Suzanne DeCuir is an artist who over the past 20 years has been a painter, but recently she began working with textiles. She and her husband are raising three daughters, adopted from China, who have inspired her most recent work “Life Jackets.” She finds time to make art in the left-over margins of the day and will be sharing stories about how she grapples with what she wants to say and how to show it. To see more of her work visit her at suzannedecuirfineart.com.
A Bespoke Shroud for My Mother
I have begun a new project inspired by my mother’s passing last year. Her name was Rosemary. While the time spent at her bedside was deeply meaningful with the whole family present, the time afterwards was a little unsettling. Several hours passed and the funeral director arrived and proceeded to wrap her in a very
Before and After
Here’s what I’m working on now. Sometimes you feel that a painting is just not exactly right but you don’t know how to fix it…so you just have to set it aside. With the painting above, I had felt it was too stripped down and not that interesting, but wasn’t sure what to do. I let
Inspired by Life Jackets: You Can Now Order a Decorated Jacket
Dear Two in the World Readers,Inspired by my work on last year’s Life Jackets project (The Life Jackets video can be seen here),I have created some wearable, embellished, denim jackets. Already several people have sent me their own jackets so I can create something original for them and they can have confidence the fit will be
Capturing Peace After Nightmares
This is a part of a series of posts about process. It records the various minutes/days of being an artist in the midst of creating work that always leads to discovery, whether via smooth or bumpy paths. These are studies for a larger piece that will include more images and fabric…creating something to reflect my
Embracing Process: One Rectangle At a Time
Sometimes it seems to help the creative process to work on several projects at once, so while I continue finishing the big quilted piece about my Irish grandfather I have been working on this simpler block piece with rectangles made of fabric and paper. About six months ago when I was not sure what I
Bowls of Memory
I have been working on a piece conjuring up memories of my Irish ancestors with these bits of cloth and emblems of places and things. My grandfather came from Northern Ireland the year before the Titanic sailed; he was one of 12 children and since he died in the 1940s, he was never to see
Long and Winding Road
It has been a challenging winter since my wonderful mother passed away last month. She was the best person I knew. I am lucky to have art to turn to, as it always proves to be such a refuge. I practically run to board the train each week for art class in downtown L.A. Although
“The Cotilda”
After finishing my Life Jackets project, I felt the pull to do a little painting again. During the months of making those jackets, I had done a lot of thinking about the unknown futures of individuals—now my thoughts turned to unknown pasts, especially relatives on my late father’s side. A genetic test revealed I was
Life Jackets
Twenty one years ago this month, a very bundled up baby was thrust into our arms in a tiny hotel room in Chengdu. After the Chinese adoption contingent left, we started to unbundle her because she seemed too warm. Garment after garment came off until we reached the last one…a beautiful, humbly made, and somewhat