Susan Snodgrass

Susan Snodgrass

Susan Snodgrass

A publishing career that spans over 30 years, critic and editor Susan Snodgrass writes about contemporary art, art criticism, material art practices, architecture, urbanism, and public art.
  • Joined: September 19, 2017
  • Articles: 85
  • Comments: 2

Flag Art: Raising New Symbols of Belonging

As the end to a most trying year draws near, hopes for a fairer and more equitable future are weighted against the injustices of the present that attempt to erode the very foundations of our democracy. Even in the wake of the U.S. election’s positive outcome, conservative politicians and right-wing extremists, cloaked in the guise of patriotism, continue to exploit symbols of freedom, including the American flag, to bolster a dangerous authoritarian nationalism and commit atrocities against American citizens, immigrants, indigenous peoples, and Earth.

Art and Nature Parks: On Common Ground

Walking in the Eastern Woodlands of the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, one discovers an open clearing in which lies a large concrete basin surrounded by a skeletal wooden structure all weathered by the forces of nature and time. The central pond-shaped form, cracked and empty save for a few fallen leaves, was once a swimming pool on a 20-acre estate uncovered by Laumeier staff when it acquired the land in the early 1980s. The trellised structure, a labyrinth of elevated walkways and gazebos, is an installation by artist Mary Miss who constructed the work in 1982-85.

Lenore Tawney: Mirror of the Universe

Revealed throughout Mirror of the Universe, a suite of four exhibitions recently on view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center exploring the life, work, and influence of Lenore Tawney (1907–2007), is an artist whose creative and everyday lives were intimately intertwined.

Planting the Future City

As I have mentioned many times here and throughout my critical practice, Rosalyn Deutsche’s book Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics has been an endless source of inspiration for me. Deutsche centers her discourse on public art in political reinventions of public space, looking to radical definitions of democracy and to analogies that equate cities with biological systems. Such analogies are even more prescient given our current pandemic that heightens the realities of the interconnectedness of humans, cities, and ecosystems and the social, economic, and environmental injustices that result when those links are destabilized.

For the Common Good: Chicago Architecture Biennial’s “. . .and other such stories”

Just ending its 14-week run that coincided with the rise of global anti-government protests, the Chicago Teachers Strike, and devasting fires in Australia, this year’s iteration of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) offered a platform for projects, many collaborative and citizen-led, that explored the social function of architecture and its publics. Titled “. . . and other such stories,” the biennial took an activist approach to architecture and urban transformation using the Chicago Cultural Center and various satellite spaces as sites for alternative investigations of how we might shape and inhabit the world.

New book out now!

At long last, my book Inside the Matrix: The Radical Designs of Ken Isaacs published by Half Letter Press is now available! Inside the Matrix surveys the highly individual practice of American architect and designer Ken Isaacs, whose populist, DIY designs created from the 1950s to the 1970s challenged mainstream definitions of modernism. Highlighted here are his Living Structures, Microhouses, and Alpha Chambers, experimental living and educational environments that provided alternative solutions to the spatial and environmental challenges of midcentury modern life.

You can purchase a copy here: https://halfletterpress.com/inside-the-matrix/

Mapping the Waterways of Milwaukee with Mary Miss

With the goal to help the citizens of Milwaukee learn about the importance of water to the life of their city, artist Mary Miss has embarked on WaterMarks: An Atlas of Water for the City of Milwaukee, a multi-year project that fosters community and municipal partnerships to create public awareness around climate change.