Susan J Lapham

My art draws on meditations between complex science and minimalist aesthetics and communicates my sense of wonder to the world. I am a scientist and artist whose influences include cartography, statistics, erector sets, and Dr. Suess. My work is a combination of eclectic architecture, complex machinery, and outlandish arrangements that push the limits of balance, proportion, and symmetry. The resulting constructions explore surprising connections, finding resolutions with delight and humor. I’m often up on a ladder or crouching on the floor to create pieces 8 feet square. The top then goes to the longarm where my husband spends long hours quilting straight lines. The quilts’ last stop is back to my studio for hand finishing.

I am a piecer and minimalist at heart. I use just a few items – commercial and hand-dyed cotton, a rotary cutter and mat, iron, straight stitch sewing machine, thread, and design wall. I begin with black strings to contain a space on the design wall, then cut fabric to fill that space. I work improvisationally bouncing from right brain to left brain as I create then engineer the piece. I find great delight in working larger than life using small bits of fabric.