By Mary Ellen Stancill
Artist Susan Dennis works in a variety of media, from acrylic paint to ceramics. She’s even made a recent foray into watercolor. But whether she’s painting dandelions or birds in flight, molding a ceramic bowl or an abstract installation, each piece of her art captures something that is fleeting, impossible to preserve except through the creation of art.
“I think the fact that we want to immortalize something that’s in our head by creating it is just evidence that we long for eternity and that we’re created for eternity,” explains Dennis. She describes creating her art as a birthing process. When an image comes to her, she says, “I have to create it.”
Originally from Huntsville, Dennis credits her art teachers at Grissom High School for helping her to realize and develop her love for art. After high school, Dennis attended Auburn where she graduated in 2004 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in ceramics. She went on to receive her master’s in art education from Montevallo.
For the past two years, Dennis has worked as the arts and education director for the Shelby County Arts Council in Columbiana, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing arts education to Shelby County residents of all ages. As the only full-time employee, Dennis teaches art classes for adults and children, directs monthly gallery exhibits and coordinates a variety of arts outreach programs among many other duties. But Dennis says, “The connection with me is that I’m around artists all the time, of different media whether it be theater or music or visual. I think it really has developed me as an artist because I’m constantly getting input, not directly to me about my work, but almost subconscious input from artists all around me from artists that are inspiring each other and inspiring me. It’s an incredible environment to work in.”
To see more work by Susan Dennis stop by Art Alley in Homewood or check out her website, theswanart.com.
