This is starting to feel like “Clue”! Susan Hall was the second avian artist featured in the Rumpus Room during the Bird Sanctuary, and she loaned us a flock of five exquisite paintings. Her densely detailed works feature layers of stained wood, and hand-painted lacework and tapestry flowers that frame Audubon-Caliber animal portraits in brilliant contrast. Susan’s work is mildly psychedelic to me in how it focuses on naturalistic images that are still hazy and dreamlike with rich, gauzy textures.
Of the myriad art we hosted in the Rumpus, Susan Hall’s “Five Birds” featuring “Grackle” probably belonged there the most. Susan is long-time friend of Brian McNally and Gwen Ihnat, and I can say with almost 100% certainty that I met her in the Original Rumpus Room. I broke form in today’s entry to bring you both the shot of her installed art and a close-up of “Grackle”, which was her newest painting at the time. If I’m not mistaken, Brian gave Susan the wood that she used to bring this bird to life.
I’ve long been a fan of her work, and it’s great to get to look at it again in review. She’s obviously grown and progressed in the past decade, and I highly recommend you taking a look at the other curiosities that she’s conjured up.
Works by Susan Hall
All are oil and wax on panel
- Grackle
- Bird
- Cardinal
- Yellow Bird Red Flowers
- Mourning Dove
Website: https://susanhallpaintings.com/
Bio: Susan Hall was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has been a Chicago area resident since 1993. She has exhibited her work throughout the United States, including shows at Lyonswier Packer Gallery in New York City, Thomas Masters Gallery in Chicago, and Butters Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Her honors include an Illinois Arts Council grant, a Georgia Council for the Arts grant, and Best in Show at the Chicago Anti-Cruelty Society’s Animal Images exhibition juried by Ed Paschke.
Hall received her MFA from the University of Georgia and her BA from Connecticut College.
