Santa Fe, NM
Waxlander Gallery, June 20-July 3
Suzanne Donazetti, Sage Rising, woven copper, 16 x 20.
This story was featured in the June 2017 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art June 2017 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
Suzanne Donazetti’s copper sculptures undulate like flags in the wind. The woven tapestries of metal, colored with leafing and paint, carry the light across their unique landscapes, bringing viewers into a meditative trance. “When you’re in the art world for many years, you tend to have seen it all,” says Waxlander Gallery director Bonnie French. “But chances are that you’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Waxlander Gallery hosts a solo show of up to 60 pieces by Donazetti this summer. The show opens on Tuesday, June 20, and continues with a lecture and demonstration by the artist on Saturday, June 24, from 3 to 5 p.m. During the event, Donazetti outlines the specifics of her process and the possibilities of experimentation with copper sculpture.
Donazetti began her career in jewelry making but found she wanted to do things on a larger scale. After many fits and starts, the artist found a process that seemed to work. First, she primes pieces of the copper with gold or silver leafing and then adds color. This helps punch up the colors to make them brighter and clearer, Donazetti says. She then begins to weave the sheets together; sometimes they form the remnants of a sunset or landscape, while other times they are simply abstract. “I’m interested in how the light moves across the rural landscape where I live, and that’s what I want to convey,” she says.
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Azure Sky, woven copper, 15 x 16.
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Comes the Night, woven copper, 20 x 24.
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Mountain Sunrise, woven copper, 24 x 48.
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Silver Shadows, woven copper, 16 x 24.
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- Suzanne Donazetti, Winter at the Malpais, woven copper, 21 x 18.
After 30 years, Donazetti continues to experiment with the storytelling element of her work. One artwork in the show is made up of 20 flat, 12-by-12-inch pieces arranged in four rows on one wall of the gallery. She says that in most of her works, the color and light move across one plane. In this piece, however, she is interested in seeing how those elements interact across several planes at once.
Donazetti says that her main goal is to give viewers a sense of peacefulness and harmony. “Before leafing the copper, I write some positive thoughts on the sheets,” she says. “I want to put positive thoughts out into the universe, especially now. So even though it is covered up by the leaf and the paint and the weaving, it’s still out there.” —Mackenzie McCreary
contact information
505.984.2202
www.waxlander.com
This story was featured in the June 2017 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art June 2017 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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