Brewster Ladies' Library Reception for Faces and Places: The Art of Susan McDormand

Susan McDormand began oil painting about 25 years ago in a little school in Brattleboro, VT called The River Gallery School. Founded by Ric and Barbara Campman, they believe everyone is an artist! The school was given all kinds of large sheets of paper from Vermont's paper mills, hence she learned to work on somewhat fragile surfaces.

The Faces you see in this exhibit were "found" in the paper; "Who is with me today?" Sometimes the Face might look like a friend. Though Susan thinks a "Face" primarily represents an emotion or an idea. Perhaps a line from a poem seems to capture the expression or the colors or the mood, especially in the background. Often the mind seems very active and/or the influences from above the body appear. This happens with the colors or swirls, etc.

The larger "Places" happen because of the drama of a large sheet of paper! Susan has painted many "places" and again, they seem to appear as open, expansive, and often unknown to her. "Places" are representative of the mysterious world we live in.