Susan Stone Salas Mixes
Art
& Social Commentary
by Maggie Chartier
As a young girl
traveling with her family from Mexico to
Guatemala and to Spain, Susan Stone Salas had an early
start to her career as an artist and social commentator.
"When we were in Spain the bullfights really disturbed
me. I just couldn't conceive of an art form that involved
killing." While Susan's passion for drawing horses had
alaways dominated her art, in Spain, at age eleven, she
began to draw bulls. "It really impacted my art a lot, in
fact I drifted off of horses for a while and did a lot of
bulls, trying to get people to have compassion for the
animal." For the first time, people began reacting to the
commentary in her art. "It was a really strong moment,
being able to communicate something, an idea, and have
people actually understand it... whether they accepted it
or not."
Surrounded by a supportive family who encouraged and
appreciated art, Susan's talent was constantly fostered.
"My mom is kind of an artist, a creative writer; my dad is
an
inventor; my sister is a watercolorist; my late step-uncle was
Jan Siegel, an established artist in San Francisco; and I have
an uncle who is a wood-carver, so I suppose we have a pretty
artistic family."
When Susan was eight, the family was living in Mexico and
Susan's mother gave her two daughters and her nieces a
special project, to express themselves artistically -- on a door.
"My mom had us all do a painting on a door... I don't
remember
anything out of the ordinary except for doing horses. Ever
since I can remember I've always wanted to be a horse. Wanting
to be a horse really motivated me to draw them. When I wasn't
crawling around like a horse I was drawing them, riding them. I
don't claim to understand it completely, but it's something that
has
driven me for a long time." In Guatemala, although she still
drew a
bit, her passion for drawing horses was put on hold for a while.
"I
was given a horse by a renowned wrestler named Chepe Azari. He
gave me this two-year-old filly Muneca to take care of, and I was
just in heaven."
For Susan the horse is symbolic as an expression of the soul, and
in so
many of her pieces she captures that expression of soul, energy,
and
movement. "Being fluent in both English and Spanish, art for
me is like
a third language because it's something I've done all my life.
It's a
means of communicating sadness or communicating passion or all of
the other emotions. The lines, the movement... different moods
reflect
different lines. It just happens. And that's part of the magic of
it.
"I start with an emotion and whatever that emotion is, I
just paint...
sometimes I don't have a clue what's going to come out. I just
evolve
with it, grow with it." Susan does not work from
photographs, nor does
she rely on other images of the animals and scenes that she
paints. She
prefers instead to paint from memory and imagination. For
example, she
will take an historical event such as the "Trail of
Tears" and approach it
as one would approach a puzzle, taking the known elements and
fitting
them together into a coherent image.
"I think painting is spiritual. I don't like to see how I
can take the credit for
it all. I like to think when you're in that state of mind you tap
into an
energy and it's like you're painting; but then again it's like
it's not really you
painting. I don't know how to explain it -- the energy is there,
coming out,
but you're not the original artist of it. You're just
interpreting the energy."
Susan feels that art should have substance and serve a function,
and like
"One Unveiled Teardrop," the image of the "Trail
of Tears," make a social or
historical commentary. "I really am trying to speak through
art. I seem to
become one with my subject, then I'm able speak through my art. I
think art
should be a reminding post, a refection of something that has
passed or
something that is present, whether it's of a people, a culture,
an animal, or
a person."
In "Mirror" for example, the sense of strength, and of
a power not so easily
harnessed, bring woman and horse into our own social context. It
shows
the bond that exists out of circumstance and the fortitude these
two share
in their struggles. "I was trying to portray the parallel
between a woman
and a horse. As girls we're taught to be obedient. We're supposed
to be the
subservient ones, just like a horse is being trained to be
obedient. In society
and in the work place women are expected to tolerate a lot more.
The
woman is considered to be the lower one, and in the same way, man
(and
I'm saying 'man' in general, I'm not saying all men), but man has
this thing of
conquering horses. It's the cowboy image you know, and I see a
connection
between the treatment of horses and the treatment of women.
"I think it's important for us as humans to know what we've
done to each
other and hopefully make amends. For example the buffalo
slaughter of the
1870s: it not only wiped out the massive herds, but also hurt
many indigenous
cultures which depended on the buffalo for their livelihood. It
would be nice if
there could be healing on both sides of it." As she began as
a child in Spain and
as she continues to develop as an artist, Susan's pieces are
moving towards
national healing, addressing historical circumstances with an
artistic poignancy
that requires the viewer to reflect ? perhaps to look at an old
event in a new
light, perhaps to move beyond it to a place of peace.
* By Maggie Chartier
Southwestern Fine Art
Sept. 11 01
In Memory Art Poetry and Prayer
Other
Artistic Expressions
Ink on Paper * Sculptures
Works in Progress * Poetry * Gifts
Miscellaneous
Search - Client Services - Art News
Guest Book - 9-11 - Giclee Prints - Links - About Susan
Espanol Francais Deutch Italiano Norsk
Portuges
Thank You For
Visiting!
art@sssalas.com
Susan Stone Salas Studio
1326 Lujan St.#10 Santa Fe, NM 87505 phone or fax (505) 438-3178
Content
Rating
This site is owned by Susan Stone
Salas Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved
