November in the Annex: Susan Emmerson and Capucine Bourcart
This November in the Annex we are featuring 11:11–The Depth of Perception Award Winners Susan Emmerson (Juror’s Choice Award,) Capucine Bourcart (Honorable Mention.) The show will run from October 30th through November 24th. Below the Artists talk about their work.
Susan Emmerson
A large part of my work focuses on natural disasters and the resulting emotional trauma of the loss of home and community. Mine is also a message of the effects of climate change on individual people, families and homes.
I experiment with materials to expand my artistic practice beyond painting and drawing to create wall sculptures using molded Tyvek and found objects. The photos show the piece “Gone Home/Home Gone: Bathroom Mirror” under construction: first I paint sheets of Tyvek, roll them, then heat them to slowly melt away the layers to create textures reminiscent of peeling paint or rotting wood. I use found objects and old photos to create narratives and remind viewers of the poignancy of the loss of the memories that objects hold.
I also use drawing and collage to create work with similar themes, with an eye towards using unique materials to express my concepts.
Capucine Bourcart
Ideas appear like flashes.
I would say that my mind processes images, techniques and topics which I am interested in as the days go by and ideas pop up instantaneously like a light bulb.
When an idea appears, I first write it down in a notebook which I call “the idea book”. This is a rough drawing with some notes. I let it rest for a few weeks or months.
Then I use another notebook which I call “a weekly”, because each week I take one idea from my “idea book” to make a mockup of it. And again, I let those mockups rest.
Finally - but not all the time - I use a third and last notebook called “series”, in which I develop a series by drawing them from one of the mockups I selected from the “weekly” notebook.
I make abstract art which, when you go close to it and look at its details, is easily understandable.
I look for colors, textures everywhere: urban or rural, human or animal, etc. I take them into pictures which I print and cut into pieces before reassembling them in a collage. I like labor intensive work . The assemblage of a thousand pieces. It is meditative and makes me feel also prisoner, slave of my work. I am at its mercy!
The topics I use are inspired by personal interactions, social issues, and both urban and natural landscapes.