OneNKY Center Gallery

Exhibition Title: Streams of Consciousness: Fields/Clouds/Bubbles

Artist Statement:

“Let us record the atoms as they fall upon the mind in the order in which they fall, let us trace the pattern, however disconnected and incoherent in appearance, which each sight or incindent scores upon the consciousness.” —Virginia Woolf

“Stream of consciousness” is a literary device used by writers to portray a person’s thoughts and conscious reactions to events, perceived as a continuous flow of impressions. The works in this exhibition are made using a stream of consciousness approach. In the process of their making, I release them from a need to achieve a specific meaning. Instead, I allow my mind to respond intuitively to the tools and materials I’m using. I allow my mind to wander, and to accept and record what pattern, color, or line seems to emerge. Inevitably, the imagery is influenced by the urban landscape that surrounds me and the natural and industrial patterns encountered therein. Themes of water, waves, winding rivers, as well as trees, plants, and architecture can be seen throughout the works.

To make the black paintings, I use a single small brush, dipped in sumi ink, to fill the space, folding shapes and patterns into one another with no preconceived composition. For the polyurethane paintings, I determine a limited palette and an order for layering the colors, then I work quickly pouring lines and shapes into a shallow mold before the liquid material cures into a solid rubber tile.

I refer to the images in both series as “bubbles”, “clouds”, and “fields”, and as much as they reflect the external patterns visible in the environment, they are also an internal reflection about the merging of information, nature, and technology, and how I process this vibrant, often chaotic world. My intention is to bring viewers into that world with me; to create an immersive visual experience of mesmerizing spaces where viewers can dive into the complexities of the images and allow themselves to linger there.

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All of the artworks shown below are for sale. If you would like more information on purchasing one or more of these pieces, please contact Rachael Parker, Director of Northern Kentucky Placemaking, at rachael.parker@artswave.org.

About the Artist

Susan Byrnes is a multidisciplinary artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, multimedia installation, radio broadcasts, and writing. In all of its manifestations, her work exhibits a close attention to detail and an interest in what ordinary objects, materials, and patterns reveal about human history.

Byrnes’ artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the Midwest and Southwest, including Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, the Sculpture Center in Cleveland, the Weston Gallery in Cincinnati, the Dayton Art Institute, the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, New Mexico Highlands University, 516 Arts in Albuquerque, and the Amarillo Museum of Art. She is the recipient of grants from the Ohio Arts Council, Cincinnati Summerfair, Montgomery County Arts and Culture District and the City of Cincinnati, and was awarded a Yeck Fellowship from the Dayton Art Institute.

Byrnes has created public art commissions in the new Dayton (OH) Metro Library Main, West, and Miamisburg branches; the Village of Yellow Springs, OH; the ArtPark in Coshocton, OH; and the Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth. She teaches as part of the Ohio Arts Council Artist-in-Residence Program and is a former contributor to the online art journal AEQAI. Her audio pieces based on regional and national artists and artmaking processes have been broadcast on public radio stations in Ohio and Kentucky. Byrnes earned an MFA in sculpture from Eastern Michigan University and a BFA in photography from Syracuse University. She resides in Cincinnati, OH.