SUSAN READ CRONIN
Susan Read Cronin began studying sculpture with noted sculptors Jane B. Armstrong and Walter Matia in the 1990s, and quickly developed a sense of the tradition and craft involved in working in bronze. Cronin brings to her art a playful sense of humor, which has remained at the core of the work in design and art throughout her career. She seeks to engage and amuse the viewer, and argues that art should be lived with, and even played with, as she often does herself when devising new compositions and groupings for her work. In the early 2000’s, she created a show called Fables, Foibles and Fairytales, featuring a selection of her bronzes, wrought iron stands and an educational component; the show traveled countrywide to museums and galleries for five years. Susie, as she prefers to be called, enjoys working with the foundries where she casts her work and gives them credit for bringing her pieces to life. In an effort to explain the bronze casting process in its simplest terms, she authored the book Bronze Casting in a Nutshell. Her lively bronze sculptures have been exhibited in various venues including the National Sculpture Society in New York and The Copley Society of Art in Boston. Galleries represent her nationwide and her work is held in numerous private and public collections. She was educated at The Madeira School and is a graduate of Williams College, where she majored in English and took studio art classes as a relief from having to write thirty-page term papers. She serves on the board of The Vermont Studio Center.
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The artist with her bronze sculpture Best In Show
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Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut Bronze Edition of 12 11 x 15 x 10 in.
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To the Rescue! Bronze Edition of 12 10 x 9 in. x variable depth
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Giddy Up! Bronze Edition of 24 6 x 11 x 7 1/2 in.
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Lady Bug Bronze Edition of 12 14 x 7 x 8 in.
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Stretch Bronze Edition of 12 24 1/2 x 7 x 12 in.
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Jack in the Box Bronze Edition of 24 10 3/4 x 10 x 10 in.
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Jack Hammer Bronze Edition of 24 12 x 6 x 11 1/2 in.
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Jack Pot Bronze Edition of 24 15 1/4 x 12 x 8 1/2 in.
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Jack of Hearts Bronze Edition of 24 10 x 7 x 10 1/2 in.
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Lucky Bronze Edition of 24 11 x 16 1/2 x 10 in.
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Butter Up
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Bronze Edition of 24 7 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 13 in.
Dive In Bronze Edition of 24 11 x 5 x 16 in.
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Bronze wishbone clapper from inside bell
The Dingalings A Family of Bells Bronze Dimensions variable L to R: Dong, Ding, Dang, Ling Ling & Clang
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XXO Bronze Edition of 60 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 7 in.
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The Priceless Gift Bronze Edition of 8 10 x 5 x 10 in.
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Heel, Toe & Away We Go Bronze Edition of 24 11 x 6 1/2 x 12 in.
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Charge! (Humpty Dumpty) Bronze Edition of 8 10 1/2 x 9 x 16 in.
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A Matter of Balance Bronze Edition of 6 73 x 28 x 44 in.
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To Have and To Hold Bronze Edition of 24 14 x 9 x 12 in.
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WOOF! Bronze Edition of 30 20 x 12 x 14 1/2 in.
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As a curator of a permanent collection, I’m charged with the care and feeding of objects representative of the grand march of art history — pyramids to Picasso to the present day. So when I’m offered an opportunity to go beyond the bounds of “compare and contrast”, I revel. Limiting oneself to traditional “masterpieces” ignores many remarkable art works and the delicious sweep of human craft and cultural handiwork, all testaments to their makers’ prodigious talents, hearts, souls, and sometimes, as-yet-unrecognized genius. There are canons and there is creativity! …I automatically thought I would be doing the usual: seaming Susie Read Cronin and her work within the fabric of art history; referencing her with a litany of bronze sculptors, cartoonists, and literary humorists. Assuredly, her work bears a healthy affinity with the aforementioned. She is a wrangler of visual puns and an adroit portrayer of character within the guise of her creations — her bronze people, fruits, animals, and nuts. And I was so looking forward to citing her as “the modern Michelangelo of the menagerie.” But the beauty of working with living artists is talking with them, gaining firsthand insight into what makes them tick… for me, it is an infrequent and precious commodity. It has been vitalizing to spend time with Susie Read Cronin, an artist so deft in her processes and inspired in her art. For me, her works are a point of congregation for thought from myriad levels. She divines what makes us laugh and laces our responses with a heady dose of varied emotion…her work will ultimately be seen, experienced, created through your own eyes. It is now your turn to revel in the richness and dramatic power of Cronin’s art, and embrace her ability to enchant, surprise, and delight us. Vivian Patterson Curator of Collections Williams College Museum of Art
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© Eric LimÓn 43
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SUSAN READ CRONIN selected solo exhibitions
Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan, Alabama The Baum Gallery of Fine Arts, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas Visions West Galleries, Denver, Colorado Visual Arts Center of Northwest Florida, Panama City, Florida Hudgens Center for the Arts, Duluth, Georgia Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana Louisiana Arts and Science Museum, Baton Rouge, Louisiana The Harrison Gallery, Williamstown, Massachusetts Jesse Besser Museum, Alpena, Michigan Ella Sharp Museum, Jackson, Michigan Hunter Kirkland Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico The Williams Club, New York, New York Gaston County Museum of Art, Dallas, North Carolina Waterworks Visual Arts Center, Salisbury, North Carolina Erie Art Museum, Erie, Pennsylvania Spartanburg County Art Museum, South Carolina Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, Tennessee Ellen Noel Art Museum, University of Texas Permian Basin, Odessa, Texas Irving Arts Center, Irving, Texas Chaffee Center for the Visual Arts, Rutland, Vermont Frog Hollow State Craft Center, Manchester, Vermont Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, Vermont The Brattleboro Retreat, Brattleboro, Vermont The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center, West Rutland, Vermont The Red Mill Gallery, Johnson, Vermont Tilting at Windmills, Manchester, Vermont Vermont Artisan Designs & Gallery 2, Brattleboro, Vermont The Madeira School, Lives and Legacies, McLean, Virginia Oglebay Institute’s Stifel Fine Arts Center, Wheeling, West Virginia Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin Paine Art Center and Arboretum, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
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Nyah, Nyah Nut, Bronze, 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 2 1/4 in.
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