Biography

“Everything but the kitchen sink“ is how artist Susan Poirier describes the tools she uses to create her minimalist paintings. Born in Boston, MA (b. 1952) Susan still remembers the excitement and smell of her first “real” art supplies; tiny pots of oil paint accompanied by paint by number canvases of Thomas Gainsborough’s Pinkie and Blue Boy. Always involved in art in some way, Susan did not begin painting seriously until she retired from a successful career as a critical care nurse. She attributes much of her quiet minimalist approach to her experiences during those years, often caring for patients hovering between life and death. It was during this time she developed a deep interest in the mind body connection and the relationship to healing and spirituality.

Inspired by the work of artists James Terrell, Ann Truitt, Robert Ryman and Mark Rothko, Susan uses unconventional tools; cake racks, spatulas, bowls, pitchers and condiment bottles to create her mostly monochromatic paintings. With these tools she pours and drips acrylic paint and medium working with gravity to direct the paint across the panel or canvas. Uniquely, she begins by priming the surface black creating subtle color shifts as the weight of the paint flows to the bottom of the panel or canvas. In preparation for pouring Susan carries out extensive experiments with the interaction of color and viscosity on the black surface, a process she says satisfies her analytic side.

Susan’s work has been seen at Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, the National Association of Women Artists Gallery, New York, NY, Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown, MA, Encaustic Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM, M. David & Co. Brooklyn, NY, on Artsy and In Nothern California area Galleries.

Susan lives and works in Carmichael, California.