In the Weeds

Susan White

VIEW THE EXHIBITION Ι 1/19 - 2/25.2021

SYKES GALLERY ι BREIDENSTINE HALL (1st Floor)
Receptions ι  This exhibition offers two receptions, an opening and a closing reception, one in-person and one via Zoom.

• 2/01.2021 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm EST- in-person (Masks Required)
• 2/22.2021 at 7:00 pm EST via Zoom 

Gallery Hours ι  Standard business hours for Swift Gallery are Monday - Friday from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. Hours are subject to vary in accordance with University established holidays (below) and the reception, gallery talk/s or awards ceremony. ** Please wear a mask properly, covering both your nose and your mouth, upon entering the building and through the reception.

About the Exhibition ...

“In the weeds” is a term that is used when you simply have so much going on that you cannot keep up. It is a term that is often used in the restaurant industry, which is exactly where I heard it for the first time. As a gardener, it is often the phrase that I use when I find myself overwhelmed, which is almost all of the time.

The weed that I chose to reference is Convolvulus Arvensis, more commonly known as bindweed. It is a particularly noxious weed. The vines spread like an army and they twist and climb and smother everything in their path. One plant can produce up to 500 seeds that remain viable for 50 years. Underground, the roots grow deep and will produce a new plant if the smallest piece is left behind. Keeping your garden free from bindweed takes patience and vigilance. Removing the vines once is not enough. You have to check in often, every week, pulling the weeds when they are small and trying your best to get the root so it does not re-sprout. If you are not careful and diligent, the plant will quickly overwhelm everything that you have planted.

For this installation, the gallery walls are covered with over 5,000 leaves that were screenprinted, cut out and wired by hand. There is text on the leaves which references the conversational inner monologue that sometimes takes place when you take on a big project…questioning your judgment one minute, working out your plans, and confirming your decisions the next. The leaves creep in the gallery from all directions, under and over the walls, forming large clusters that have the potential to overcome the space, literally leaving it “in the weeds”.

About the Artist ...

Susan White is an artist, printmaker, teacher, parent, small business owner and a gardener. She currently teaches in the Visual Studies Department at Drexel University where she teaches Printmaking and Drawing and in the Continuing Studies Department at University of the Arts where she teaches Printmaking.

She received a BFA in printmaking from Moore College of Art and Design (1990) and an MFA in Book arts/Printmaking from The University of the Arts (1994). Initial exhibitions were based in the field of Artist Books. More recently, her work is installation based. Solo Exhibitions include encircle (2016) at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, disorder at The Print Center (2009), read (2009) at The Crane Building in Philadelphia. Recently, her work has also been included in R/W Reading & Writing Visual Experience (2014), Hicks Art Center; Dialogic (2013), Rowan College Art Gallery; Library of Life (2013), Art in City Hall, Philadelphia; The Book: A Contemporary View(2011), DCCA and Towson University and Landing Place (2010), Artes Portales, Spain.

Susan also served as the Assistant Director of The Print Center; a non-profit arts organization which focuses on printmaking and photography from 1999 until 2002

Susan grew up in Lancaster County and currently lives and works in Philadelphia. An avid gardener, and she and her husband, Peter Smith, own and operate an Urban Garden Center in Philadelphia called City Planter. She is also full time parent to Katsura (19) and Ilse (14) Smith who have the ability to put her busy life to a screeching halt at a moments notice.