Susanne (pronounced SusannA) Schuenke is a German-born artist who moved here in 1991 after marrying a Jacksonville native. Her oil painting of a violin appears on the cover of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra’s program, “Encore.”
WHEN DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN ART?
“My parents were painters. Art was like my first language. As a child, I painted with pens and magic markers. I started painting watercolors in my teens and oils in my 20’s. I’m very happy with oils. For me, they are the best. Watercolor is like a beautiful folk song, a melody, but oil is like an opera.”
HOW SO?
“Both give immense joy, but on different levels. Watercolors are very present and of the moment. They’re light, fresh and impromptu, and there is very much an immediacy to them. But like a seven-year-old, they are able to do only so many things. On the other hand, one can build oils layer on layer. One gets a depth that simply is not achievable with watercolors.”
THEN PRESUMABLY, WATERCOLORS ARE THE QUICKEST TO DO?
“Absolutely. Watercolors are far quicker. Oils can take many months.”
WHAT’S THE LARGEST PAINTING YOU EVER CREATED?
“The largest is bigger than 6-by-4 feet and consists of three panels. It will be on display in an exhibit in Germany. It’s a huge space, so I wanted to a big painting.”
HOW MUCH PLANNING GOES ON IN YOUR MIND BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY SIT DOWN TO TACKLE A BLANK CANVAS?
“My paintings always are very much planned from the standpoint that I know exactly what I want to say. The core of the painting is always there, in my mind’s eye. It’s like drinking with your eyes. I have an inventory, or an archives, inside my head.”
READ A CHAPTER, OR THE ENTIRE BOOK
“My intention is to capture the observer’s attention and get him to stay with the painting a while. He can have a dialogue, for as long as he likes, or he can go on to the next chapter. Paintings are something that one lives with for a long time so they have to retain their vitality for the observer.”
IF YOU HAD TO PICK TWO WORDS TO DESCRIBE YOUR WORK, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
“Some of my paintings are satirical; others are philosophical. I have a number of favorite themes: time and its eroding and healing effects, and nature, the change of the seasons which threaten life while at the same time offering a promise of renewal. It is easy to take nature and the environment for granted. I would like to see people begin to treat nature as a partner. At the moment, I see more taking from our side than giving.”
IN WHAT WAY(S) DID YOUR PARENTS’ ARTWORK INFLUENCE YOUR OWN?
“From my mother I received the ability to narrate and tell a story. From my father I received boldness and strength.”
REACTING TO SEPT. 11
“Around the end of September, I began a painting of the American flag, with the faces of all the different nationalities. First, I painted the faces. Then I came back and painted the flag, with the stripes binding and bracing the faces together. As everyone is in it, the painting belongs more in a public place than in a private collection.”
INFLUENCED BY THE MUSIC
As she painted the wooden violin with its body of oil and gold leaf that appears on JSO’s program “Encore,” Schuenke listened to Beethoven’s violin concerto. “The atmosphere and the music, were very much instrumental.”
WHERE DID YOU MEET YOUR HUSBAND?
“In London, in 1985. I was attending a conference and he was on holiday.”
HOBBIES?
“Gardening and reading. I love scientific reading: physics, mathematics, biology. Fiction or nonfiction, I will read anything that comes in front of me as long as I’m interested.”
— by Patti Connor