Susan McAlister: On the Way

Opening Reception with the Artist: Thursday, May 28, 5-7PM

Les Yeux du Monde is pleased to present On the Way, a solo exhibition of new work by longtime gallery artist Susan McAlister. The exhibition opens with a reception on Thursday, May 28, from 5–7PM, and will be on view at the gallery through Sunday, July 12.

About her new body of work, the artist shares:

““The world as it is would always be a reminder of the world that was, and of the world that is to come.”
– Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow*

My work is rooted in a love of land. It speaks to the hallowed nature of place and the importance of land ethic. Through a drawing practice that includes both large-format gestural works and multi-dimensional assemblages, I seek to capture the essence of the natural environment and interrogation of the history of place.

My process begins on the land. There, I journal, sketch, template, collect shapes, colors and natural ephemera. In the studio, I translate my finding through a broad range of materials and techniques. Throughout, I utilize charcoal from forest fires as a site-specific pigment, both in its found form as well as ground into paint and medium. Shapes and marks are both free hand and digitally manipulated, representational and non representational; hand and machine-cut. Each mark establishes its own identity while standing in relation to the whole.

At times I stack or combine these drawings with more representational work as a means of strengthening the conversation. Through an intuitive process of arranging marks and materials, I point to a persistent hope in the regenerative nature of the land. 

Ultimately, these works function as portals into a natural world, inviting the viewer into a personal space of memory, place and time.

*Berry, Wendell. Jayber Crow: A Novel. Washington, D.C: Counterpoint, 2000. Print.