April 9 — May 15, 2021
Lap Work: Pandemic Stitching
Susie Phillips
Conduit Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of work by Dallas-based artist, Susie Phillips.
Susie Phillips, who works primarily in painting, pastel and collage was reacquainted with her early needlework in 2016. While searching through flat files, a piece of stitching done years ago presented itself. She needed it. Needed the quiet, contemplative occupation, the soothing rhythm of pulling thread through linen to calm against what was happening in Washington D.C. This show brings to life long forgotten ideas and dreams, pulled from old sketchbooks and bins of saved ideas. Phillips equates her needlework with the creation of a painting. The selection of colors, stitches, threads giving her the same optimism and anticipation as making a new painting or collage. “I love the imperfection of the sewing too. It’s not straight, it’s lumpy, there are mistakes. Just like life. And I can do it in my lap.”
Susie Phillips’ newest collection of small-scale embroideries are quiet works. Vessels, flowers, and the occasional figure appear in a variety of bold styles, washed in color; elaborate, yet simple in form. Her still lifes can be layered in patterns and Fauvist-levels of color; or they can be abstract musings on domestic settings and pastoral landscapes.
Styles weave in and out of expectation with her images as Phillips plays with what she feels is right for each piece. She denies that the work is steeped in one message or thought. ‘When I make work, I make it for the pleasure of doing it. I want the person that looks at it to want that same kind of pleasure’. The message in effect imbues a simple happiness, a kind gift. Phillips’s new work on view at Conduit is an invitation to plumb the depths of an artist’s life work where there are still surprises to be had.
Susie Phillips, born in Evanston, Illinois, is an artist based in Dallas, Texas. For over 30 years, she has exhibited extensively within Dallas. She was an early member of D.W. Gallery, a female-led artist co-op in Dallas in the mid '70s and '80s. She has exhibited across Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, New York, and beyond. Her work is held in such collections as American Airlines, AT&T, the Belo Corporation, and Southern Methodist University.