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Thick layers of oil paint encrust the canvases of Cape Cod-based painter Susan Carr, which reach out into the third dimension like small sculptural objects. Looking back toward artists like Phillip Guston, Willem De Kooning, and Robert Ryman, Carr works by applying paint to the canvas with a brush or trowel, working quickly (wet on wet) and determining the composition as she goes along. Though the works are abstract, shapes, symbols, or symbolic colors often emerge to elicit a reaction from the viewer, or more simply to guide the eye across the canvas. The works are meditations on musicality and the rhythms of language, Carr has said: “I write poetry so you could say, my paintings are poems without words. Poems dripping in color."
"My eyes get hungry. I always want to feel the paint with my eyes." ~Susan Carr
Susan Carr on Instagram @susancarr88
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guests
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to Something Rather Than Nothing, creator and host Ken Vellante, editor and producer, Peter Bauer. This is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast, and I am so pleased to have Susan Carr, artist, painter. I'm stationed here in Oregon. I'm reaching
00:00:32
Speaker
Susan from the Cape, it was a great pleasure. Susan, welcome to something rather than nothing podcast. Hi Ken, nice to see you. Yeah, I maybe like some others and I'll just drop it right here.
Discovering Susan Carr's Art
00:00:51
Speaker
I saw your paintings on Instagram and they were so beautiful and unique to me and colorful.
00:01:01
Speaker
and the texture, I was brought right in. And I was brought in to them and I was like, I just, I wanted to know more. And part of that, it's been nice to discover your art for me and encounter it. But I wanted to ask you, Susan, when did you see yourself as an artist? What's that part of your story as far as when you get to the point you're like, this is what I do. This is who I am. How did that
Susan Carr's Artistic Journey
00:01:30
Speaker
happen?
00:01:30
Speaker
I always saw myself as an artist. Since I was five, I saw myself as an artist.
00:01:40
Speaker
I always knew I was going to be an artist. I always wanted to be an artist. I had my first show at the Falmouth Artist Guild. And I really want to remake the painting I made then. It was Girl Watching Ants. So it was, I remember it. It was in a show. I was so excited. And I knew then that I wanted to be an artist, but I thought maybe I might be a illustrator.
00:02:09
Speaker
At the time, as I got a little bit older in school, it wasn't until high school that I decided that I just wanted to be an artist. I went to be an art therapy person for a while, and I was in a
00:02:34
Speaker
a program for that and through the museum school. It didn't work out. I had children and I could not take the later classes. So it ended up that I had to do fifth year at school. I had to do it, but I chose to participate in fifth year, which led me to a master's program.
00:03:00
Speaker
So and and now I'm here so it it all worked out really but I I kind of I've lived my life basically without a net there has been there's been like no No, like teaching or anything it's all been Just creating art. That's what I do
00:03:28
Speaker
Yeah. And, and, and, and thank you for that. And, um, I know it's something you mentioned about those words, you know, that your experience and how you, how you do your art. And, um, thanks for, thanks for, uh, mentioning that too. Um, because I talked a lot of different artists in this different way. I talked to artists who maybe don't see themselves as an artist. Like it doesn't happen a lot, but there's that dynamic of, you know,
00:03:54
Speaker
And so I find that fascinating. I wanted to ask you a question about the paintings themselves. Of course, I haven't seen them physically yet.
Ken's Artistic Exploration
00:04:06
Speaker
I'll make it out that way and see them. But in their description and visually how they appear, bright, vibrant paintings with much
00:04:16
Speaker
texture and it's kind of a strange question to ask but can you describe a bit of that what I'm seeing with regards to the texture and how the painting is? I think I want my eyes to be able to taste and feel the paint. So my eyes get hungry. I want
00:04:46
Speaker
I'm always wanting, I always want to feel the pain with my eyes. And that's why I also do ceramics because I like to do clay so I can feel the clay. And they're kind of the two sides of the same coin. I've always been a very thick painter. I was an abstract thick painter for a long time.
00:05:15
Speaker
um it's hard for me it would be very difficult for me to do a thin painting but i i do do um my eyes are a lot of my eye paintings on paper are enamel um on rag and they're very thin and they're very clean so i do do it um but my uh my uh
00:05:37
Speaker
those those brightly colored thick paintings are something else. I have I do many different things because I like to keep myself very busy. Like I like to change it up all the time for myself to keep myself curious and involved with the art. Oh, I
00:06:02
Speaker
I'm really connected when you say in particular that curious, you know, I find that, um, you know, I have a
Susan Carr's Creative Process
00:06:10
Speaker
deep curiosity, but even right now, Susan, I'm taking my first art class ever. Yeah. Yeah. It's online. Yeah. It's online. It's two months. It's, um, with the guests I've had on the show, Susie DeVille has been very inspiring to me, but I got to tell you, um,
00:06:29
Speaker
You know, I started painting just a few years ago and having this experience where we're going, there's not a lot of time spent. This is to get you moving, get you doing, give you the structure to do the things. And it's not for a million questions. It's to get in there and do it. And we're going into different forms. And one of the things that I've discovered is that
00:06:57
Speaker
I made a collage and I never made a collage, or at least not since I remember when I was a kid. But one of the difficulties I've had in my painting is that I don't know where it's going or exactly what I'm trying to create. And when I was able to work with collage, I was able to take pieces of painting that I had created in my style and really for the first time ever to form it into
00:07:25
Speaker
like my intention more than how it comes out. And it was just transformative because I was like, Oh, this is what a painter who's going in towards that is able to achieve when the paint or maybe able to achieve when the painting is done. And I was like, well, maybe that feeling or me doing that is just a different method of how I create it. And I was like,
00:07:48
Speaker
all in one day, Monday morning and I got up. Yeah, that's wonderful. Sometimes I don't know, like I did a painting last week and I didn't know what it was going to be and it ended up being something totally different.
00:08:08
Speaker
There's paintings that I have a clear idea about, and then there's paintings that I have no idea what it's going to be, and I just start painting.
00:08:22
Speaker
And that's a surprise. And then I then I kind of get in there when I when I kind of know what it's about after I've painted it, then I can finish it. But yeah, a lot of times I don't I don't know what it what the painting is asking from me. Yeah. Yeah. I love I love that.
00:08:44
Speaker
I love that type of discussion. Yeah, thank you. The part that I just mentioned is still pretty new to me. So that's the phase I'm in. I want to before going to another... It is exciting. It is exciting.
00:09:06
Speaker
So I wanted to, I wanted to, I want to go back to a point and it's a curious little point because it was about the sensory piece with your connection to the painting and the feel and the tactile. It's not always, I've had this discussion before, but, um, I, I found that I, uh, let me tell you what pops has popped into my head before. And I don't know if I say it out loud. It's like, there's some paintings, particularly with texture. It's like,
00:09:35
Speaker
I legitimately want to take a bite now I won't because that that that's what's everything but that sentiment that that tactile feeling is it must be powerful and some some folks and just that connection to the feel of it you want to touch you want to feel it and so
00:09:56
Speaker
Do you find that that drive ends up kind of maybe melding painting sculpture and form for you to feel it and see it that way? I feel that the sculptures that I make are also paintings. So it's all... I don't know why I...
00:10:21
Speaker
I've always been attracted to thick painting. It's always been something that I've wanted, that I enjoy doing. I just love paint, I think. And I love color and I love to see more and yeah.
00:10:41
Speaker
I just I love what paint does. I love how it there's certain paint that I use that I like to use other than other paint. And I like I'm getting addicted to whole mine, which is really bad. Yeah, I don't know. I think it's just a
00:11:08
Speaker
just something that I myself is attracted to. Not everybody's attracted to it. Some people really like thin work. Some people really enjoy something else. And it's just a matter of personal taste, I think. I think.
00:11:25
Speaker
Yeah, well, thanks for the thick stuff, Susan. We're talking with Susan Carr and just, I would say just like, it's a painter that's super exciting for me to see your stuff. In the color, man, I just, you know, I've talked to folks about this this whole month. It's in the Pacific, I'm in the Pacific Northwest, it's January.
00:11:52
Speaker
I run out like a cat and the Sun pops out in a small like little ray and just run out there so color Sun like
00:12:03
Speaker
bright um i've i've i've just dropped rain into it deliberately um and uh yeah it's it's it's it's been fun i've been trying to share it with uh with my art okay susan i have to ask you one of the big questions um because art's so important to you and you know such a big part of your life but what is art what what what do you think art is for you
The Cultural and Personal Significance of Art
00:12:31
Speaker
Oh, art is moving every day. Art is being able to just have, it's a state of mind.
00:12:46
Speaker
Art is a state of mind. And whatever I create, it's a way of, it's being able to create. It's being open and I think grateful. I have a lot of ideas about art. When I was younger, art had to be certain things. If I didn't have,
00:13:14
Speaker
my paint or if I didn't have like enough money to buy paint, then there was no art. Yeah. But I had to learn as a as a young person and as a young woman that that was bullshit.
00:13:30
Speaker
That art's a state of mind. I can make art out of anything. And actually, I've got to go get some bricks, because I'm going to make a tower for a space out of bricks. And I'm going to use house paint. And that's going to be art. Art can be anything. Art is how we show up in life.
00:13:57
Speaker
Yeah, I thank you for that answer. Wow. With art, does it have a particular role? What's the role? And I asked this question just in general. Sometimes people feel it's changed or it's more important or recent times said we need art more than we have. What's its role for us given? I think we've always needed art. I think since we
00:14:25
Speaker
since we've been painting on caves. I mean, we've been needing art. Art is necessary. Art is necessary for culture. It's necessary for communication. It's necessary for us to feel at home. It's necessary for so many for us to be able to communicate with one another.
00:14:55
Speaker
whatever way you make it, whether it's music, it's painting, it's dancing, it's poetry, it's making a cup of tea, whether it's meditation, whether it's just being there for somebody, art is, see, I think art is everything, so art is important in every way.
00:15:22
Speaker
Yeah. I think art is all about love. So, you know, if we're loving, then if we're if we're trying to be more loving, more compassionate, then we're really being artful.
00:15:39
Speaker
Love that I love that you said that um the word the the word love because I think when we introduce it It's always kind of sticks in there a bit. I'll give you an example say with art too, right that there's that love but I My my day jobs is a as a union rep and I use the term Which might seem odd, you know, I'm maybe tough Union guy I
00:16:07
Speaker
But if what we're doing with one another is concern for workers or whatever is not about love or something bigger and concern and solidarity, then
00:16:21
Speaker
We got to be doing something else. So like the centrality of that. And I tell you what was interesting, Susan. So I've tried to introduce more art to help organize folks in labor. And I'm just doing more of it. But we're doing these word associations and we're looking at all these words. And you think of a stereotypical thing about the union, whatever stereotypes are out there. And then I'm working with my members
00:16:51
Speaker
And we're going into bargain and, and, you know, pays in there and this and that big words on the word cloud love community, the children, excellence, pride. And I'm like, look, folks, I didn't ask for these answers. This is what we're about here. And when you have the word love in there as, as well.
00:17:14
Speaker
And I think we shy away from it a lot because maybe it implies too much with art or what we do. But I say, just like you do, you stick it in there conspicuously or people do it. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about why we bother. I really connected what you had to say there and by saying it out loud too.
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah, I've lost too much in my life not to be able to just say how I really feel and what my art is about and what I try to... My eye paintings are all about love and communication and all of my paintings are. I try to bring joy to people. I mean, I'm not talking
00:18:02
Speaker
you know, any art jargon or art talk. I'm very down to earth. I'm very here and now. I just want people to be happy. I want to bring joy. I want to bring love. I want to bring happiness to the people that see the work. And that's my mission. If I can do that in an impeccable way,
00:18:33
Speaker
then i've done a good job in my lifetime i want to be a lieutenant in your army i've uh interviewed the one of my favorite painters of anessa stockard um and she's in uh australia and um uh she used the the phrase happiness peddler she she
00:18:58
Speaker
Yeah, that's that that you know, like in a sense of let's move this along and uh Those dynamics are are just wonderful. Um, that energy is is wonderful because I think maybe in us talking You know like when you mentioned like live in life, you know, you know how things can go and but also
00:19:22
Speaker
with art of saying, look, this is what we strive for. It's almost like, I'm sorry, this may be a tangent, but the dead poet society speech that Robin William gives, the things that we're living for is the poetry, is the love, is the art. We do these other things and we get our degrees and we do that, but why are we living?
00:19:43
Speaker
It's this. So I love that energy. I got a different question for you, Susan. It's actually a curiosity about could you work? One thing I like about your work is it feels unto itself and unique. But that brings the question to my head.
00:20:03
Speaker
as far as I do have a curiosity which sometimes is asked about what artists you enjoy or maybe that invoke for you that same type of curiosity, love, and energy. Where are those?
00:20:20
Speaker
Um, I, you know, of course I love Gustin. Um, I love, who do I love? I love Alice Mackler. I mean, I love, uh, Alison Shulnick. I love, um, I love so many people on Instagram. Yeah.
00:20:39
Speaker
I love so many people on Instagram. I just have a Pinterest mood board where I have everybody that I look at. I look at a lot of work. I look at a lot of work, and sometimes that's good, and sometimes that's really bad. I got to really not, because as an artist, you have to really focus on who you are.
00:21:05
Speaker
and not look at other people's work because it's easy to fall into a trap. So I look at when I go to the Met or the Whitney, I mean, that's when I really am able to like Susan Rothenberg. I was looking at I was enjoying I was enjoying her work just recently. And I hadn't really liked her work before. But there was something about her recently that I got that I really liked it.
00:21:36
Speaker
Yeah, so Yeah, yeah. Yeah in in and thanks for that. I um
00:21:46
Speaker
We might have a mutual connection with Rebecca Mills, who is a recent guest on the show. I do see some of the stuff as arts organizing that I do, or maybe the synchronicities and the connections, but what a wonderful conversation with Rebecca.
00:22:05
Speaker
and gorgeous art, and then seeing yours, there's just a nice... She's a wonderful person. She's a great curator. She's a great artist. So, yeah. Yeah, it's great to have seen that and have that connection.
00:22:26
Speaker
I do want, you know, I think both of us can be rather down to earth, but I do have an esoteric question that is tied to the show, which I always throw out there for folks, which is the show's title is maybe about the big meaning or big meaning for you, or maybe not. Why is there something rather than nothing?
Philosophical Reflections on Creativity
00:22:49
Speaker
I've answered this question in an email. Why is there something rather than nothing? Because we are creative beings. We are born to create, I think. I think since we were
00:23:07
Speaker
Neanderthals, we were born to create, we were painting on cave walls, we needed to have images, and we needed to talk about and communicate how we felt about the world around us and our thoughts about God. That's why there's always going to be something rather than nothing.
00:23:35
Speaker
because we are animals that communicate and that need images to reflect back at us, what we believe and what we see and what we want to see and what our dreams are. I think I could go into it for a long time, but I thank you. Thank you so much, Susan. And, um,
00:24:02
Speaker
We were chatting a little bit before we got on there too. I just wanted to say also, it is exciting for me out here in the Willamette Valley in Oregon to be able to connect with you out in Cape Cod, a place that I do. It is exciting for me too.
00:24:22
Speaker
Good. And that's part of this show. I think we overlook such things. We definitely share that because it's something. I was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. You know what I mean? Wow. Yeah, so you know the area. Pawtucket is a particular place I adore. Pawtucket is very much a part of me.
00:24:43
Speaker
I'm out here in the woods in Oregon, which is a report from out here. Adore it. Strange lands out this way. Very, very, very, very different, but very, very wonderful. At first, I didn't realize you were on the
00:25:00
Speaker
on the cape and then um was looking at your stuff and maybe it was location and reading the bios so i was like oh yes the cape i love being on the cape i want to see the the ocean of oregon oregon has a has a has a seaside doesn't it
00:25:16
Speaker
well or i gotta tell you organ i gotta tell you and i can tell you from the perspective that you would know out there for for this planet so i'm i'm on the person who's gone out here in indian can report back so the shocking aspects of the pacific ocean from somebody who uh... lived on you know atlantic ocean down in aragansett slip right i've been i've been all over all on the ocean out here
00:25:45
Speaker
This monstrous giant, the Pacific Ocean, is very cold, extremely powerful, and at times unpredictable in its power and sneaker waves and things like that. So first of all, I learned and was told much respect.
00:26:10
Speaker
and the saying out here is you don't even turn your back to the ocean which leads to some behaviors that I try to adopt where I keep my eye on the ocean. So it's something to be respected. What's also different is you could see some of the photos where it seems like in some spots you have the wonderful trees of Oregon and then you have a cliff and then it's just ocean. So it feels rugged because it just
00:26:35
Speaker
Land decided to end right here. And then there's the great great ocean. So it has in Maine has some of that rugged component because, you know, for sure. So it's it's it's powerful. It's cold.
00:26:50
Speaker
It's to be respected. It's beautiful one thing too is the tide pools out here are completely different than anything I would have experienced over there where all these Fantastic creatures in some spots connect in the tide pools and you can like see things you've never seen before so it's uh, it's very it's wonderful how different it is and um
00:27:17
Speaker
It's just something to behold and to know. It's different. Yeah. Sounds like a wonderful place. Sounds like a very interesting place to be living.
00:27:30
Speaker
It is. It is. It is. It's a beautiful, beautiful spot of the earth. And the one thing finally on this is because growing up on the East Coast up in New England, you know, you can swim in the Waterford. I don't know how long. October. Yeah. Well, yeah. Out here.
00:27:52
Speaker
You have if there's a magical current that is coming in from somewhere else and is Much warmer than all the currents and you are there that day
00:28:03
Speaker
It's a joy and a wonder, but it's not planable. Oh, wow. You don't swim a lot. You don't get to swim too much. You got to go down to LA for that, so far away.
Ken's Oceanic Experience
00:28:20
Speaker
But it's a great atmosphere to be around. And of course, you know,
00:28:26
Speaker
Connecting on the ocean and talking about the cape and in the coast here I do think that's part of the energy and you know you're excited to connect out here I'm excited to talk to you heck you're in the cape and you know so it's it's it's fun that way um
Where to Find Susan Carr's Art
00:28:42
Speaker
Susan, I want to make sure that the listeners know, you know, where to find, find your stuff, talk about how they can, or you'd like them to encounter. Oh, I can. You can find me on Instagram at Susan at Susan Carr 88. I don't have a website.
00:29:01
Speaker
So there is plenty of wonder and joy on your Instagram. So, folks, there is an easy answer there. I wanted to thank you so much, Susan, for taking the time and connecting with the show.
00:29:21
Speaker
Thank you for having me. It was really fun. That's what I always try to promise. I try to have it be that way and maybe with some of our connections and some of the background out there in New England, it is a special conversation for me and I do appreciate you because
00:29:42
Speaker
Being able to connect with the level of curiosity and fun you look in for your art and you're not afraid to talk to is a quality we might share because I think sometimes celebrating that, talking about it, yelling it out, pointing that stuff is what we should be doing.
00:30:03
Speaker
So from Oregon to Cape Cod, Susan, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. I guess we'll see you on the flip side.
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah, I'll make it over there and I'll get to, I won't buy any of your paintings, but I'll look at them very closely. That would be nice. I'll be, you always have a, you always can come over anytime, anytime. That's that type of New England, New England friendliness, which we know about, doesn't always seem friendly. Thanks, Susan. Can you take care?
00:30:46
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.