I can now see an end to the year 2020. Introspection almost feels redundant, since the entirety of 2020 has been one of turning inward. What more is there to acknowledge, repent about, and commit to for the new year? But I have discovered that there is always more -- more to think about, more … Continue reading The Year of Becoming
Author: suzannescottc
Covid and Turning 80 in 2020
I turned 80 in March. A helluva time to enter lockdown. I turned 80 in March. A helluva time to enter lockdown. Like most 80-year-olds I know, I don’t feel 80. Most of the time. Or maybe this is exactly what 80 feels like. Regardless, it is an impressive number, and it deserves a reckoning. … Continue reading Covid and Turning 80 in 2020
Artist Interrupted
I was eight. Some people say age seven is the pivotal year. For me, it was definitely eight. Mama and I had rented a room in a large house in a once-aristocratic section of Raleigh on Hawthorne Avenue, after Grandmommy and Granddaddy moved the rest of the family out of state. We were only a … Continue reading Artist Interrupted
The Spaces Between
There are two kinds of people in this world. The kind who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don't. -Ann Brashares, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood New Moons, 16"x20" mixed media on canvas I hate dichotomies. It started for me many years ago when a therapist challenged me to stop thinking “either-or” … Continue reading The Spaces Between
Upcoming Event
Art Show Opening Friday, July 26, 2019 at Read 'em and Weep. I'll speak briefly about my recent work and my wife and I will present our original performance poetry.
Unmoored but Unbound
Reality is revealed to us only in fragments. The more fragments we perceive and parse, the more lifelike the mosaic we make of them. But it is still a mosaic, a representation -- imperfect and incomplete, however beautiful it may be, and subject to unending transfiguration. -Maria Popova, Figuring Transitions, even positive ones, are hard. … Continue reading Unmoored but Unbound
Pursuing the Crack of Light
“There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” -Leonard Cohen, “Anthem” (1992) The last few years have been difficult for me. I have experienced family drama and estrangement, several difficult surgeries and a scary illness. All the while, I was preparing emotionally to transition from my identity as a university professor to … Continue reading Pursuing the Crack of Light
In-Studio Interview
“Better Angels” Diptych 20”x24” Left Panel Last week the leader of the Charles Houston Community Writers (CHC Writers) interviewed me in my studio at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton. Check out the resulting podcast here or on the CHC Facebook page.
When The World Splits Open
What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open. -Muriel Rukeyser, from “Käthe Kollwitz” (1968) I discovered Muriel Rukeyser’s poem “Käthe Kollwitz” in the late 1970s, just as I was discovering my feminist consciousness. The words resonated with me as I struggled to tell the truth about … Continue reading When The World Splits Open
Looking Out, Looking In
A few images from my show on April 9. Here's the audio from the spoken word performance at the Meet-the-Artist Reception.