Suzanne McClelland, Resident Artist Lecture 2022

Suzanne McClelland gives a lecture at Skowhegan talking about her interdisciplinary practice which spans photography, thinking about photography as text, painting, the book form, writing, sculpture, and installation. For McClelland, looking for transparency and opacity are themes that she is interested in exploring through writing and visual art. McClelland talks about the need for her as an artist to identify things by categories, how to include peripheral vision in one’s work, and thinking about the domestic space as a landscape. McClelland further explores her interest in thinking about what it means to unpack moments missing from history, in particular through an intimate study McClelland conducts of the Southern Poverty Law Center to understand what has been omitted from official narratives. Naming these types of lost histories for McClelland is important, for it becomes as valuable as reproducing or reflecting a body. McClelland also talks about the role that sound plays for her as an artist, acting as her teacher. McClelland mentions the importance that the voice plays with sound, and how it is something that has not been as clearly addressed as the body. For McClelland, sound is also tied to music, especially with the way that music connects her mind and body together. McClelland elaborates further with this, saying that music has the potential to bring people together in ways that can become powerful. McClelland then begins to talk about her painting process, explaining how paintings are made on and with fabric, touching on the history of fresco in particular which acts as a way for her to understand the extraordinary feeling that comes with touching something and the importance of letting surface and material merge. McClelland states that fabric continues to remind her of something that can be used to protect oneself, show who we are with it, be mindful of the surface and weave of the fabric, and be aware of what the cut of a fabric can do to someone’s body. As McClelland continues her lecture, she reminds the participants of the need to always look back on old work; and if one thinks about doing something in a different way, it is important to act on that. McClelland states that this helps her come to terms with the fact that if one person can take some pleasure out of one thing she puts into the world and they have access to it, McClelland can feel a tiny bit of peace. McClelland ends her lecture by telling the participants the importance of listening and acting on what they hear, not wanting to have her friends and family deal with things that should not be here, and making art in a way that can become available in order to allow people to share their thoughts with it in a satisfying manner.