Susan Murie

Artist Statement

My work is based in photography, capturing images with a camera, creating imagery which I assemble on hand coated cyanotype papers which is then transformed by light and water. Subjects in my work include found objects, the natural world, architectural elements and vintage toys, dinnerware and decorative objects. In creating work I think about the ephemeral nature of things, fragile familial bonds and the materiality of cyanotype.

My work is all hand printed and often large scale, inviting an immersive experience into the rich Prussian blue color inherent in cyanotype, a blue that while feeling its vast distance, it also draws you in.

I work on paper, silk and linen and add color and detail with paint, ink, spray paint, pencil, marker, dry pigments, cold wax and collage elements. I have a large archive of images to choose from when I begin a new piece responding to that moment/time/day creating a unique work. One of my main objectives in creating my work is to give myself and the viewer a sense of the sublime, that beauty exists in the world, is ephemeral and it’s worth keeping a record of it.