Suzanne Powney

Artist Statement

"Why do you touch the things you see? Touch is integral to us as human beings. I am interested in the act of touching objects, the things you see. For me, the act of reaching out and making a physical connection means that I have forged a network; the network is built through peoples hands. I have reached through to illicit a spark and an engaged experience. Tactile typography and layered colors, the narrative form and the tactile qualities of paper with impressed type combine into an integral process for me. Touch is connection, a physical point of contact that engages the viewer with the work. The surface draws you to it and your hand brushes over it taking in information.

Process + Methodology

My lists are my process. I move forward through my lists as a journal and a guide. My lists are scattered collections of the things I do and make, the ideas I have and what I read. The lists are in layers as things are struck off and added on and repeated and underlined and emphasized. Things rise to the top of my lists in importance and passion.

My process and interests begin with an examination of why I want to make things that seduce visually and excite touch, include lists and mind maps and focus on tactile surface. I investigate the hand and typography and community, through color and pattern. I am a designer who is also a letterpress printer and I explore traditional media engaging type, message of design. I work with book arts and shared connections, and I consider myself a craftsman as well as a designer."

Artist Biography

Suzanne Powney is a graphic designer and letterpress printer. She earned her MFA in Graphic Communications in 2011 from University of Houston. She has been teaching letterpress since 2002 at institutions including the Museum of Printing History in Houston, Texas, University of Houston, and Mississippi State University where she is currently an Associate Professor of graphic design. She is the owner and operator of Blackdog Letterpress, founded in 2004, where she prints artists’ books and broadsides as well as an occasional calendar.