Garrison, New York
Garrison Art Center
Suzan Shutan and Susan Knight met 20 years ago when Shutan was a fellow at the Bemis Foundation in Omaha, Nebraska. They admired each other’s work and discovered a mutual interest in patterns of weather, land, and scientific behavior related to the natural world. In 2011, they decided to join forces and develop an exhibition with the goal of providing viewers with artworks that inform, educate, and inspire interdisciplinary communication, community participation, and scientific and artistic literacy. Their collaborative exhibition, “Watered Down: Issues That Run Two Ways,” included various suspended and freestanding sculptural components. At first glance, the work has a festive, light-hearted, pop quality. The sculptures, which are made of industrial and pedestrian materials such as plastic drinking straws, tar paper (used for roofing), pom-poms, and Tyvek, filled the space with an airy touch, making use of walls, ceiling, and floor. Closer inspection, however, revealed that these seemingly fanciful works have an underlying message of grave intent. Knight and Shutan want viewers to gain insight into the environmental challenges raised by multiple water uses in the Hudson River Valley. …see the entire review in the print version of April’s Sculpture magazine.
