We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Susie Barrett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Susie below.
Susie, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?
What a great question! After exhibiting at my first outdoor festival, Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibition 2023, I was totally burned out. The festival setup was a solid 2 days followed by 17 straight 8+ hour days outside tending my booth. About mid-way through breaking down my setup on the last day, it started to rain. The festival itself was a big flop for me. I had gone in with high expectations having wanted to do the event for years. But sales were low for a variety of reasons including the economy and unfortunate weather conditions. And honestly, maybe nobody liked my art? So, the rain on the last day was just the icing on the cake to my disappointment.
I decided I was going to spend a few weeks away from painting and focus on summer fun with my children. After a week, I found myself on social media watching videos of other artists. I have always loved contemporary paintings but never really explored doing any myself. So, I just kept digging into videos and watching other artists until I felt inspired to pick up paints again. And when I did, I decided to work with completely different media and materials than I had ever worked with previously. I didn’t want to invest too much in new supplies since as I said the earlier part of the summer had not been a financial success. So, I used what I had and instead of working on canvas or panel, I chose to work on paper. This gave me an entirely newfound freedom. First, paper takes roughly zero space to store which was perfect for my small space. Second, because of the inexpensive nature of the surface comparatively, I leaned into the process knowing if I didn’t deem a piece successful it could go right in the trash at a cost next to nothing. Third, I also learned that using inexpensive materials allowed me to feel freer with the process. For some reason I had less self-judgement and my mantra became “Just trust the process”.
I would encourage anyone feeling burnout to clean their artistic palette by just exploring new things. It has been so refreshing to me. Whether it’s a new surface, media or style, learning new skills is always useful.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I have always loved art. It was my favorite subject in school growing up. However, in college I wasn’t bold enough to study a subjective field, so I settled on Journalism and went on to obtain a MA in Media Arts with the intent to get my Ph.D. Life had different plans including marriage followed by three children. In 2013 and 2014, I was blessed with the opportunity to visit Hawaii several times. These trips absolutely changed my life. I was entranced by the colors of the islands and the water. They were so vibrant, I found them hard to describe. I would gush about them to friends, but they just couldn’t visualize what I saw in my mind. I could literally feel the colors and they made me so happy!
It was during my last trip of 2014 to Oahu when a pivotal moment occurred. I was walking downtown with my friend who had introduced me to Hawaii over the last several months. He stopped and looked inside a shop window and commented on a painting he liked. Instinctively I said to him, “I can paint that!” What possessed me to say those words, I don’t know. I hadn’t picked up a paintbrush in over 20 years. Upon my return to the mainland, I bought my first canvas and painted my friend a thank you for his hospitality. That painting opened a flood gate, and paintings literally began pouring out of me. Nine years later, I haven’t stopped though now I am also inspired by the Lowcountry of South Carolina. I’ve experimented with different styles, mediums, and surfaces, but my love of color has remained constant. I am so grateful to share my gift with the world and hope the light-hearted spirit of my work brings lasting joy to others.
Most recently, I’ve been exploring small contemporary mixed media abstracts. I’ve fallen in love with the painting process all over again. The chaos and uncertainty mirrors life in a beautiful way and I have found a sense of peace in knowing that if I trust the process, beautiful creations unfold.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
While the artistic process is largely a personal journey of self-discovery, there are important overarching qualities of successful artists. One of these is having a high teachability index. A creative person must be willing to learn through experimentation and/or study about their mediums, processes and techniques. Learning what others have discovered before them allows an artist to shorten the learning curve. This also allows them through their own experimentation to take what others have done as a starting point and make advancements that are uniquely their own.
Another quality is having a fearless nature when presenting one’s creativity to the world. Not every piece will resonate with a large audience. But that does not mean it does not have artistic merit or value. An artist must have the confidence to show up in the world for the world to know their art exists. An artist must have the tenacity to say to the world, “This creation came from the depths of my soul, and I gave it birth for all to see.”
Lastly, a third overreaching quality important to an artist is dedication. An artist must be willing to put in the time to perfect his/her techniques and craft. Advancement does not happen overnight. Especially in painting, sometimes progress is slow. Paint or mediums must dry. Layers must be added and taken away at precisely the right time. Work must be put in. One of the greatest accomplishments in abstract painting is making something “look easy” knowing this is largely never the case that the execution was easy.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
As an artist, I’m always looking to collaborate with interior designers, for both public and private spaces. I think my playful tropical abstracts are a perfect fit for beach properties and tropical vacation destinations.
I’m also looking to collaborate with fabric and product designers as well as clothing manufacturers who may find my work interesting to scale and mass produce. While I’m not a graphic designer, I am told often by people they would love to see my works on household items and would love to find avenues to make that happen.
Interested parties can connect with me via email at [email protected] or on Instagram @susiebarrettART.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.susiebarrettART.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susiebarrettart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susiebarrettART
