Suzan Scott                                                       Artist, Observer

Suzan Scott                                                           Artist, Observer

“The Weather Project…is a perfect vehicle for me. It enables me to explore my lifelong interests in art, nature, and science, and to direct my attention to the present moment in order to deepen my perception and my powers of observation."

I am a painter. I paint sky.  I am awed by its beauty and complexity.  Observed changes in weather fronts, cloud formations, and shifts in light and color inform my work. I use photography and meteorological readings to record the days. Atmospheric conditions constantly change; countless, precise, invisible, adjustments are ceaselessly processed, balanced, and realigned. These systems are vital and alive to me. Each piece is an attempt to capture a moment in time and record both the change and the changeless in this vast system.

My work is also about process. I have created a method of working that combines my interests in art, nature and science. It is a two-step process of field work and studio time. In the field, I use direct observation, photography, personal notations, weather statistics, and digital recordings.  Then, in my studio, I explore the process of production through manipulation of physical materials, drawing, painting in, painting out, layering, re-drawing, and glazing. Elements of time, motion, and sequence are addressed in this process.

When I begin to work I always have a specific day and time in mind, as reference. I usually eliminate all reference to landscape, to remove distraction and focus the viewer’s eye. However, once I begin to work, I paint intuitively, slipping into a space that is in-between the visible and the invisible, the now and then. Painting becomes a process of mark making and response.  The finished work is the result of the dialogue between myself and the day,representing a specific, unique and irreplaceable segment of time: a piece of sky.

The work of both photographers and painters figure have influenced my work and my way of seeing and thinking. Photographic influences include Muybridge’s motion studies, Stieglitz’s Equivalents series, and the landscapes of Ansell Adams.  Monet’s haystacks, Constable’s cloud studies, O’Keefe’s strong, simple forms, and the seriality and conceptual nature of LeWitt are among the other influences that inform my work.

The Weather Project  is an ongoing body of work which represents the fusion of my lifelong interests in art, nature, and science. I have a deep appreciation and respect  for the natural world and all living things. There is one sky, one earth, one people; each of these three exists simultaneously and in amazing variety. I hope to be part of the movement to raise people's awareness of the environment and our delicate connection to it through the creation of art and media that is based on appreciation of nature and the diversity of life.

Artist Statement