Ogden Museum continues Curated Conversations, our popular series of intimate talks, now online! Curated Conversations bring curators and artists together to discuss art, exchange ideas and explore exhibitions. Deepen your understanding of Ogden Museum exhibitions and get to know our curatorial team at the same time! This first talk features Curator of the Collection, Bradley Sumrall, and Entwined artist, Susan Jamison.

Susan Jamison’s feminine iconography spans several media, including painting, drawing, textile based sculpture, and installation, all steeped in ritualistic and mythological associations. She is best known for her intricate egg tempera paintings, which present a mystery cult of florid women who foray into the wild and commune with animal spirit guides or familiars. Jamison earned a B.F.A from James Madison University, and a M.F.A in painting from Rhode Island School of Design where she received the Award of Excellence. Her paintings have been featured in three volumes of New American Paintings. She was a recipient of the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant for painting in 2014. Her works are held in the collections of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Mint Museum, The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University, Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, Try-Me.org, Capital One, POM Wonderful LLC and numerous private collections. Jamison lives and works in Roanoke, Virginia.

About Entwined:

“I follow my hands, and they often reveal the answers to the questions that I am asking myself while I explore the material I am working with.” – Sonya Yong James

Drawing inspiration from the traditions of various cultures – Haitian Voudou, Appalachian broom-making, Calabrian silk production, Peruvian rope coiling, Congo Nkisi – the contemporary Southern artists in Entwined engage wrapping and binding as a symbolic aesthetic device, and often as a ritual practice within their work. 

The technique and the symbolism of wrapping and binding in the work of these artists is as varied as the artists themselves. From the visionary allegorical paintings of the female form by Susan Jamison to the abstract textile sculptures of Sarah Zapata, there exists a common thread of ritual. For some, it is the ritual of repetitive laborious handwork. For others, it is a ritual and spiritual act of creation. Through wrapping, painting, weaving, coiling, drawing or knotting, each artist binds their own unique and thoroughly contemporary vision to an ancient, universal and very human practice. 

Entwined features works by Friendswood Brooms, Jeffrey Cook, Sonya Yong James, Susan Jamison, Sharon Kopriva, Kristin Meyers, Susan Plum, Ashley Pridmore, Elizabeth Shannon, Ed Williford and Sarah Zapata.