SUSAN N. STEWART
click images for titles and sizing, contact us for pricing
|
Susan N. Stewart is an award-winning artists with artwork in corporate and private collections in Tokyo, London, Paris, Melbourne, New York, Toronto, Montreal and Bermuda.
Stewart is also the founder of Flick the Switch Artists’ Collective with 58 artists in two studio locations in Toronto. AWE-ROBICS: The Bag Lady explains to the aliens*: "Intelligence is just the tip of the iceberg. The more you know, the less knowing the meaning of things means." Looking up at the stars….. “And as usual, I felt in awe. And then I felt even deeper in awe at this capacity we have to be in awe about something." "I decided I would set time aside every day to do awe-robics. Because at the moment you are most in awe of all there is about life that you don't understand, you are closer to understanding it all than at any other time.” —- Jane Wagner's play "The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe”* |
Spectacular Progress:
Steven Pinker is one of Stewart’s influences. He is a Harvard Professor born in Montreal., His book “Enlightenment Now’ points out that:
'The world has made spectacular progress in every measure of human well-being but nobody knows. Violence is down, war is down, poverty is down, starvation is down, death at childbirth and child mortality is down.’
So many people are overcome by despair due to the inaccurate dystopian belief fed to us by the media that the world is going to hell in a hand-basket.
Pinker suggests we acknowledge our successes and use the tools that brought about these achievements to tackle our current, serious problems.
Words such as ‘Spectacular Progress’ can be found in some of the painting as a reminder that there is ‘NO BETTER TIME TO LIVE’
--------
I was lost in the Sahara desert at night. Moullah, the Touareg guide, dressed in his blue robe and shesh, had told me in his broken french that he was taking the camels to the other side of the sand dune to make camp before dark. I wanted to soak in the glorious sunset alone.
I forgot that when the sun set it was total darkness. I tried find the Moullah and the camels but I could see nothing. All I had was my clothes, toilet paper and matches with which to burn the paper. I lit the matches to try to follow the camel tracks but it was no use.
I stood there frozen. The immense stretch of sky and stars seemed to go on forever from this tiny point on the planet. I was in the Hogar - a terrain more like the moon than any other place on earth. I felt very alone.
I screamed for help at the top of my lungs and for a second I thought I heard a response. I waited. Nothing. I tried again. Again - a sound. But - despair, it was just my echo bouncing back from the enormous sky.
I don’t know how long I stood there. Half an hour, before I thought to sit down? All the stories I’d heard about people dying in the desert, eaten by jackals, stung by scorpions, drinking their own pee in desperation, swirled in my head.
I knew it was best to stay where I was last seen. I could burn my clothes for a signal fire so I prioritized. Underwear and socks were least important. Shesh, shorts and top I’d keep.
An hour passed. I tried to calm the panic in my mind.
Another hour passed as I gazed at the stars and felt the tininess of my existence among the galaxies and universes above me.
Another hour passed.
Out of the darkness Moullah appeared.
The gratitude for this opportunity to live a life on this beautiful planet has stayed with me and influenced my art.
Susan N Stewart
Steven Pinker is one of Stewart’s influences. He is a Harvard Professor born in Montreal., His book “Enlightenment Now’ points out that:
'The world has made spectacular progress in every measure of human well-being but nobody knows. Violence is down, war is down, poverty is down, starvation is down, death at childbirth and child mortality is down.’
So many people are overcome by despair due to the inaccurate dystopian belief fed to us by the media that the world is going to hell in a hand-basket.
Pinker suggests we acknowledge our successes and use the tools that brought about these achievements to tackle our current, serious problems.
Words such as ‘Spectacular Progress’ can be found in some of the painting as a reminder that there is ‘NO BETTER TIME TO LIVE’
--------
I was lost in the Sahara desert at night. Moullah, the Touareg guide, dressed in his blue robe and shesh, had told me in his broken french that he was taking the camels to the other side of the sand dune to make camp before dark. I wanted to soak in the glorious sunset alone.
I forgot that when the sun set it was total darkness. I tried find the Moullah and the camels but I could see nothing. All I had was my clothes, toilet paper and matches with which to burn the paper. I lit the matches to try to follow the camel tracks but it was no use.
I stood there frozen. The immense stretch of sky and stars seemed to go on forever from this tiny point on the planet. I was in the Hogar - a terrain more like the moon than any other place on earth. I felt very alone.
I screamed for help at the top of my lungs and for a second I thought I heard a response. I waited. Nothing. I tried again. Again - a sound. But - despair, it was just my echo bouncing back from the enormous sky.
I don’t know how long I stood there. Half an hour, before I thought to sit down? All the stories I’d heard about people dying in the desert, eaten by jackals, stung by scorpions, drinking their own pee in desperation, swirled in my head.
I knew it was best to stay where I was last seen. I could burn my clothes for a signal fire so I prioritized. Underwear and socks were least important. Shesh, shorts and top I’d keep.
An hour passed. I tried to calm the panic in my mind.
Another hour passed as I gazed at the stars and felt the tininess of my existence among the galaxies and universes above me.
Another hour passed.
Out of the darkness Moullah appeared.
The gratitude for this opportunity to live a life on this beautiful planet has stayed with me and influenced my art.
Susan N Stewart
