What does abstract art mean to you? What can it teach us about life and art?

Abstraction is bringing forth the essence and the spirit of an artist’s sensitive interpretation of content as expressed through the language of design. Abstract images subliminally communicate in another dimension of thoughts and feelings that words can not describe. We remember what we feel.

For Suzanne Jack, abstraction can come as easily from altering one’s perception as from
altering reality. “Water Gems” had its start during one of her periodic visits to the Great Smoky
Mountains. The artist, who lives in Knoxville, Tennesse, likes to get to the Smokies in the morning so she can spend a good eight hours photographing, painting and indulging her senses. In this case, she stepped out into a stream, then perched on a rock before starting to shoot photos from different angles. The photo that inspired “Water Gems” encompassed no more than several inches of real space.

“Rhapsody of Tulips”, March 8 – May 30, 2005

Suzanne Jack’s “Rhapsody of Tulips”, a series of landscapes created with pastels, were featured the spring of 2005 at Nashville International Airport.

1st Place Mary Hawkins Edwards Award

Hart’s Cove, Pastel, 35 x 23, 2003

Juror’s Statement
……What makes an art piece good enough to be accepted or to win an award in a show?
Above all else, the piece must “speak” to me. I want to feel the artist’s passion for the subject and the art of creation. Beyond that, I examine the means the artist has used to express the point of view – color, design, format. And finally, I consider technique, occasionally preferring simplicity one complexity.” Nita Leland, Dayton, Ohio

Bronze Award
9th Annual Southeast Regional Juried Fine Arts Exhibition
Fort Walton Beach, FL

New York, NY 2000
Autumn’s Vigor, Oil, 40 x 60

“I am passionate about the natural environment and have concentrated on the landscape as a metaphor for harmony, beauty, hope, endurance, and freedom. The landscape, during different seasons and times of the day, is a constant reminder of the eternal energy that sustains all of life.”

This image was created at The Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO in 1998 as a participant in the 18 day program Teacher-Artist Program co-sponsored by NAEA and The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation. Suzanne Jack, one of 6 participants across the country, was recognized for exemplary teaching and artistic achievements and awarded an 18 day studio experience at The Colorado College for the purpose of artistic growth. “Light Waves” and “Rising” were 2 works of art created during this experience.

In May 1997, 22 art teachers across America were selected to attend a weekend at the The Lab School in Washington D.C. with Robert Rauschenberg. The experience was to enlighten art educators with the power of the arts in education and with the learning disabled student. Our awards were presented at The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. by Mr. Rauschenberg.

$100,000 was set aside for the Opryland Hotel Delta. Judges selected from 896 works of art 56 entries to be hung in the Delta Wing of the Nashville Hotel. Suzanne Jack had the work “Fury” selected in the Third Tennessee Art Purchase Competition to be displayed Sept. 5, 1997.