Susan's work is currently on display in the Lehigh Valley Arts Council office.

Artist Statement: Susan Blair Brew

Previously a mixed media collagist, primarily in pastel, tissue paper, paint and found objects, Susan discovered a passion for working in fabric in 2005, when she created her beaded hangings for a fundraising event for Tibet. Her inspiration for these hangings came from a multitude of her photographs of lily pads and flowers taken near her studio. The photographs evolved into photo transfers ironed onto fabric compatible in color and texture with the photos. Accompanying strips of fabric, and beads completed these compositions. Cutting shapes, layering forms and textures of both paper and fabric, printing onto fabric and luxuriating in final beading embellishments continue to inspire Susan towards new approaches to her sewn works.

Though Susan taught and partook in therapeutic painting for eight years, ultimately it is the collage that grows off of a painting, drawing or photograph that satisfies her need to flesh out the “flat” form of color or line. There is a sensual appeal in the layering of fabric, threads and found objects. Susan’s photographic inspirations have been her previous home’s pond, fields and woods. Phippsburg and Small Point, Maine are newly adopted inspirations especially with regard to the rocky shores, sand, and shadows off of the morning tide.

Susan Blair Brew is an artist in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania who works in mixed media and fabric. Through her art business, Paint the Soul’s Dance she had taught classes from 2000 to 2008. She  received a BA in Art and Classics in 1977 from Wheaton College, Massachusetts, and she pursued her artwork while raising two sons. Susan expanded her passion for art with further education at New York’s Brooklyn Museum Art School, and School of Visual Arts and Lehigh Valley’s Baum School and Banana Factory. With an affinity for words, she has also often combined poetry and story-telling with her art imagery. Susan has taught art to adults and children over the past 15 years.