SUE ORCHANT

Artist Statement

Spiritual Odyssey - an ethereal journey, to roam, a quest, a long wandering, a sacred journey, of breathing or wind. My interpretation is that life and creating is a spiritual odyssey. I will try to describe what I feel when I paint. Each painting takes me to a new place....or was it an old place revisited, long forgotten? Painting is not just an action. It is all consuming. It is a long process, a journey in itself. It is going down a path I can't see the end of. Things are familiar along the way, yet I can't really see them. I feel them & know they are there, peripherally. Sometimes I am blind along the way, just groping around knowing it will all come to an end. A yearning, a want, a need. A beginning, where is the end? A search. Sometimes I get lost along the way, not sure where to go next. A holding of breathe, sometimes going forward in a flow like a dance or river pushing me along. Push yourself, you can do it. Go for it. A process. I come up with an idea & start my research. I like to tell stories in my pieces. I like to have a lot of meaning and symbolism. The stories require research. I learn new things along the way and find they all connect somehow in the end. I don't know it when I start, but smile when I see it in the end, like, oh yes, of course that makes sense! It is a learning process about myself as well as the materials and ideas I choose. Feelings, all so important and encompassing. These paintings represent things I love. Friends, family, color, passion, emotion, release, love of life, always seeing the beauty in things, enthusiasm, experimentation, knowledge, affirmation, excitement, energy, what's next, adventure, remembering, playing, joy, laughter, pursuit of dreams. Capturing a moment, a feeling, a memory, a dream. Sure sounds like life to me.

To contact Sue Orchant, please call 505-294-8021

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"The Journey" Acrylic on canvas, 40" x 48", 2001

When I was a little girl I remember constantly pretending that I was Native American. I would re-create cooking scenes in the snow, build shelters, whittle bows and arrows, pretend my dolls were in papooses, and make costumes. I spent my summers at my grandparent's house in the Adirondacks in Ticonderoga, New York. There I would build forts on the moss covered boulders by a brook and pretend for hours.

As an adult, I have always been drawn the Native American culture and indigenous arts. I felt I was coming home when I moved to New Mexico. I have always admired Edward S. Curtis' sepia tone photographs capturing the Native American way of life in the early 1900's.

This particular image stayed with me & I knew I had to do something with it. I wanted to research to make sure it was okay to interpret this image in my own way. As I read about this Navajo mask, I discovered that the photographer had mistakenly misnamed this photo for a different mask. It was titled "Haschogan" , which is the Calling God, & I believe it is "Hash-Yelth-Tye", the Talking God. It is a mask used for the Nightway ceremony, a healing ceremony. As I did my research, I also discovered many similarities in Navajo culture and Judaism, my own culture. Even to the coincidence that in the library, Navajo and Judaica books were side by side on the shelves.

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"Aztec Dancer" Silk Painting, 24" x 30", 2001

In Aztec & other Mesoamerica cultures, Life was seen as a brief dream along the way to death, the only reality. Only in dying did a human being truly awake. Death was not feared because it was inevitable. The symbol of the butterfly represents the soul, the spirit. It is a metaphor for the transformation undergone by our souls, the transitory nature of happiness. The monarch butterfly always comes back to Mexico during the Day of the Dead holiday. It was believed to bear the spirits of the departed. The conch shell is a symbol of life, & it is blown during the holiday to lead the souls back. The Aztec Gods of Life & Death are shown. This piece will be 24 x 30 & I am going to stretch it over a frame this time instead of putting it behind glass.

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"Epiphany" Silk Painting, 50" x 50", 2001

Epiphany is a sudden appearance or manifestation of a divine being. It is the essence or meaning of something, an illuminating discovery, a revealing scene or moment.

This piece of artwork was created for the American Heart Association. Posters were made of this painting for their 2001 fund-raising event. The theme of the fund-raising event was the 60s and 70s. This painting was created to convey a visual concept of what was being experienced during that time.

24" x 30" Posters of "Epiphany" by Sue Orchant are available & all proceeds go to the American Heart Association. $35 signed, $30 unsigned. If you are interested in purchasing this poster, please call the American Heart Association office at 505-823-8700


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"For Norm" Watercolor and pen and ink, 27" x 34", 2001

This painting was created for my friend Norm Ruth. It is a labor of love that tells the story of all my travels with Norm & his wife Sandy on their bus, Terrapin Trailways. Terrapin Trailways is a 1948 White bus that Norm with his infinite vision has transformed to a rolling shrine for the musical group The Grateful Dead. For years we have traveled on Terrapin Trailways to many a Grateful Dead concert. I have many fond memories of "bus trips" with Norm & Sandy, and many of our friends to musical adventures, and other destinations. When the bus turned "50" I started drawing this painting for Norm. When we celebrated Norm's 40th birthday in May, I promised him this painting would be finished soon. Its approach is like the realization of a childhood dream fulfilled. When you step onto Terrapin Trailways, you are transported out of the mundane of everyday life into the excitement of a journey filled with love, friends, euphoria, release, and the feeling that anything is possible.

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"The Sun" Silk Painting, 10" x 56", 2001
"The Moon" Silk Painting, 10" x 56", 2001
"And The Stars" Silk Painting, 10" x 56", 2001

"The Sun" - The sun is the center of the universe. It is seen as masculine. It represents life. Petroglyph images of the sun are represented in this painting. At the bottom of the painting an offering to the sun is being performed to begin the day.

In Navajo culture, Nightway is a healing practice undertaken for stricken people to re-harmonize, and re-order their relationships with one another and the Navajo universe. These three pieces are about harmony, balance, and how all things are connected.

"The Moon" - The moon is seen as feminine. It is said that a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon at her feet represents victory over hostile forces. The moon is the receiver of the suns light. It represents death and rebirth. At the bottom of this painting a dance to restore the moon is taking place. In Qagyuhl culture, it was thought that an eclipse was the result of a creature trying to swallow the moon. This dance was done to cause the creature to sneeze and disgorge the moon. Petroglyphs images of the moon are shown in this painting.

"And The Stars" - In Jewish mythology it is said that every star has a guardian angel. It is said that stars are the metamorphosis of those who have died. The stars are also viewed as handmaidens to the moon and are said to reside in the chamber next to the moon. Petroglyph images of stars are depicted in this piece. In Sioux culture, the Hoop Dance symbolizes the Sun, Moon, Earth, all light, and life. It is the human spirit reaching toward the realization that everything is interconnected. There is a Sioux prophecy that one day, in the future, all peoples shall sit down together in peace united in a single circle by the common bond of their humanity.

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