In 2022 The Sustainability Project will host 3 weekend events to showcase the Susan O’Hara Clay Heads sculpture exhibit. The tours take place August 27 & 28, September 24 & 25, and October 8 & 9. Two tours start each day at 10 am and 2 pm. In addition to scheduled tours, private “friendraising” tours may be scheduled by members of civic, education, religious, business and family groups.
Because the organization’s Emerson Brook Forest Outdoor Center is currently a construction site, this year’s tours will be held at Valerie Piedmont’s neighboring wheelchair accessible homestead at 26 Emerson Brook Drive, Gilsum, NH. In the spirit of our past Music and Art in the Forest events, participants can expect random acts of enlivening music and nature based activities. Pre-registration is required. Each tour is limited to 36 participants. The suggested donation is $18 per person, with no one turned away for lack of funds. Proceeds from the event support The Sustainability Project’s building fund and mission driven activities.
The Sustainability Project is curating an extensive collection of sculptures by the late Susan O’Hara. Her remarkable body of work deserves widespread recognition and their journey to great visibility is beginning in the Emerson Brook Forest.
More about Sue…
I was born in Belgium and came to the U.S. at the age of 11. Art was always an important part of my life as I was growing up. My teen years were spent in New York City where I graduated from the High School of Music and Art with a major in sculpture, but it was not until many years later that my interest in clay sculpture really developed, and eventually progressed to stone and wire. Although mostly self-taught, my education as a clay sculptor has been a combination of local Art Center classes, where I learned different techniques of using and building with clay, some workshops and friendships that nurtured my creative urge. Over the years I have lived in different areas of the U.S. and with each move have met special people involved in the art scene, learning new techniques and inspirations for my art. Since coming to Florida in 2003 and participating in sculpture classes at the Hillsborough Community College in Ybor, has helped me to expand my knowledge even further, in clay, wire, stone carving, and other sculptural techniques, which has greatly improved my artistic expression. In 2012 I won a grant from the Hillsborough Arts Council to purchase a kiln, which has enabled me to make major changes and improvements in the final clay product by experimenting with stains and glazes.
Sculpting has always been my passion and clay my inspiration. The recently learned new techniques in sculpture produced a new start for my artistic expression. The sculptures I create interpret the human form in a primitive modern style and depend upon how I feel at the time of creation. The human body has always intrigued me and the suggestion of a face or body seems to appear whenever I work with clay, and with stone as well. It is amazing to me how the female torso can be transformed in so many different ways, depending upon how I feel when I sit down in my studio. Faces also intrigue me – faces of serenity, sadness, contemplation, and expectation – depending upon my mood at the time of creation. I am happiest when I can carve stone or manipulate clay into an effective expression of my mood and seeing the many ways my ideas develop into a sculpture.
For more information please email info@emersonbrookforest.org or call Valerie at 603-209-7272.