Susan Isaacs
Emerging
Visual Arts: Sculpture
Wilmington
"“My art process is a joyous, frenzied dance while deconstructing the idea of ‘craft’.”"
Work Samples
About the Artist
Written by Gail Obenreder
Susan Isaacs originally trained as a visual artist, but as an adult, she forged an accomplished career as an art historian, curator, educator, and frequent exhibition juror. After following those busy and successful paths, she “has now returned to being a professional artist,” something to which she has always aspired.
Born in Philadelphia, Isaacs lived in Kentucky for two years during her father’s Army service, but she was raised in Wilmington and has lived there most of her life. As a child, she first studied art at the Delaware Art Museum, and as a teenager she studied painting with Ed Loper Sr. Isaacs then attended Boston University School of Fine Arts for two years and spent three years at Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), earning the 4-year certificate of Fine Arts. As she moved from studio art to an academic career – with a BA, MA, and PhD in art history and a recent MFA in studio art– she was influenced by a cavalcade of artists, absorbing multiple artistic influences.
But throughout her life and work, Isaacs has still “always thought of myself as a painter.” A creative youngster, she often sewed her own clothing, and over her career she has worked collaboratively in costume and set design. But it was when she began to take printmaking classes that she realized they “offered me the possibility of designing fabrics,” something that has had a major influence on her recent work.
Isaacs now creates her own fabric patterns that are digitally scanned and printed on cotton yardage, combining her original designs with commercially available fabrics. Her process-driven work features both machine- and hand-stitching, and she also employs applique. Often her creations feature elements like zippers, buttons, and other elements “that seem like they might function but do not.” Current projects include a series of wall sculptures, an installation based on the interiors and gardens at Winterthur, and another sculptural installation based on plants of the Mid-Atlantic region.
Although she studied sculpture and printmaking in school, Isaacs – as evidenced by her Award submissions – now finds herself “a painter who has landed in this unfamiliar three-dimensional world.” Creating sculptures and three-dimensional installations “requires a different kind of thinking,” since these works must be structured and supported. Isaacs spends “a great deal of time just figuring out how to construct (and install) the forms I like.” Her irregularly shaped three-dimensional works are often comprised largely of textiles, so she finds that she must determine how to “engineer [her] whacky objects and worlds … and the never-ending storage issue is challenging, too.”
Being in her studio, “spending hours drawing, cutting, sewing, stuffing, and producing general mayhem,” is her greatest reward. Isaacs often listens to books, art podcasts, and music as she works. She loves the solitude of creativity, but “punctuates this with travel and visits to exhibitions and artists’ studios.” And she enjoys both Broadway and avant-garde theater, believing that “we should all see and experience the arts in person.”
Isaacs says that her Division Fellowship “is amazing.” Having spent much of her professional life as a curator and art historian, “returning to my first love, making art, is such a privilege.” The Award funding will help support her artmaking, but more than that is the “recognition that my work is worth supporting.” She enjoys being part of the Fellowship cohort and plans to exhibit her work with her colleagues. Isaacs will produce new work and acquire new techniques that will allow her to keep experimenting; “I plan to be extremely productive this year.”