About the artwork
Susan Harlan
Drawing Water I & II, 2015
Dimensions(h x w x d): 35" x 20" x 3/8" (unframed), 35" x 20" x 3/8" (unframed)
Fused glass
Located in Lincoln Hall, Park Blocks entrance
Regarding her artistic process, Susan Harlan refers to her collection of botanical elements, which she preserves in glass slides: “I work from this
source material as another artist might a sketchbook,” she states, “discovering new territories and creating landscapes.” Harlan is regarded for her use of glass to create painterly forms and effects. Scanning her specimen slides, enlarging the images and making cutouts from them, she manipulates the stencils to produce patterns reminiscent of the actions of wind, water, and sand. “I execute the work in fused glass paintings, relishing the light reflection inherent in glass. I record all my ideas as painted books. The glass landscapes and drawn books, along with the giant photographs, become an installation of the temporal whole.”
About the artist
Susan Harlan served as Professor of Fine Art at Portland State University from 1992 to 2015, and as a painting and drawing instructor at the Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C., from 1988 to 1992. She has also worked as an editorial cartoonist for USA Today, and as a federal and Supreme Court artist for CBS, Channel 4 and the Washington Post.
These works are a gift of the artist, Professor Emeritus at PSU.
Banner image: Photo by Mary McVein.