Susan Hazard Assemblage

SUSAN HAZARD

Susan Hazard assemblages are sculptures composed of recycled and found contrived or natural objects. All the pieces have a story, from the individual objects and from the relationship of each layered memory. Autobiographical or illustrative, all the assemblages encourage inspection, prompt analysis, create connections and perhaps create new stories. My inspiration arose from exposure to Judy Chicago’s evocative The Dinner Party (1979) installation at the San Francisco Art Museum and Edward Keinholz intriguing, once shocking and almost tame, Back Seat Dodge – ’38 (1984) at it’s home in the Los Angeles County Art Museum in the mid-1980’s.

My earliest pieces were weavings, the beginning of the breakaway from the usual two-dimensional surface I usually paint upon. Some of the earliest “flat” assemblages were born as an acrylic painting on heavy watercolor paper or flexible Mylar. The collages on the surface segued into a folded origami-like constructions, supplemented with marred, discarded etching paper and enriched with cast-off craft pearls, thick acrylic paint from another project, and pins….lots of pins, garnered from old pincushions, scraped from the bottom of sewing machine drawers, collected from magnets in clothing store changing rooms, stuck in lapels. And white glue. White glue with left over acrylic paint, white glue with glitter added, white glue with pencil lead, watercolors, whatever coloring agent that comes to hand, found in the darkest recesses of the garage or studio. The Mylar surfaces began with thin acrylic glazes, built up over multiple layers, then randomly cut into long strips. The strips were woven into a simple pattern, and then again embellished with more acrylic paint, dyes, glazes, glitter, objects and sewing. All the enrichment processes (and there is never enough enrichment, intuitive marks or surface manipulation) were not planned. The procedure is to wander, looking for pieces that catch the attention or imagination, or just seem to call out for an opportunity to belong. More is more; less will never do. Add and add again, until the surface merits approval as an archaeological dig, reconstructed and reconstituted to its original celebratory glory, or to a glory it never attained in its first life.

Soon I discovered the weavings were not substantial enough for my three-dimensional cravings. I began to embellish objects, as shoes, boxes and furniture. The Shoes piece was a piece acknowledging the ordinary fashionable high heels: manipulators of posture and procurers of bunions, crippled feet, desire of the little toe removal for sharper, narrower toe boxes. The shoes begged for a sense of place, and their boxes were created, and angelic putti, or cherubs, to lift them into the heavenly category. The wall display unit grew, with mirror to complement and reveal the details, and the installation was complete. Walls were too non-confrontational; tables could create a stronger, more defined space. The Hen Party was created from a discarded table and chair set with an old china tea set to celebrate the gathering of friends, but not loyalty. The missing member would be the object of the gossip; miss a hen party at your own peril. The ghostly absence of distinct personalities at a table set for a long-delayed gathering became reminiscent of Miss Haversham’s unfulfilled matrimonial opportunity.  The Emigrant was inspired by the discovery of a cardboard suitcase in an Irish thrift store. I placed it upon a night stand and filled it with hand cut peat moss turf and stones. The cupboard was filled with an old man’s suit, his few belongings (pipe, key, rosary) and his often-mended work shoes peeped out from under. The Emigrant was the laborer who traveled to England or America with the love of the land in his heart, always yearning to go home, until his death.

As my short car trips evolved into longer journeys and a move to Ireland in the early 1990’s, I found creating pieces in the suitcases, as with the Emigrant, fulfilled my need for movable art. The suitcases began as containers, evolved into glimpses into past experiences and thoughts, and then took on a life of their own, as many relics. The Traveling Shrine Series and the Reliquary Series continue in an autobiographical musing made substantial, still utilizing the discarded items of our lives. Even wedding dresses are not precious enough to withstand the dumping of memories, the urge to purge.

The assemblages have been shown in Santa Barbara, California; San Jose, California; Everett, Washington; Port Townsend, Washington and in County Mayo, Ireland (much to the delight of then Republic of Ireland President Mary Robinson, who paused to touch the Tea Party Table and smile.) In their “off” hours, the suitcases and their pedestals repose in closed, rested positions, waiting to pique the curiosity and tug at the imagination at their next opening.