Suoakes

Artist’s Statement, or Why Do I Do This Anyway? by Sue Oakes

Life is like a book pressed up against the nose. It is not easily recognized or understood at close range. But when viewed from a distance, it becomes focused and clear. One of the advantages of having this distance or perspective, (read age, experience) is the understanding that our experience not only reveals where we have been but also where we are going. Although my road has taken many twists and turns, with various academic programs of study and now teaching, it might just be the journey itself that defines and transforms us, rather than the destination. I am primarily a visual person, and am always stewing a cauldron of images and ideas which have yet to take form. Sometimes these images, like demons, will bubble around in the stew for a while, only to tantalizingly submerge themselves and resurface again when something jogs the memory. Sometimes these ideas take on flesh and a consciousness of their own and resurface one day, demanding release from me. The longer I live, the more receptive I am to listening to these ideas, and bringing them to life.