Susan Ahlstrom
Statement
Environmental issues became important to me in the 1990’s while traveling in the Pacific Northwest. I remember one day, in particular, my first day of a two-week trip there. On a hike up to Clear Peak West, the panorama was one of massive clear-cuts with Mt. Rainier looming in the distance. Along roads going north, there were wide borders of tall pines, camoflaging a treeless landscape beyond. It was devastating to see this degradation and impossible to forget.
I traveled to the Caribbean and to South India last year. I asked the local nature guides what the current environmental issues were. The problems in the Caribbean and in South India were the same as ours; the issues were habitat loss, over-development and abusive land practices. When I arrived home I learned that a 9000 square foot house was being built adjacent to mine and that a local pond was polluted with deck stain that had been dumped into a drainage outlet more than five miles away.
Is there hope for the land? In the remote areas of the wilderness that I have explored, there are often signs of trouble. In my work as an artist, I continue to bring attention to the environment, sometimes to a sense of well-being that the natural world offers, but more often, to conflicts that have evolved between man and nature.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014
- Watchung Arts Center. NJ, New Art Group, “ Multiplicity”
- Hoboken Studio Tour, NJ , Monroe Center for the Arts
2013
- Jersey City Studio Tour, “Sticks and Stones”
- Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, “Light”
- Watchung Arts Center, NJ New Art Group, “Green”
2012
- Hamilton Gallery, NJ, Bound Brook, NJ, “Bound/Brook”
- Watchung Arts Center, NJ, New Art Group, “OMG”
2011
- Watchung Arts Center, NJ, New Art Group 20th Year, “Is There A Pulse”
2010
- Watchung Arts Cente, Watchung, NJ, “Sticks and Stones”
- Les Malamut Gallery, Union,NJ “Imaginary Landscapes”
2009
- Watchung Arts Center, Watchung, NJ “Truth/Lies”
2008
- Children’s Specialized Hospital, Mountainside, NJ
2007
- Morristown Community Theatre, Morristown, NJ
- Barron Arts Center, Woodbridge, NJ “Special Anniversary Show”
2006
- Ocean County Artist’s Guild, Island Heights, NJ “McMansion Show”
- Barron Arts Center, Woodbridge, New Jersey “Mc Mansion Show”
2005
- Palmer Gallery, Springfield, NJ “Person to Person, Thing to Thing…Everything Relates to Something Else”
- Monroe Center for the Arts, Hoboken, NJ
INVITATIONAL SMALL GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- 2006 Studio Yoga and Griffin Gallery Open House and Art Exhibit, Madison, NJ
- 2004 Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts Invitational, Annapolis, MD,
- “Smart Growth?”
- 1998 Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
- 1997 Gallery of South Orange, South Orange, NJ “Grounds for Art”
SOLO EXHIBITION
- 2009 Solo Show Watchung Arts Center, Watchung, NJ “Movement with Meaning”
CURATED EXHIBITIONS
- 2014 Paul J. Gallagher Legacy Exhibit, “At the Intersection of Art and Music”
- 2009 Art Tiles..From A Slab Of Clay
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- 2011 Interview NJ Patch, “Bound/Brook”
- 2007 Interview WMBC-TV Channel 63 “The McMansion Show”
- 2006 Interview Channel 35 “The McMansion Show”
- 2001 Rahway Progress, Interview for “Union County Show”
- 2000 Echoes Sentinel, Out and About: Cover Photo
- 1997 Interview Channel 36 The New Art Group
EDUCATION
- 20th Anniversary Udu Drum Workshop with Abbas Ahuan and Frank Giorgini (2009)
- Anderson Ranch Workshops,Snowmass, CO Alan Sonfist and Jay Coogan (2008)
- M.A. Studio Art, New York University, New York, NY (1994)
- C.F.A. Parsons School of Design, New York, NY (1991)
- B.A. Goddard College, Plainfield, VT. (1979)
TEACHING/EDUCATIONAL PRESENTATIONS
- 2006-2007 Art & Anatomy, Stirling, NJ
- 2006 Origami Cranes for World Peace Workshop, Chatham, NJ
- 2006 Ceramic Sculpture and Tiles, Stirling, NJ
- 1999 Newark Museum, Newark, N.J. Handmade Tiles
- 1998 Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ, Drawing Fundamentals
- 1997 Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ Drawing Fundamentals
- 1997 Newark Museum, Newark, N. J. “Clay: Handbuilding”
- 1994-96 Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ, Ceramics I Substitute
- 1993 Jersey City State College, Jersey City, NJ,”Robert Arneson/Barbara Bloom”
ART GROUPS
- Morris Arts
- Studio Montclair, Inc.
- Tile Heritage Foundation
- New Art Group
- Watchung Arts Center
NON PROFIT ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATION AFFILIATIONS
- Great Swamp Watershed Association
- Passaic River Coalition
- Trust for Public Land
- Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
- National Audubon Society
COLLECTIONS
- Marta Blumberg, Watchung, NJ
- Mr Andrew Borloz, Kennilworth, NJ
- Mr and Mrs Lawrence Griswold, Asheville, NC
- Mr and Mrs Todd Heacock, Basking Ridge, NJ
- Georgia Landau, Montpelier, VT
- Gina Lord, Jamestown, RI
- Theresa Rowland, Madison, NJ
- Mr and Mrs. James Terry, Cambridge, MD
- Installation “Crane Mobile.” Studio Yoga, Madison, NJ