"Pulling Myself Together" by Suzy Gardner - CSPM
Logo for the "50% of the Story: Women Expressing Creativity" Exhibit Banner.

“Pulling Myself Together” by Suzy Gardner

Women have always been creative. Women have always been artistic. Women have always been artists. Yet, their work has remained largely unrecognized. This is not surprising, considering women’s art represents approximately 10% of works collected by museums. 50% of the Story: Women Expressing Creativity transforms the CSPM collection to more accurately reflect the complexity, diversity, and uniqueness of the Pikes Peak region. Using historic artwork and artifacts, alongside contemporary pieces, the 50% exhibit creates a beautiful conversation between women across time, demonstrating how they’ve always told their stories through art and creativity.

– From the CSPM Curator of History

Pulling Myself Together by Suzy Gardner, Porcelain, Clay, Steel, Wood

Artist Statement

A native of Western Colorado, I am the descendant of Colorado pioneers, cowboys, miners, American Indians, and artists. I love “feeling” the stories of my heritage and my life through my art. I’ve found that Artists plan 
 and Art laughs 
 I may start with an idea, but the art goes where it goes! A lot of times the story that comes out may not even resemble the idea I started with; but the piece has created the feelings I felt at the time. My piece, Pulling Myself Together, now in the permanent collection of the Pioneers Museum, started out as a simple wall hanging mask made of porcelain ceramic. I wanted it to be rough around the edges, a little world worn 
.but 
 Artist’s Plan and Art Laughs! It wasn’t turning out the way I wanted, the edges kept breaking off and I felt like I was being torn asunder 
 I mean the piece was being torn asunder 😉. Life was putting me through a stressful point right then, and I realized life was imitating art. I needed to pull myself together! And pull the piece together. I was feeling like all my parts were off in the ether. I wanted the viewer to feel the 3-D ness of what I was feeling. That’s where the steel bars came from. How could I take these pieces (and I broke off a few more 
 very satisfying), how could I make these pieces look 3-D and coming at me and “pulling together”. I love that the piece isn’t what I planned at all, but so totally ‘says” how I was feeling. Artists Plan
Art Laughs.