Articles:
Nadia Lerner, “Art in Three Dimensions,” Stamford Advocate/ Greenwich Time, 7 December 2006, sec. weekend, p. 5, 17. *(see full text below)
“Crawford’s Artistic Creations on Exhibit,” Darien Times, 30 November 2006, sec. C, p.7
Nancy Robinson, “Crawford’s Art Dazzles, Delights,” Darien Times, 3 March 2005, sec. C, p.6
“Susan Crawford Show at Geary Gallery,” Darien News-Review, 24 February 2005, sec. A, p.25
“Crawford to Exhibit at Geary,” Darien Times, 17 February 2005, sec. C, p.5
“Susan Crawford Exhibit at Geary Gallery in Darien,” Darien News- Review, 17 February 2005, sec. B, p.16
Author(s): By Nadia LernerStaff Writer Date: December 7, 2006 Section:Features
A painting by mixed-media artist Susan Crawford elicited an interesting response from patients at the Stamford Center for Therapy and Consulting, housing theoffices of psychologist Maud Purcell and others.The fanciful artwork features a smallblack bistro table and chair with floral cushion. On the table is a cup of coffee, letterand envelope and a red flower in a flowerpot. A landscape hangs in the background.
"People would say, 'I wish I could just crawl into that painting,' " says Crawford, a Darien resident.
The artwork is unique in that the chair cushion, table, two of its legs and everything on the table is in three dimensions. "I call it mixed media because there is no category for it," says Crawford, whose partially sculpted works are created from fabric or canvas padded and sewn onto the art canvas. The artist believes they are one-of-a-kind, having never seen anything else that can compare.
The paintings will be on exhibit tomorrow through Jan. 8 at the Darien Library. This art form, she explains, slowly evolved from her early creative beginnings, fresh out of college in the early '80s, when she produced huge animated floral displays for a large flower shop in her native Billings, Mont. Welding the rods that held the flowers together into cement bases, she then sewed all the leaves and petals individually. The animation was accomplished with the help of her dad, who owned a stainless steel shop.
From there, her work continued to develop, entering the area of children's art motifs. Geared for a young audience, her themes included a variety of colorful flora and fauna.
Crawford's imagination was also fueled by a couple of relocations to Hawaii with her family, where her husband, Craig, was transferred by his company.
Reflections of the tropics are seen in works such as "The Road to Halitha," a small fruit stand with a three-dimensional red roof sheltering a pile of mangos and pineapples. The background is enlivened by pink ginger blossoms and bananas, some also in three dimensions.
Purcell, who invited Crawford to display the paintings on a rotating basis in the reception area and offices of her organization, says the works hardly stay on the wall before being sold and replaced by new ones.
"Her work is very happy, full of life, and that's what I see in it," says Purcell, who is also a contributor to The Advocate and Greenwich Time. "It is life-affirming; she has a different spin on what she sees than other people do."
While patients are often not in the best shape emotionally when they arrive, Purcell says the paintings help lighten their mood.
"It lets them have an amazingly positive experience before they even set foot into our offices."
With their daughters, Alyssa, 19, and Kelsey, 22, away in college, Crawford has the opportunity to accompany Craig, an executive with an international accounting/consulting firm, on business trips abroad. Recent travels to Italy spurred a number of colorful paintings, including a Venetian gondolier, a Tuscan doorway ablaze with red bougainvillea and laundry flapping in the morning breeze against a green-shuttered building.
Crawford, whose paintings range from $550 to $2,750, says one day she was stopped by a security guard in Purcell's office building. The woman told her, "I will probably never be able to go anywhere because I never can make that kind of money. But I love going into the offices during my rounds at night and stand in front of the paintings."
"This was probably the biggest compliment in my life," says Crawford.
In addition to post-graduate studies in painting and art history at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., she attended the Honolulu Academy of Arts where she volunteered as a docent in the Children's Art Education Program.
As an exhibiting member of the Rowayton Art Center, she earned first prize for mixed media in the juried Mavis Fenner Memorial Art Show in 2003. Crawford's works have been displayed in Honolulu and Kailua, Hawaii; Montana; and the Geary Gallery in Darien. She will soon join the Wilson Avenue Loft Artists in Norwalk.
"I love to see talented people get opportunities," says Purcell, noting that while exhibiting at the Geary, Crawford sold half of her paintings in one night.
what: Exhibit by artist Susan Crawford
where: Tomorrow through Jan. 8; an opening reception will be held tomorrow, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
when: Darien Library, 35 Leroy Ave.
price: Free
contact: 655-1234; www.darienlibrary.org
Copyright (c) 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.