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Read Cronin Interview - 'diving comedy' exhibition June 2005.pdf
Biography
Susan Read Cronin was educated at The Madeira School, and received a BA in English from Williams College, where she developed her passion for art and design. Cronin studied in the early 1990's with renowned sculptors Jane B. Armstrong and Walter Matia. Having spent most of her artistic career in Vermont, in 2016, she relocated full-time to Santa Barbara, CA.
Susie, as she is known, has had solo exhibitions of her work throughout Vermont, The Williams Club in New York City, Visions West Galleries in Denver, CO, and more recently at the Elverhoj Museum in Solvang, CA. Her show, Fables, Foibles, and Fairy Tales, traveled to eighteen museums and other venues around the country. Her work has also been featured at the prestigious Copley Society of Boston, and in group shows at the National Sculpture Society based in New York City, as well as at Hunter Kirkland Contemporary in Santa Fe.
Cronin’s bronzes are held in numerous private and public collections including The Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA,The Madeira School in McLean, VA, The Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club, located in Naples, FL, The Williamstown Youth Center in Williamstown, MA, and Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT. One of her 6' elephants balancing on a wheel is permanently installed at Northern Vermont University in Johnson, VT. A second casting of the piece resides at the Brattleboro Retreat, in Brattleboro, VT. Continuing to populate the Retreat campus with elephants, in 2016, Cronin installed a 7' version of her popular "XXO" there.
The author of Bronze Casting in a Nutshell, which was illustrated by her father, A.D. "Sandy" Read, Susie has more recently turned her hand to poetry. Notices, which she illustrated with her left-handed drawings, paper cuts, and monotypes, was her first book. In 2021, her poetry book OPEN was printed and her latest book, What's Left, was published in 2022.
Cronin served on the board of Vermont Studio Center for twenty years and is grateful for the time she spent doing residencies there. Besides being a sculptor for close to three decades, and a poet, Susie is also known for her silhouette paper cuts, and photography. Her bronze work is currently on display at Greylock Gallery, in Williamstown, MA, and Tilting at Windmills, in Manchester, VT.
Artist Statement
My work is figurative and narrative. I am interested in capturing gesture and feeling. I care about silhouettes and loosely modeled surfaces. Titles are important.
I keep a notebook of jottings and when I sit down with a germ of an idea, something surprising usually comes out. I never let stuff out of the studio that I wouldn't want to live with; I want to feel uplifted when I look at my work. I often like to make multiples that I rearrange and play with.
Part of the challenge of working in bronze is that I need to have a clear vision of what something will look like when it's translated from the initial clay to the final bronze. Bronze casting is a team sport and, at the foundry, I depend on others to make my art look good.
Besides sculpture, I explore other media like paper cuts, collage, photography, and poetry. A theme throughout all my work is play — whether it be with clay, scissors, photos, or words.
Susan Read Cronin was educated at The Madeira School, and received a BA in English from Williams College, where she developed her passion for art and design. Cronin studied in the early 1990's with renowned sculptors Jane B. Armstrong and Walter Matia. Having spent most of her artistic career in Vermont, in 2016, she relocated full-time to Santa Barbara, CA.
Susie, as she is known, has had solo exhibitions of her work throughout Vermont, The Williams Club in New York City, Visions West Galleries in Denver, CO, and more recently at the Elverhoj Museum in Solvang, CA. Her show, Fables, Foibles, and Fairy Tales, traveled to eighteen museums and other venues around the country. Her work has also been featured at the prestigious Copley Society of Boston, and in group shows at the National Sculpture Society based in New York City, as well as at Hunter Kirkland Contemporary in Santa Fe.
Cronin’s bronzes are held in numerous private and public collections including The Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA,The Madeira School in McLean, VA, The Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club, located in Naples, FL, The Williamstown Youth Center in Williamstown, MA, and Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT. One of her 6' elephants balancing on a wheel is permanently installed at Northern Vermont University in Johnson, VT. A second casting of the piece resides at the Brattleboro Retreat, in Brattleboro, VT. Continuing to populate the Retreat campus with elephants, in 2016, Cronin installed a 7' version of her popular "XXO" there.
The author of Bronze Casting in a Nutshell, which was illustrated by her father, A.D. "Sandy" Read, Susie has more recently turned her hand to poetry. Notices, which she illustrated with her left-handed drawings, paper cuts, and monotypes, was her first book. In 2021, her poetry book OPEN was printed and her latest book, What's Left, was published in 2022.
Cronin served on the board of Vermont Studio Center for twenty years and is grateful for the time she spent doing residencies there. Besides being a sculptor for close to three decades, and a poet, Susie is also known for her silhouette paper cuts, and photography. Her bronze work is currently on display at Greylock Gallery, in Williamstown, MA, and Tilting at Windmills, in Manchester, VT.
Artist Statement
My work is figurative and narrative. I am interested in capturing gesture and feeling. I care about silhouettes and loosely modeled surfaces. Titles are important.
I keep a notebook of jottings and when I sit down with a germ of an idea, something surprising usually comes out. I never let stuff out of the studio that I wouldn't want to live with; I want to feel uplifted when I look at my work. I often like to make multiples that I rearrange and play with.
Part of the challenge of working in bronze is that I need to have a clear vision of what something will look like when it's translated from the initial clay to the final bronze. Bronze casting is a team sport and, at the foundry, I depend on others to make my art look good.
Besides sculpture, I explore other media like paper cuts, collage, photography, and poetry. A theme throughout all my work is play — whether it be with clay, scissors, photos, or words.