nancy Whipple Grinnell
2006	Winter Juried Show, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA Juried by Paul Schulenburg
2006	32 nd Annual Winter Juried Show, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA Juried by Marc St. Pierre, Carey L. Vose, Shane Savage-Rumbaugh
2005	Sea and Sky Annual Juried Show, Hull Lifesaving Museum, Hull, MA
2005	88 th Annual Midsummer Show, Ellison Center, Duxbury, MA
2005	50 th Anniversary Festival of Arts Juried Show, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA
2005	7 th Annual National Juried Small Works Exhibition, Attleboro Art Museum, Attleboro, MA
2005	Founder's Exhibition, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA
2005	31 st Annual Winter Juried Show, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA
2005	29 th Annual Juried Festival of the Arts, North River Arts Society, Marshfield, MA
2004	Annual Juried Members Show, Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, MA
2004	Annual Juried Sea & Sky Show, Hull Lifesaving Museum, Hull, MA
2004	28 th Annual Juried Festival of the Arts, North River Arts Society, Marshfield, MA
2004	Juried Members' Show, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA
2004	Spring Juried Show, The Schoolhouse Galleries, Provincetown, MA

AWARDS

2010 Honorable Mention: Water, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA

2009 Works on Paper Award, Artist of the Year 2009: CAA Members Prize Show, Cambridge, MA

2009 Honorable Mention: Our Towns: Scene and Unseen, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA

2009 Award of Merit: Black, White, & Shades of Gray, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA

2009 Second Prize, Printmaking: Annual Winter Juried Show, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA

2008 First Prize, Drawing; Second Prize, Mixed Media: All New England, Cape Cod Art, Barnstable, MA

2008 First Prize, Printmaking: Annual Winter Juried Show, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA

2007 Third Prize, Printmaking: Annual Festival of Arts Juried Show, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA

2007 Third Prize, Printmaking: Annual Winter Juried Show, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA

2006 First Prize, Printmaking: Sea and Sky Annual Juried Show, Hull Lifesaving Museum, Hull, MA

2006 Second Prize, Printmaking: Spring Open Juried Show, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA

2006 First Prize, Mixed Media: Winter Juried Show, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA

2006 First Prize, Printmaking: Annual Winter Juried Show, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA

2005 First Prize, Printmaking: Sea and Sky Annual Juried Show, Hull Lifesaving Museum, Hull, MA

2005 First Prize and Third Prize, Printmaking: Annual Festival of Arts Juried Show, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA

2005 Second Prize, Graphics: Oct/Nov Members' Show, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA

2005 Second Prize, Graphics: May Members' Exhibition, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA

2005 Honorable Mention, Graphics: Founder's Exhibition, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA

STUDIO ARTS STUDIES

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Studio Camnitzer, Valdottavo, Italy
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA
South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA

AFFILIATIONS

Monotype Guild of New England, member since 2006, President, 2008-2010
Cambridge Art Association, Gallery Artist member since 2008
South Shore Art Center, Gallery Artist member since 2006
Cape Cod Art Association, Gallery Artist member since 2004

** WHAT IS MONOPRINT?

Monoprints, singular and unique prints, are created by layering color, texture, shape, and line with ink on a smooth surface (usually, but not always, a piece of Plexiglas) and pressing a piece of paper over it to transfer the inked image onto the paper. The Plexiglas can be re-inked and the same piece of paper pressed over the inked plate again, building and shaping the image. It is a wonderful, somewhat unpredictable process. It requires a willingness to be attentive, curious, surprised, and responsive. Through close observation, connections and conversations begin to unfold that lead to the next decision, the next layer, and a series of evolving images and ideas. A new layer of color or shape will be transformed by what lies beneath it, by what lies beside it. One layer will reveal, another layer will conceal, as the monoprint gradually gathers shape and suggests a state of mind.