ShapeShifter presents the ethereal abstract paintings of Susan Maakestad. She utilizes her decades-long fascination with highway webcams alongside a passion for vast landscapes to create compelling abstract paintings. The tension between abstraction and illusionism generates something familiar and yet unknown, of this world and yet also otherworldly.

Maakestad states, “The unobstructed horizon line is a key element in my work and a source of great pleasure when I see it in real life. The empty vistas and changing light provoke a degree of wistful contemplation.

During the pandemic, I became obsessed with the work of British painter John Constable (d.1837). I felt a connection to his work, particularly his skies and use of light. I made hundreds of watercolor studies based on his highly complex paintings, reducing their information until I arrived at an essence: something of him became part of me.”

Maakestad received a National Endowment for the Art fellowship from Arts Midwest in 1988. She is the recipient of the 2013 ArtsAccelerator Grant from ArtsMemphis, purchase awards from the UrbanArts Commission in Memphis and three individual artist grants from the Peoria Area Arts and Sciences Council. In late 2021 she completed a large-scale public art commission at Memphis International Airport. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts among others. Her work has been included in the national publication New American Paintings and The Painting Center in New York's online Art File. Her work has been exhibited nationally including at Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis; Sazama Gallery, Chicago; Steinway Gallery, Chapel Hill; The Rymer Gallery, Nashville; and The Rockford (IL) Art Museum. Public collections include the Tennessee State Museum, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and the City of Memphis. 

Maakestad was Professor of Art at Memphis College of Art where she taught from 1997-2020. She continues to teach and lecture both regionally and nationally. She earned her M.F.A. in painting from The University of Iowa in 1987 and a B.A., magna cum laude, and M.A. from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA.

Show run: July 1 through August 15th
Opening reception: Friday, July 10th, 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Artist talk: Saturday, July 25th, 11:00 am

Click Here to view the artist's work