Suzanne Pretty
Fish Train, 2018
21.5 in x 28.5 in
Suzanne Pretty
Divided Landscape, 2009
35 in x 43 in
Suzanne Pretty’s Artist Statement
The thread of the environment and its fragmentation has run through much of my work for a number of years. We close our eyes to the destruction of the landscape and harm to the environment, pretending it is not happening with our heads in the sand.
Examples of this are the tapestry Divided Landscape with the forest divided into blocks and stacked on the gravel landscape with the sky in the background. Not a Hoax looks at the claims that global warming is not occurring, totally ignoring all the scientific facts pointing to this. In this piece, a mountain lion is wandering the desert landscape with a drying stream bed. On the hillside is a lineup of bulldozers ready to tear through the landscape.
Suzanne Pretty
Not a Hoax, 2018
34 in x 31.5 in
Suzanne Pretty’s Biography
After graduating from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a BA in painting in 1969, my work evolved from thick paint and texture into quilted, stuffed, and painted pieces and then into tapestry. I did production weaving for a number of years when I first moved to New Hampshire but I set this aside as my focus shifted to tapestry and multimedia works. My grandmother was a lady’s tailor in London. The seeds of her love of fiber were planted with her knitting, crocheting, and interesting fabric samples. I still have many of her sewing things in cabinets in my studio.
I have exhibited extensively, received Artist Fellow awarded from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts two times, and was commissioned by the New Hampshire Council on the Arts to create an award for the Governor’s Award. I have been included in multiple books including GODS IN GRANITE: The Art of the White Mountains of New Hampshire by Robert L. McGrath and have received numerous awards including the First Prize in ATA Biennial 8 a traveling exhibit that opened in Lincoln, Nebraska, and The American Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA sponsored by the American Tapestry Alliance. I am a member of the League of NH Craftsmen exhibiting in the shops and numerous exhibits winning a number of awards.