Sudie Rakusin | Carrboro, North Carolina USA
All of my art is inspired by nature and her creatures. The papier mâché tables in this series combine animals found in the Serenghetti with those found in the North Carolina woods surrounding my home and with the domestic companions with whom I share my life. I believe all life is precious and I hope these pieces convey the love and respect I feel for these amazing animals.
I came into the world an artist, and have been drawing since I could hold a pencil. When I began my formal training, I worked first in oils and pen and ink, but added papier mâché to my repertoire when the desire to create in three-dimensions took hold of me. In addition to these tables, I create papier mâché bowls, masks, and free-standing creatures ranging from one foot to several feet in dimension. It is a detailed process beginning with the building of an armature to serve as the skeleton of the papier mâché sculpture and ending with the layering on of lace, beads, stones, or glass. As I am finishing one piece, I am undoubtedly already beginning to sketch, dream, and plan my next creation.
Living as an artist, I like that I can see a color in nature or elsewhere and mix it in my mind. I like that I am not afraid to learn new techniques, that I am excited to experiment. I believe I collect data unconsciously and squirrel it away in my brain, or I consciously make notes or do sketches of ideas, color combinations, mixed media projects, patterns. I cannot control what comes through me. Sometimes I wish I could. My life would be easier. What I have come to understand is that I am a channel. My true work is first to be the channel, the conduit open and clear, to create a space where art can happen, then to sit at my table or stand at my easel and be patient. Being impatient as I often am does not further the process along. Sometimes the ideas come so fast and seem so bizarre I can only hope I catch up with them.
My art has been widely reproduced in newspapers, magazines, and calendars and can be found in such books as The Once and Future Goddess by Elinor Gadon; Seasons of the Witch by Patricia Monaghan; Amazon Grace, Quintessence, Outercourse, and Wickedary by Mary Daly; and Nine Short Plays and Spindle and Other Lesbian Fairytales by Carolyn Gage. I have published color note cards of my paintings and two blank journals containing my pen-and-ink drawings. Under Winged Willow Press, my small, independent publishing house, I have published two coloring books for adult women, The Coloring Book for Big Girls and The Second Coloring Book for Big Girls: Spirits and Goddesses, three hardcover children’s picture books in my Dear Calla Roo…Love, Savannah Blue series, and the softcover, dual-language English and Spanish Savannah Blue’s Activity Book/Libro de Actividades de Savannah Azul for children.
