1 minute read
Susan Tennant
susan tennant visual artist
My renewal time took shape about three months into 2020. This was when the world shut down due to COVID and it became apparent that I would not be sailing through the Azores, Portugal. My project was to be a working crew member of a threemasted sailing schooner, “The Blue Clipper.” My purpose was to learn how to work in a team towards a common goal. Susan believed sailing a tall ship would prepare her for the challenges of working someday with professionals in different fields to plan, fabricate, and install a large public artwork. Then one day, she ran into the father of one of her son’s friends at the Eagle Creek Sailing Club. She began taking sailing lessons from him, and purchased an 18-foot sailboat, “Jersey Girl.” I thought about how sailing influenced my work. I thought about the knots I learned how to tie and ways to include this technique into my work. Using rubber tubing, fiberglass rods, and wood, she created work that she describes as a “visual energy of constructed materials generated from the sailing experience.” When her granddaughters’ school shifted to remote learning, she invited them for virtual visits to her studio and had art classes.
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I also began taking my 12-year-old granddaughter with me sailing. If there was no wind, we would drop anchor and sketch or read and just be immersed in the moment. Artistically, Susan began to challenge herself with pairing her sailing experiences with her art. As a result of COVID halting any exhibition plans, Susan began a practice of construction and deconstruction, creating multiple wall-mounted installations, photographing them and tearing them apart. She used this new practice to think about sustainability and changing perspectives within her craft. The best part of adding sailing into my life was that I could spend half a day on the boat and the rest in my studio.
Susan Tennant
SUSANTENNANT.COM
