Artist: Soraya Sus
Soraya Sus, FLORIDA
Bio:
Soraya Sus is a Colombian-born multimedia artist, passionate about ceramics and illustration, living in Gainesville, Florida with her useful husband Youssef, her two talented daughters Elena and Aaya, and her two adorable cats Risa and Gigi.
She began her ceramic training in 1999 at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia where she took classes and did some workshops with several wonderful potters. It was then that her love for ceramics began. In 2000, she received a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design from the Fundación Universidad Jorge Tádeo de Bogota, majoring in Children Illustration.
Since then, she has been in a love affair with functional and imperfect hand-formed ceramic works that strive to evoke feelings of joy and playfulness. She finds that hand formed pieces of pottery, with its curves and quirks like mugs, plates, vases, jewelry and wall hangings serve as the perfect canvas for her bold imagery depicting a menagerie of creatures in a painterly manner.
Artist Statement:
I find life satisfying by creating functional pottery that is intentionally loosely designed to recreate a sense of innocence and playfulness usually associated with childhood. I treat clay surfaces as a canvas, decorating them with images inspired by my daughters’ perception of life as depicted in their drawings over the years and by my observations of cat behavior. My images a well suited to the undulating clay surfaces by hand forming pieces using traditional hand building techniques of coil, pinch and slab construction. This slow and deliberate hand-building and decorating techniques give each piece a whimsical- one of a kind -character that at first glance one might think that the pieces are imperfect or flawed but I conclude that, like life, they are “flawed.” The final glaze firing process also plays a role; the colors may become fluid on the surface and the process I use by overlaying brilliant underglazes resonates like light through stained glass.
My two daughters serve as a great source of inspiration to me. The way they express their sense of the world by using brightly colored, often imaginary creatures, like unicorns and mermaids bursting through a background filled with designs. The way they depict these creatures and how they capture the essence of their surroundings in a playful manner allude to a pure sense of joy. I too fill the negative spaces between the creatures with patterns, swirls, dots and textures of colors. That two-dimensional depiction reflects an innocence of a worldview that only children sense. I strive to blend their childlike style with my own imagery.
Cat lovers relate to the way I capture curious cats at play and/or draped in odd positions while at rest. My cats live in a stress-free world where they chatter with birds and squirrels through the kitchen window, drape themselves on the furniture and bare teeth and claws with puffed up fur when caught off guard. I also depict them interacting with each other and with their human friends.
My goal as an artist is to inspire others to find joy within the confines of their home by elevating simple pleasures like sharing a cup of coffee and laughing when they consume the contents of a bowl of food to see what the surprise is that awaits them. That joy is contagious to adults when one picks up a mug or uses a vessel and interacts up-close with that sense of playfulness. I feel that my pottery enhances the experience from start to end.
PROFILE
I have been a practicing ceramic artist since 2016, who incorporates elements of design to my hand-built
pieces.
EDUCATION
2017
Arts in Medicine Summer Intensive 2017
University of Florida, Gainesville
2007
Certificate in Translation Studies.
University of Florida, Gainesville
2000
BA in Graphic Design.
Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogotá, Colombia.
1999
Certificate in Official Translation and Interpretation
in the Spanish and English Languages. Languages Department.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.
1993
Intro to Ceramics and Glazes
Permanent and Continuing Education Department- Art Faculty
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.
Ceramic Boxes and Terra Sigillata Workshop by Sang Roberson
Permanent and Continuing Education Department- Art Faculty
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.
1993
Technology in Graphic Design.
Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogotá, Colombia.
Book
2004 (Author and translator) Historias Mínimas/Minimal Stories.
Bogotá, Colombia: Editorial Serpiente Emplumada.
(Spanish-English Children Book)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2024
Invited Artist to
Best Friends Show I
Charlie Cummings Gallery
Halloween Delights V
Charlie Cummings Gallery
The Functional Canvas VIII Show
Charlie Cummings Gallery
2023
Invited Artist to Featured Show
Charlie Cummings Gallery
Cup: The intimate Object XX
Charlie Cummings Gallery
Cup: The Intimate Object XVIII Show
Charlie Cummings Gallery
2022
Invited Artist to
Halloween Delights II
The Functional Canvas VII Show
Cup: The Intimate Object XVII Show
Charlie Cummings Gallery
2021
Invited Artist to
Halloween Delights I
The Functional Canvas VII Show
Cup: The Intimate Object XVII Show
Charlie Cummings Gallery
Holiday Clam Jam Show
Charlie Cummings Gallery
2018 to Present
Spanish Translator & Editor
Self-employed
2015-2018
Spanish Translator & Editor
Digital Worlds Institute
at University of Florida
2008-2015
Independent Translator & Interpreter
Independent Designer and Illustrator
2006-2008
Coordinator of the Translator Center
Translation Studies Certificate Program
Center for Latin American Studies
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
1994-2006
Resident of Colombia/Independent Translator and Interpreter
LANGUAGES
Spanish, Native
English, Proficient