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Anthracite Collection |
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· Each canvas is a six-sided honeycomb shape because the Wyoming Valley was “honeycombed” with mines. The six-sides on each canvas allows the paintings to fit together in various honeycomb patterns.
· Each canvas is balanced on a point because the mines were unstable.
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· Each composition begins with collaged historical images related to a single concept involved with mining. Some are actual newspaper articles and postcards; some are drawn or painted from historical photographs. The collaged history influences the abstract composition for each separate canvas.
· The paint has depth because the coal ran in layers. Some of the canvas is thinly-covered, while other areas are coated with thick impasto paint.
· The colors are low chroma; the colors of the earth, dirt, dust, and coal. The Knox Mine disaster is more blue. Explosions and fires are more orange. Coal geology pieces are more green.
· A spot of BLUE paint on each canvas symbolizes the Susquehanna River and the Knox Mine Disaster, which ended coal mining in the Wyoming Valley…and the Miners Code of Honor to always search for their injured or dead companions.
· A spot of RED paint on each composition symbolizes the DANGER…and the blood, sweat, and tears.
· There is real coal embedded into each composition.
· There is an additional historical 3-D object embedded into each composition (nails, rope, etc.).
· None of the pieces are framed. Each painting completely wraps around the edges of the stretched canvas. Each canvas is signed on the bottom left edge and titled on the bottom right edge.
· The canvases are designed to interact with each other in unlimited combinations.
· There are 300 paintings in the completed series. |
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Watch for Sue’s new book Anthracite Miners & Their Hollowed Ground, coming in 2008. |