Danish Modern
October 16, 2008
Swannie spent a number of years working for the textile industry, first in Sweden developing prototypes, and then in Nova Scotia. It was better than waitressing she says, and allowed her to be an artist. But industry became frustrating having to deal with managers more concerned with business than art.
Her personal work has always been the most exciting for Swannie. In her 40s she even went to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design for an MFA to broaden her visual vocabulary. But she stuck to her Danish roots, partly because of her daughters.
“Having two daughters that grew up outside of my culture I think some of my little tapestries early on were communications of something which is Danish and folklore-ish to my daughters”.
As the “bread and the bone” of Scandinavia, Danish modern appealed to Swannie with its clean and simple lines, saying, “[it's] still quite strong. I haven’t ever been attracted too much to pure decoration for the sake of things.”
Her sense of economy wasn’t just in the content, but the form as well. She’s played around with other mediums, and even was on the cutting edge of textile technology, but always found herself returning to her weaving.
For the past decade she’s dedicated herself to producing carpets almost from scratch. In her own world of adventure and economy she was free to make her own sketchers, make studies in yarn, and dye her own thread.
“It was time where I think everything had been so busy for so long, it was just such a satisfying thing to everything really well and properly. That whole control was very good.”
Now working on smaller works, Swannie divides her time between her two daughters who are both artists living in England and BC. She says life has been a little softer in her old age, but she remains practical—there’s not an adventure she can have that isn’t art. “I’ll probably still draw inspiration from that, as I always have.”
Danish Modern , a retrospective of Suzanne Swannie, will be on display from Sat October 18 – Sun November 23 at Halifax’s Mount Saint University Art Gallery.
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