Before she begins her work, painter Susan Zimmerman sits on the floor and harvests energy.
"The purpose of it is to drive in energy from both heaven and Earth," Zimmerman said. "... It's similar to some yoga poses ... You bring your arms up to bring energy from heaven and you are sitting on the ground and visualize drawing energy from the Earth and they meet in your body and that gives your body the power to do calligraphy."
Zimmerman uses calligraphic marks with sumi ink— black ink used in Japanese calligraphy— oil and acrylic in her layered artwork.
"What I do is all abstract and it's inspired by Japanese calligraphy and it's very much layered," she said.
Although she uses the calligraphic marks in her work, she does not want there to be confusion about what she does.
"I'm not a calligrapher. I'm an artist," she said. "But I like the quality of the line and the brush stroke and what you get from using those (calligraphic) materials."
Calligraphic materials create a very different effect than regular paint and brushes, she said.
"I like the effect and the way the ink integrates with the paper and the kind of line and rhythm and movement you get from using the brush and the ink on the handmade paper," Zimmerman said.
"The way the paper absorbs the ink is unique. If you took a piece of typewriter paper and did sumi ink on it, it would be interesting, but it wouldn't have the same quality as if you used handmade paper."
Zimmerman never has any idea of what she wants to paint before working on a piece.
"I don't do sketches or drawings or anything like that," she said. "I basically respond to the materials as I'm working with them."
Meditating before picking up a brush helps Zimmerman focus on her work.
"There's a real connection with Japanese calligraphy and Buddhism and there's a series of meditative exercises that can be done to prepare for using the ink and the brush and the paper, so that helps guide the process," she said. "Going through the exercises gives me the internal concentration and the sense of balance that it takes to create a line with energy and what comes out of the brush just flows from that experience. It's kind of like an athlete getting in the zone. Like a marathon runner getting their body rhythm going and getting in the zone— the same thing happens with art."
A show of her work, "Black Earth: abstractions in sumi, paint, and paper," will be on display at Artspace 116 through Jan. 12.
If You Go
WHAT: "Black Earth: abstractions in sumi, paint, and paper," by Susan Zimmerman.
WHEN: Artist reception 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Show hangs through Jan. 12.
WHERE: Artspace 116, 116 Central SW, Suite 201.
