Susan Isaacs
My art process is a joyous, frenzied dance while deconstructing the idea of “craft.” In my current work as a multimedia artist, there is a tension between engaging directly with nature and the imagined world created in the studio. I also suggest the innocence of childhood and the fantasy of imagined places: enchanted gardens, Neverland, closets that lead to other worlds, and imaginative sets in old Disney movies and Broadway musicals as well as the world of architecture and historical interiors. I recall too my early feminist engagement with decorative patterns and fabrics. Although initially trained as a painter, then printmaker, I also studied ceramics and sculpture and taught courses on the history of modern and American architecture as well as the modern interior. I have more recently concentrated on fabric constructions of both individual works and installations. A background that includes set design, craft materials, sewing, dance, pattern and decoration painting, and installation results in a merger of images and forms that address both the natural world and the domestic interior. This multifaceted background informs my practice.