Feature Articles
 For more information about this article or gallery, please call the gallery phone number listed in the last line of the article, "For more info..."

May Issue 2009

Nina Liu and Friends in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Susan Miller Simon

Nina Liu and Friends in Charleston, SC, anticipates the celebratory nature of the upcoming festival season with an exhibition of work by Susan Miller Simon entitled Defining Moments. The exhibition will open on May 1 and remain on view through June 30, 2009.

Simon, whose studio is in Evergreen, CO, has both a Master of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa. Since graduating with the MFA in 1979, she has shown her paintings in solo exhibitions in Italy, Germany, and throughout the US. In 2004 Mepkin Abbey, outside of Moncks Corner, SC, presented an exhibit of Simon's work, and her paintings and other work have been on view at Nina Liu and Friends over the past twenty years.

The artist has said that she has found inspiration in imagery from such diverse sources as "cave paintings, Byzantine icons and manuscripts, and works by Giotto" among other things. Though these images influence and inspire Simon, her work has its own distinct character. Her compositions often appear to be minimal upon first inspection, but a more focused viewing reveals that they feature patterns, subtle shifts in color, blocks of text, and stitching that give each work a layered quality.

Simon exploits the translucent nature of watercolor to create works on paper that seem to glow with an all-encompassing light. She uses color in a disciplined way to reflect the hues of the world that she sees around her studio. The images that Simon introduces into her work are ever-changing, but she focuses on animal and plant forms that reveal her interest in the natural world and our place within it.

Gallery owner Liu says that she finds Simon's work to be "both engaging and endearing." In a very personal response to Simon's focus on spiritual themes, Liu says that Simon "takes me on a journey. She provides a vehicle - perhaps a horse or a turtle - for getting there, but she does not tell you what path you will take to arrive at the destination."

For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings or call the gallery at 843/722-2724.

[ | May'09 | Feature Articles | Carolina Arts Unleashed | Gallery Listings | Home | ]

 

Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.