FEATURED ARTIST, Susan Stanek
Lowell Ledger, Wednesday July 8 2009, page 8
By Emma Palova
Being in the same room with artist Susan Stanek is like watching fireworks explode on a sunny afternoon Looking at her oversized painting titled 'Floral Graffiti,' inspired by her garden elicits that same feeling.
Beautiful yellows, reds and greens make you want to shout, "wow!"
And that is exactly what the artist is aiming for in her mulit-genre work.
"I want people to say "wow," she said. "I want people to remember my art and I want to make them happy."
Her solo exhibit will be on display at the Riverwalk Gallery from July 14 through Oct. 3. The reception for the artist will take place July 19 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Stanek's art appeals to all generations from her depictions of animals and birds like the morning dove in her ambient glow. In that piece Stanek explores the whiteness of light. Her picture of a longhorn captures the beautiful Texas sunlight on the skin of the bull and in its eyes. It is on display at JW's Coffee Shop on Cascade and Forest Hills roads.
Even when she started drawing animals as a child, Stanek never drew stick figures.
"I always had the proportions right," she said. "I started drawing before I was six."
Stanek has a bachelor of fine arts degree from Aquinas College where she was on the Dean's List throughout her studies. She headlined an art show in 2007, and her work was accepted into the Grand Rapids Art Festival last year.
"It was an honor to get accepted," she said.
She has designed a flag for the Grand Rapids Rotary Club. Stanek creates art of all types, from sculpture to paintings, contemporary, traditional and Avant-Garde, including fine and commercial art, as well as the design of logos and family portraits.
Even though she is always experimenting, Stanek adores classic artists like Monet and Rembrandt.
"I often sneak in references to the masters," she said.
Her work has gone through various phases from photo accuracy to more experimental art that has a whimsical quality.
"The school helped me get more professionalized," she said.
Stanek enjoys creating art fluidly with effortless ease that is reflected in all her work and paintings. Her 'Whispering Fern' wurrounded by a spiral poem has sold to a private home in New York. She has patrons from New York to California, as well as England.
Stanek has also contributed art to the movie 'Broken' by Miramax with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The main caracter, Christian, who is an artist, uses her work as his in the award winning film.
"I am very happy to share the joy of art with others," she said. "The Lowell community has always been supportive of the arts, and has always been welcoming of local talent like myself."
A sense of color and the love for nature ties all her work together. Stanek also does watercolors of local landmarks like the Fallsburg Covered Bridge and the Showboat. Even though she takes a picture to capture details, Stanek paints from memory.
"I am honored to have my stuff out there for people to interact with my work," she said.
Typically, Stanek uses two approaches in creating her artwork. The first approach is finishing everything in her head, and the second approach means getting halfway through the piece, then stepping back, waiting and working something new into the painting.
"I always embrace a sense of chance, "she said. "I don't want people to get sick of my paintings, so I put little things in them. I want people to walk away from a painting and still think about it."
