October 2013

University of South Carolina at Sumter, SC, Features Works by Susan Lenz

The University of South Carolina at Sumter, in Sumter, SC, will present Decision Portraits, featuring works by Susan Lenz, on view in the University Gallery, located in the Anderson Library, from Oct. 11 through Jan. 27, 2014. A reception will be held on Oct. 11, from 5:30-7:30pm.

Susan Lenz is a professional studio artist in Columbia, SC. Generally using needle and thread for self-expression, she works to articulate the accumulated memory inherent in discarded things. She seeks a partnership with her materials, their purposes, values, and familiar associations.

Lenz’s fiber artwork has been widely exhibited in international and national juried exhibitions and as solo installations all over the country. She has been awarded fellowships to attend art residencies at the MacNamara Foundation in Maine, Studios Midwest in Illinois, Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas and the Studios of Key West in southern Florida. Lenz has been engaged for workshops at Slippery Rock University, The Studios of Key West, and the Society of Contemporary Crafts in Pittsburgh, PA.

Lenz’s works have claimed three “Best of Show” awards in the fine craft competition, Palmetto Hands. Other first place ribbons were earned in the 2011 National Heritage Quilt Show at the McMinn County Living Heritage Museum in Athens, TN and in the 2011 Wearable Arts Awards in Port Moody, British Columbia as well as in the Will’s Creek Survey, Cumberland, MD. Lenz is represented by the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville, NC, and Michele Tuegel Contemporary in St. Petersburg, FL, with work that has won the 2011 Niche Award for decorative fibers and is a finalist in the 2013 competition.

Lenz offers the following statement, “From rising to dying, people make decisions. Some are profound; some are routine; some have significant repercussions; others are cause for celebration. In each instance, more than one option is available and the choice helps define the person making it. This series of portraits examines personal decisions without making value judgment. It focuses on the faces of real individuals and the decisions they made. The titles and words are meant to reflect the choice, confront and challenge the viewer, and stimulate consideration.”

Decision Portraits is an installation of two-dimensional, framed portraits. The art quilt portraits are image transfers on tea-stained muslin. Each one includes stitched words. The words and title are meant to reflect the decision made by each person depicted. There is no value judgment being made. This series is not about any social, moral, political or religious interpretation. It is about the decisions. Each work shows a specific person but also suggests others, both individual and universal.

The exhibition brings the public face to face with options made by others. Yet, in this confrontation, one will consider more than personal choices made in familiar situations but also reactions to those dealing with circumstances outside one’s comfort zone. The artwork asks questions such as “Would I donate a kidney or take a loved one off life support?” The portraits cause reflection on an individual’s reactions to many controversial matters. The group invites viewers to contemplate the choices of others as well as those made personally, day-to-day.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call Cara-lin Getty, Gallery Director at 803/938-3727 or e-mail to (cgetty@uscsumter.edu).

[ | October 2013 | Feature Articles | Download Carolina Arts' Current Issue | Carolina Arts Unleashed | Home | ]