Susan Mahan
Welcome to my world. My life is filled with the creation of art, art education, and creative people. There is nothing I would rather do than visit a gallery, a museum, or an artist’s studio. Being at the Pendleton Art Center in downtown Cincinnati fills me with inspiration. Being there is like traveling back in time to the art building in college. The smell of paint and turpentine is in the air and conversations about art and artists, shows and classes, fill the stairwells. Making and studying art fills my life with joy.
My mixed media process is my own. I combine the three media that I love to work with the most: paint, printmaking and fibers. I paint all of my own fabric with no predictable outcome. I use no commercially printed fabric. Printing fabric is a very spontaneous process. I use colors in a unique way and also overprint blocks of pattern. I have never seen anyone else make collage paintings in this way. I see the finished piece before I begin and work backwards. Sometimes it emerges the way I envisioned it; sometimes it is a complete surprise. Enjoy!
