Suzanne Hanson – Kingston, MA
New Days/Old House

To view a gallery of the exhibit.

Suzanne Hanson has been exhibiting painting and large works on paper for much of her career. Photography has been an important element in her artwork. In the last three years she has considered her photographs to be her primary medium. This change occurred with the emergence of archival inks and the ability to manipulate her digital photographs so she could be as involved with the process as she was with the paint and dyes of her former work.

Suzanne’s photographs have been included in recent group exhibitions including the 15th Juried Exhibition at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA, the Photoplace Gallery in Middlebury, VT, and the Falkirk Cultural Center in San Rafael, CA.

She holds an MFA from Mills College in Oakland, CA and an MA from the University of MI and a BFA from the University of SD. She has had an extensive exhibition record with work on paper and painting. In 1980 she won the SECA Award for new talent from the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. She has had fellowships and visiting artist invitations at the American Academy in Rome, the Djerassi Retreat and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

Suzanne divides her time between Boston and New York but returns in the winter months to the San Francisco Bay area, where she has lived for 20 years.

New Days/Old House

We came north to be nearer family with no plan to become curators and caretakers of a piece of New England history. Nonetheless, we found ourselves in a 250 year old house with sun raking over hand-hewn woodwork and the patina of prior lives. We are strangely aware of the light’s daily patterns and experience the warmth of keeping company with generations of inhabitants. Life is transient but the house is durable.

We’ve brought with us our computers and bar codes but realize the routines of our life -- cooking, sleeping, and just being -- are the commonalities we share with every family that has lived here.

My camera can freeze our moment, our era, and daily life for the future. My digital photographs will join glass slides and 1930’s photographs at the local library, documenting our time in the rich history of this house.

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