susan graham sculpture: miniview
posted by the scholar on April 28th, 2008filed under: art, metal, miniviews, sculpture
i thoroughly enjoy the thoughtful construction and loose style of these metal animal sculptures from new york artist susan graham. her handmade menagerie is created from the idea of a three dimensional drawing, with a single continuous strand of steel or copper wire used for as long as possible for stability. special attention is addressed toward the character, gestures and expression of each animal, which makes it difficult to choose a favorite! ever curious to know more about the brains behind the operation, i asked susan three quick questions…
q: how did you get into making these sculptures?
a: i made a wire animal a long time ago as an art assignment. a teacher brought in a live rooster in a cage (this was in ohio, where i’m from) and asked us to use wire as a medium and capture the character of the rooster.
q: do you have an art background?
a: i do have an art background. i had started school in chemistry at ohio state university and then switched to art-sculpture and photography – because that’s what i had always wanted to do. i moved to new york city and started a degree at the school of visual arts, but did not finish. i was afraid of getting too much in debt and not being able to afford an art studio here. i have a whole other art career besides the wire animals – i show at a gallery in chelsea called schroeder romero.
q: what inspires you to create?
a: i am not sure what prompts my desire to create, but it is constant – a basic need. i do my art, i sew clothes sometimes, i make the wire pieces, i like to make cakes. it just seems to be built in.
susan will be exhibiting in future tense: reshaping the landscape at the neuberger museum from may 11th – july 20th, 2008. be sure to see her etsy shop for her wonderful collection (or to commission your favorite animal), and go here to see some of her photographs from a recent exhibition she had at the philip morris branch of the whitney.
thank you susan!
April 28th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
gorgeous work! she gets an amazing amount of detail out of that wire!
April 28th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
hi sosser,
i completely agree. and she works in other media too — very interesting stuff.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Amazing!
If animals were made of metal, they would surely look like these !
May 1st, 2008 at 9:19 pm
hi hundredfire,
yes! i agree — i think the fish look the most “authentic” but the horse is my favorite (right now).
thanks for stopping by!
February 26th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Your wonderful
May 3rd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
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