Susan Webster
A Way to Dissent (2021)
I was born in Boothbay Harbor Maine and am the daughter of florists. Early memories are playing hide and seek in our maze of greenhouses where rows of pots were poised to root, sprout, or bloom and where the air was moist, lush, and fecund. I liked making things from the materials and supplies in our floral shop: frilly lacey ribbons, shiny foil, rolls of brown packing paper, carbon slips, cardboard scraps, discarded flowers, glue, pens, thick pencils, floral foam, staplers, scotch tape, scissors, and a pencil sharpener that worked like a charm.
I still like to work with a variety of materials and most recently I’ve been using tar paper, a roofing and construction material. I can fold, cut, rivet, paint, print, and sew it. It comes in rolls 3 feet wide and 144 feet long. It’s strong, resilient, diverse.
One summer, when I was a teenager, my parents hired a landscape painter Eva Jones to teach me to paint. I loved that her studio existed in her car. She drove us along shore roads -stopping at her favorite spots to sketch. Eva told me things that still resonate for me. She believed that all art should have a place for breath and air, and that capturing shadow and light was an artist’s life’s work.
After college, I was awarded a federal grant to develop an art program as an artist in residence at the Maine Correctional Center. The inmates represented various cultures, ethnicities, ages, religions, and gender identities. During those years, I witnessed how many of my students were often marginalized and underserved by our correctional and judicial systems. That experience affected both my artwork and political work.
I am a hotline volunteer at the Next Step Domestic Violence Project which serves families and communities in Hancock and Washington counties and is a statewide network member of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence. I believe that every individual has a right to live in safety without fear of abuse.
I have lived on Deer Isle for over thirty years. I maintain a studio in my home and a gallery space in the barn. I curate themed-based group exhibits as well as community collaborations.
For the past three years, I have been printing my DEFENDROE design on articles of clothing to help support reproductive rights. I believe that every individual has a right to make decisions about their bodies and lives.
EXHIBITIONS
2020
Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME, 2020 Biennial
Chocolate Church Art Center, Bath, ME, Hunting Positive
2019
Institite of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, Portland, ME, Darkness and the Light
The Akeley Gallery, Presque Isle, ME, Work Together Stuart Kestenbaum & Susan Webster
2018
Press Hotel, Portland, ME, What Else Can You Do?, Stuart Kestenbaum & Susan Webster
Penland Gallery, Penland, NC, Personal/Universal Stuart Kestenbaum & Susan Webster
Maine Jewish Museum, Portland, ME, Work Together Stuart Kestenbaum & Susan Webster
2016
Greenhut Gallery, ME, Focus: Printmaking
2015
Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, Frances N. Roddy Exhibit
2013
Lord Hall Gallery, The University of Maine, Orono, ME, Print Portfolios
Owen Art Gallery, Gould Academy, Bethel, ME, From One Place to Another
2012
Studio 53 Fine Art Gallery, Boothbay Harbor, ME, Susan Webster: New Work
Southern Graphics Council Conference, New Orleans, LA, Portfolios
2011
Elizabeth A Beland Gallery, MA, Susan Webster: Connections
Manhattan Graphics Center, NYC: Faculty
AWARDS / GRANTS / RESIDENCIES
2019
Artist Residency: MonsonArts, Monson, ME
2018
Artist Residency: Pocosin Arts, Columbia, NC
2011
Bill Bonyun Artist/Educator Award from the Maine Alliance for Arts Education
EDUCATION
University of Maine, BA in Art
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT
Peter’s Valley School of Craft, Layton, NJ
Oregon School of Art and Craft, Portland, OR
Manhattan Graphics Center, New York, NY
University of Maine, Orono, ME
Studio Artworks Center, Jerusalem, Israel
Shakerag Workshops, St. Andrews Sawanee
