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"Inspired by the natural world, especially fauna and flora, the bird has been my steadfast motif. In my current work the focus is on the movement and patterns in murmurations of birds as well as the visual patterns in their songs. The lesser seen bird habitats in our biodiversity systems also intrigue me; such as the wetlands and swamps.
While marveling at the form of birds and their connection to both earth and sky, I admire their courage in the face of stronger predators. Also inspiring are their elegant innovations invoked to meet the challenges of the elements.
The two-dimensional and three-dimensional are merged by wrapping strips of my drawings around the bird forms. My bird drawings are rendered by “wrapping” them in graphite marks. Employing stencils as a tool for mark making and creating shapes provides me with a method of making multiple images. The results create movement and echo the repetitiveness of shapes in the natural environment.
After earning her fine arts degree in painting, Susan Hostetler started her overseas travel with setting up a hand papermaking mill in Friedberg, Germany in 1985. Her work in Germany led to exhibitions at the Gutenberg and Klingspor Museums. Her subsequent move to Barcelona, Spain, changed her palette and imagery due to the light, fauna and flora of the Mediterranean regions. Whether working in gouache and mixed media on handmade paper or working three dimensionally with clay, Hostetler has always been inspired by nature. From her New York City studio Hostetler traveled to Africa, Europe and the South Pacific gathering further inspiration for her works.
Education
1975-76 Minneapolis College of Art and Design
1979 Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture-Kansas City Art Institute
Selected Exhibitions
2019 Smith Center Gallery, INOVA Hospital, Fairfax, VA
Massoni Gallery, Tree-ness, Chestertown, MD
2018 SuperfineDC, The Art Fair, Union Market, Washington, DC
2017 Kramer Gallery, ‘A Bird’s Eye View’, (3-person show) Silver Spring, MD
Sculpture Now 2017, Mclean Project for Arts, VA
2015 Carla Massoni Gallery, Earthwork, Chesterton, MD
2014 Gallery Plan B, EnviroNature, Washington, DC
2008 Arts Club of Washington, Washington, DC
2005 Gallery Plan B, Washington, DC
2002 Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran exhibit, DC
2001 Art Advisory/Boston, Boston, MA
2000 MOCA, DC, Washington, DC, Art Advisory/Boston, Boston, MA
1995 Somerstown Gallery, Croton Falls, NY
1991 Metropolitan Life, Pan Am Building, NY
1986 Audubon Art Exhibition, Anchorage, AK
1978 San Francisco Art Dealers Introduction Exhibition, CA
Grants, Awards, and Commissions
2019 INOVA Fairfax Hospital, site-specific installation, 10’x70’, Fairfax, VA
2013 Robert Raushenberg Award for Art Education
2000 Counterpart International for UNIFEM award
1998 The film, “You’ve Got Mail”
1997 Four Seasons Hotel, Carlsbad, CA, Fox TV, “Beverly Hills 90201”
1992-3 The Federal Reserve Bank (NJ), site specific, 7’x38’ painted screen
1985 Oxbow Fellowship for Oxbow Paper & Book Intensive
1976 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation (Twinrocker Handmade Paper)
1975 Russell Siebert Fund, Western Michigan University Honors College
Selected Public and Private Collections
Federal Reserve Bank
Arts in Embassy Program
DC Pfizer
Readers Digest
Merchants and Savings Bank
BM
3M Company
Harris Bank
Commerce Bank UPS
INOVA Fairfax Hospital
Long Island University Fidelity Corp
Deutchebank
Four Seasons
Hebrew Rehab Center, Boston
Publications
2018 Washington Post, In the Galleries, September
2017 Washington Post In the Galleries, July, and August
2016 Washington Post In the Galleries, July, and August
2013 East City News,
2001 Boston Globe Magazine
2000 Boston Globe Magazine
2000 MetroLife Magazine (Washington Post), Spring
1990 UN Secretariat News, United Nations, (cover)
New York Hotel magazine, feature profile
Hamptons Magazine, summer, feature profile
1989 Kronbergerzeitung, June, exhibition review
1983 “Handmade Paper Today”, Silvie Turner & Birgit Skiold
Frankfurter Rundschau, , September, exhibition review
SUSAN HOSTETLER
