About the Artist

Suzanne McGrew Artist Bio

A California native, Suzanne is an Orange County-based mixed media artist, who creates mini sculptures, collages, hand-made books, paper boxes and baskets /vessels using wire, plaster, paper, fabric, thread, beads, postage stamps, paint and found objects.

Inspired by her Mother and Grandmother, Suzanne has always felt deeply creative, although life’s practicalities led her to a professional career in business.

She earned her AA degree in Business at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California. She worked in the corporate world for many years, both as secretary, admin assistant and a technical writer.

Throughout that time, she was constantly taking some kind of art class, including various classes at the University of California at Irvine Ext. in their Interior Design certificate program. She worked in Interior Design for a few years.

Now retired from that world, she continues learning by going to classes and working many different jobs and volunteering at local venues. This includes the Secret Garden on the grounds of the Huntington Beach Library; Sherman Gardens in Corona del Mar; and the San Juan Capistrano Library. Currently she volunteers at Bowers Museum, a cultural art museum in Santa Ana, California.

Suzanne has sold her work at various shops from San Clemente to Long Beach, California and has been published in UPPERCASE magazine: Issue 28, Jan Feb Mar 2016.

Suzanne decided to seriously focus on her art after teaching a few classes at Alamitos Bay Yarn Company in Long Beach, and is currently enrolled in the “Artist Business Coaching” program from Professional Artist Association.

Suzanne McGrew Artist Statement

As a mixed-media artist, just about anything can end up in one of my pieces. I often employ metals such as sterling, copper or steel wire, as well as plaster, paper, fabric, thread, beads, postage stamps, paint. I aesthetically combine these elements within my sculptures, informing my decisions by considering the integral, structural parts and embellishments. The various mediums provide endless possible journeys and directions.

My art education included an immersion in jewelry making, where I developed a love of working with wire using different techniques including crochet, looping and bending with different metals and gauges. I am attracted to the patina of metals: shiny, oxidized and rusted. I’ve also had a life-long love with paper, especially hand-made with its amazing textures and colors. My art practice is focused on recycling found objects such as twigs, beach glass, driftwood, bark, and I love creating unique textures with plaster. My senses are stimulated by the gorgeous colors of fabric and thread and surprising combinations of materials.

My process is experimental with my natural curiosity always asking my favorite and prime question, “What If?” 

I find inspiration everywhere. I might begin a project with a photo, a dream or just a color or shape that I’ve been thinking about from a reference that I saw in nature, haute couture in a magazine, words in a book, the shape of a hat or bowl in a TV show or a film.

My ideas develop when I begin to question what I want this piece to look like. Along the way I ask myself questions about how I can achieve the desired shape, what wire forming techniques I’ll use, and what textures the materials can bring to the piece. As the piece begins to form, my inner dialogue continues to consider possibilities and make decisions. Sometime the materials don’t behave as I intended and I’ve learned to embrace happy accidents as aesthetic possibilities.

My work is a visual representation of my observational inquiry and is unique to my surroundings. I see so many things that intrigue and inspire my desire to create work that expresses feelings of joy, admiration and appreciation of beautiful proportions. I want to bring those same emotions to viewers, so they might feel uplifted, offering a reminder that there are good things we can focus on despite the chaotic world in which we live.

What if? What if I made a piece of art to make the world a little bit better, just one thing that brings a smile for anyone who might look.