Art often imitates life, but it also allows us to explore our wildest dreams. That’s the idea behind Suzanne Sbarge's exhibit Familiars.
Her dreamscape work explores themes of mystery and mythology through multimedia collage. KUNM spoke with Sbarge about how the seed of Familiars was planted.
SBARGE: Familiars is the title of my exhibit that's at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Santa Fe. That is a wonderful, very inspiring place that I'm so happy to be part of. It's an alternative space for exhibitions. They make their own watercolor paints, and they have sort of a laboratory where you can watch paints being made. And then it's a store with art supplies from France and Italy and all over the world, and books and an exhibit space and a workshop space. So the show Familiars grew out of the workshops that I teach there once a month, and many of the pieces were made as demos in my workshops. Some of them were made on a recent residency I did in Oaxaca, Mexico, and some in my studio here in Albuquerque, but they all explore like layers of metaphor stemming from the sort of the world of dreams and surreal narratives.
KUNM: What about the collage medium is so special to you and why do you use it in your work?
SBARGE: I mean, it's the center of my work. So everything I do is informed by collage, but I also paint based on collages, and go back and forth between paint and collage. It's a technique that requires you to let go, and it's very liberating and adventurous. In the approach I take, I really look to the unconscious, to lead the way and to it's a process of discovery and really listening to your intuition. And it's a great way for artists who work in all mediums, or even people just beginning and starting out in art, to discover, you know, new paths and and learn. It's really a process of learning and discovery for me. I always want to be surprised. I don't set out and say, ‘okay, I'm going to make this,’ I don't do that. I want to discover and be surprised by what happens along the way and that that process is really invigorating for all artists of all mediums really.
KUNM: Many of your pieces in this collection depict animals, women and floral motifs. What is the significance of each of these different elements for you?
SBARGE: Well, it's hard to put it in a nutshell, because my work is about exploring the realm of mystery and mythology symbols and dreams. So my goal is to have the story not shut down, to leave people and myself with this sense of wonder. And I'm particularly drawn to combining humans and animals because I feel like in our culture, there's a lack of connection with the natural world, and that we're not separate from it. So I'm always looking at how we're all combined, and we're all part of sort of one organism and one ecosystem. And one way of doing that is combining pieces of the natural world and humans. But I also have a lot of fun doing it. It's very entertaining to discover these combinations as I go. So it's really a mix of humor and the absurd, but also the seriousness of the state the planet is in, and the need to really feel our connection across a lot of different boundaries
KUNM: And tell me about these workshops that are going to be happening during your exhibit.
SBARGE: The workshops are an opportunity to join me around the table, which is one of my favorite things about collage, is sitting around a table with other people cutting and making and telling stories, responding to each other's work. It's a really inspiring environment where you forget about time and the outside world, and you just get into the zone of the imagination, and each workshop is a little different. Many of them involve working on paper with the watercolors that they make by hand at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts. And then I bring in a lot of collage materials from my own studio to share with the students. And people can also bring some of their own materials to add to the mix. But by the end of the workshops, people have pieces they can take home with them, and it's really an inspiring process. I love seeing the smiles on people's faces as they leave the workshops.
'Familiars' is at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Santa Fe until April 19. No ticket is required to view the exhibit. Registration for Sbarge’s workshops can be found here.
