Post 12 - Works Exhibited

"Swim With Me"

Swim with me.

36" x 24". Mixed Media on Wood.

Dtd 2009



Artist

  Susan Clifton - A long time resident of Fort Lauderdale with a successful business as a web designer, Clifton has been in the graphic arts field for more than 30 years. As the Internet grew in importance, Clifton decided to focus on web design, and it wasn’t until five years ago that she started to paint again. Since then she has had several gallery shows and has been an active participant in the arts community serving as vice president of the South Florida Artists Association, and is committed to bringing new business opportunities to South Florida artists.

Bio 

  Susan Clifton, a South Florida artist, attended Philadelphia College of Art as a painting major and studied Photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Susan worked for many years as an advertising art director, graphic designer and web developer before returning to her first love . . . Painting. Her experiences working with some of the great photographers of the Twentieth Century, like Richard Avedon and Francesco Scavullo, contributed to her sense of color and composition. Susan believes she was born an artist. She has dabbled in many forms of the arts – Dance, Photography, Graphic Design, Mosaics, Jewelry Making and Painting. Her early paintings were large graphic representations of the human form in a more POP art style. She is returning to the human form but combines realism with bold graphics with a strong sense of color.
  In 2009 she was one of ten artists selected for the Broward County grant funded show called DBA….Artist Entrepreneur. 2009 also found her in Art Fusion Gallery in the Miami Design District.
  In 2010 she was awarded a Broward County grant for an exhibit called Art Aquatic, the opening was in May of 2011 and was a hugh success. This exhibit was a collaboration with her husband Doug Barkley. The show included Doug’s underwater video along with Susan’s series of aquatic paintings.

  Artist Statement

  In the last few years I have been growing in a new direction. I’m exploring the use of fractal shapes in the form of fabric mosaics. I use custom printed fabrics painstakingly positioned to bring my figures to life. The balance between order and chaos of the fractals gives the illusion of movement, and it also represents the fragile nature of life.

  My work has always been a fusion of abstract and representational styles but even more so in this new work. In my series called “Heart & Soul” I’m studying the female psyche … the negative and positive thoughts that control her actions. As a woman I’m perplexed by these thoughts and wonder of their origins. Through this series I encourage both men and women to look into their hearts and souls to find the true meaning of their life.

  I incorporate my history into these paintings, not only in the thoughts but through the type itself. My mother was a typesetter, and I spent many a time with her at the office sitting at a typesetting machine. I went on to have a career in Graphic Design and Advertising…working with type. So it is that I now embrace my past by using type as a medium.

  I’m not an artist who can work on just one subject, but love investigating new ideas as they come. I was asked to paint something that represents Florida for a deck of cards featuring artists of the United States and Zelda the Flamingo was born. That has now led me to a series of animals that also use fractal shapes and are colorful, interesting, and unique. A less serious subject, but it represents the fun side of me as an artist.

-Susan Clifton

  Background

  This piece was inspired by Susan's love of the ocean and living in the Forida area. The sea turtle was one of her first pieces and was a winner in the Broward County Art Grant Fund.

  The Connection

  How this piece connects to my gallery theme, is that it represents one artists beginning and how it has grown into something more for her. She went from painting, to fine arts, and is now trying new things like mozaics, which I think are so beautiful. I chose this piece as the last one because of it's simplicity and colors.