Santa Fe, NM
Mark White Fine Art, June 11-24
Suzanne Donazetti, Just After Sunset, woven copper, 13 x 24.
This story was featured in the June 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art June 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
SUZANNE DONAZETTI’S lustrous, three-dimensional works are designed to hang on a wall just like a painting. And while her woven metallic surfaces don’t take the form of traditional landscape paintings, the artist creates each of her colorful pieces with the gusto of a plein-air painter. “My vision has always been to portray scenes in nature like light and shadow,” says Donazetti. Especially in her New Mexico homeland, she adds, “I’m fascinated by the colors, and I’m constantly trying to replicate them.” In her solo show this month at Mark White Fine Art, entitled Sunlight and Shadows, Donazetti continues to explore these inspirations and many others.
On Tuesday, June 11, the gallery unveils around 20 pieces ranging in size from 12 by 9 inches to 48 by 48 inches. The artist attends an opening reception on Friday, June 14, at 5 p.m. Then, on Saturday at 2 p.m., she demonstrates her creative process—a labor-intensive series of steps that she has spent some 30 years refining. Donazetti, now 74, previously worked as a jewelry and fiber artist. After stumbling upon the book Textile Techniques in Metal by Arline Fisch, however, she was inspired to transform her work. “I started really small, about 4 inches square,” she says, “and then I went bigger and bigger.”
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Morning at the Valley of Fires, woven copper, 30 x 20.
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Amazon Sunset, woven copper, 20 x 15.
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Blood Moon, woven copper, 24 x 24.
Donazetti’s process today begins with large sheets of copper that she paints using a blend of airbrush inks, liquid acrylics, and ground-up, light-reflective mica. She then cuts the sheets into long ribbons that she weaves together and sometimes bends to create undulating curves in her final pieces.
Long influenced by the Southwest, the artist frequently turns to the desert landscape and colorful skies around her home in southern New Mexico for inspiration. MORNING AT THE VALLEY OF FIRES, for example, was inspired by the nearby Valley of Fires Recreation Area, an expanse of lava fields where the light creates ever-shifting hues amongst the volcanic rock and plant life.
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Forest Sunset II, woven copper, 40 x 20.
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Lapis Lazuli II, woven copper, 24 x 16.
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Turquoise Silver, woven copper, 12 x 9.
Donazetti is also exploring the light, colors, and textures of other regions, including the Pacific Northwest. She routinely collaborates with her grandson, an aeronautical engineer based in Seattle, who has “learned all aspects of my process,” says the artist. “I’ll go out to Seattle, and he comes here, and we’ll paint together. He’s bringing influences into my work like the ocean, the stars, and the universe.” —Kim Agricola
contact information
505.982.2073
www.markwhitefineart.com
This story was featured in the June 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art June 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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