Stephanie Suter

Painting

“The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.” (Wittgenstein)

I have been a Buddhist meditator for about 30 years and an artist even longer. I don’t equate them in my mind in ways that have to do with experiences or states of being, but rather, they are both paths that require curiosity and investigation. Without those two things, neither one has much meaning. They are both practices that have no goals, no perfection, just moments of discovery.

I tread my artistic path through seeing; painting from observation. I paint self-portraits, an intimate subject that is always with me but that I can't directly see; or still-lifes of objects that are so ordinary and familiar as to be invisible and overlooked in our daily lives. This requires me to look closely at small, intimate moments with attention. To portray familiar things such as myself, or rocks, scraps of paper and pieces of tape from loving observation can challenge my perceptions and allow some discovery of what is behind familiarity. My meditation practice does the same in that it challenges my assumptions of reality, relationships, emotions and helps reveal all that it means to be truly human.

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania, earned my BFA from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia and have been slowly moving north ever since. A few years in NYC, 30 years in VT, I’m now living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I've studied at the Art Student’s League in NYC, attended multiple residencies and have shown my work in Philadelphia, NY, NH, VT, Chicago, the Near East and South America. Most recently, I was included in the January 2021 Hyperallergic’s ongoing series, A View from the Easel During Times of Quarantine.

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