Shrewsbury artist to have two shows in Worcester this fall

By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter

Shrewsbury – Local artist Sue Swinand spent her summer preparing for two show openings in Worcester this fall. 

First is a show at the Worcester Center for Crafts’ Krikorian Gallery with fellow artist Noel Bailey billed as “Fluid/Solid.” It opened Sept. 24 and will run through Saturday, Nov. 7.

“His work is very compatible with mine in that he uses liquid and the ceramics is so fluid with him but of course it’s solid,” Swinand remarked.

Her portion of the exhibit includes 10 large-scale watercolors “in dialogue with Noel Bailey’s stunning ceramic forms.”

Later this year Swinand will open a one-woman show, “Nature Imagined,” at the Worcester Art Museum. It premieres on the museum’s reopening day, Thursday, Oct. 1, and will run through Feb. 7, 2021.

When asked about her art, Swinand explained: “I work a lot with shape. A lot of contemporary artists are more interested in color and texture but I kind of commit myself to shapes.”

She is an avid gardener and nature informs her art which reflects what she thinks could be believable and authentic in nature. 

“The viewer can look at it and find it ambiguous yet evocative and contribute their own imagination to it,” she noted.

She has been an artist most of her life, graduating from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia. She also received a Sartain Fellowship and studied with the Barnes Foundation for two years.

Swinand, 77, and her husband Lou are both natives of Philadelphia, Penn., and have lived in Shrewsbury since 1984 where they raised three sons. 

She taught studio classes at the Worcester Art Museum, visual communications, design, and painting at Clark University, and painting at Wellesley College greenhouses. Her work has been shown throughout New England.

Swinand shared that the museum exhibit will include over 30 pieces that will reflect a broad spectrum of her work.

“The two shows are very different, too,” Lou remarked. “The craft center is these large watercolors and the museum is a mixture of art over several years.”

For more information, visit www.swinand.com. For tickets to the exhibits, visit www.worcestercraftcenter.org/krikorian-gallery and www.worcesterart.org.