Suesan Cota is in her last year of her BFA at Mason Gross. Her work is driven by defining the female role using sewing, printmaking, and bookmaking. This interview helped illuminate the inspiration for her work and the direction her career will take after graduation.
Where does your inspiration come from and what got you into art in the first place?
Suesan: I will prelude all of this by saying I don’t want to be a fine artist. A couple years ago I had a full time job at a mental health association and I was working with people who had persistant mental health diagnoses. What was really awesome was we had a donor who set up an art studio and a lot of my clients would go there and make art and it was really freeform and they loved it. I saw how helpful that was and I started taking art classes at the local community college and transferred here (I have a previous degree in English) because I want to eventually start creating programs for people and especially teenagers who have struggle with mental health issues.
While I was in upstate New York, I youth mentored a girl who had a really tough time, her brother was killed by a hit and run driver. She had a really tough time in high school, she would tell teachers off. The only reason she continued going to school was for her art class; she had a really supportive art teacher. I met him one day separately from her and I told him ‘you do not understand what a difference you’re making in this girl’s life, it’s really amazing.’
So, I’m getting an art degree to provide services and I eventually want to create grants and provide those services.
So, your art deals mainly with self-expression?
My art is really indulgent. It deals a lot with gender and the fact that I think most traditional women’s roles are really fucked up.
"Stay Out of the Garden"
There’s a lot of text in your work, where does it come from?
I don’t think that my images are strong enough to convey what I’m going for and I’m a very literal person, where I want you to know exactly where I’m coming from. I’m not good with symbolism. I get it, you look at this, probably thinking ‘What the fuck? Why are there so many naked people?’ It’s because I am really curious as to how people end up in the roles they do, especially women like mother, wife, caretaker, because I don’t see a place for myself in that.
Why is there sewing in your work? What does that medium mean to you?
I have been doing hand crafts since I was around eight. My mother received a home economics degree from Douglass College which seems confusing in retrospect. I love working with textiles and printing on textiles and cloth-like papers. I appreciate the touchability of the mediums. Sensory cues and tactile feel are important to me.
You mention not knowing your role as a woman, do you feel pressured to accept a traditional role?
At my age a lot of people are getting married and settling down to have kids. I don’t see a place for myself in the usual wife-mother-caretaker roles. A lot of my work is about the difficulty of choosing non-traditional roles in domestic life, as well as gender roles.
Does your defiance of traditional roles stem from seeing your mother play the traditional role?
I have observed people feeling “stuck” or resenting the decisions that they have made for their domestic life. So when I’m creating I end up all jumbled as well. I see both sides so it leads to this true confusion for me and I think that hinders my work because it’s impossible to see exactly what the point is. Slowly, I have been whittling down my feelings about these concepts.
I see that your work requires a lot of close contact, such as being held in the lap or tossed over an arm, do you think there's a reason for this personal contact?
There is so much art that I wish I could touch that I feel like I would be hypocritical if I did not create touchable art. Working at a museum has allowed me to interact with pieces a tiny more than a normal museum visitor would but I still crave interaction with the works. Helping with installation this summer was a really great experience for me. Talking to people who have been doing it their entire life, they constantly reminded me not to be too intimidated by art handling. I love interacting with objects that others have handcrafted.
Do you often get classified as a feminist artist?
I am absolutely a feminist.
Why?
Feminism is purely about equality across the board. Not about hating men or pushing some other agenda. It might be for others, I can’t speak to that. I run into women who discriminate against women as much as some men do. It’s crazy. I’ve had classes with women who absolutely hate other women. Totally bizarre.
What artists inspire you?
I would say Lesley Dill’s print and sculptural work because it includes literary references to Emily Dickinson. I love anything literary. Louise Bourgeois is also someone I look at, she’s super feminist and super cranky and I love it.
Why did you choose Mason Gross?
I liked the school but it was also incredibly convenient. I knew that I would be living in Highland Park and that I would not have to fulfill any liberal arts requirements due to my previous degree. Concentrating on just art classes was an attractive prospect of coming to Mason Gross versus somewhere else.
Have you grown from the experience?
Definitely. I have learned to think more critically about artists work and what makes a comprehensive piece. Critique has also pushed me much farther than I would ever be able to push myself.
What are you planning to work on for thesis in the up-coming year?
Handmade books for the first semester. I have a vague idea that I definitely want part of my thesis to be taken away by viewer.
So you want people to feel free to take work home with them and you also throw away some of your pieces, why don't you keep your work?
I don’t like to think of my work as precious ever. The idea of objects becoming used and worn makes me comfortable. Treating my work as valuable objects makes me feel ridiculous. I throw a lot of it out. Holding on to things just make me feel to sentimental and I want to constantly be moving on. Also, I find my older work totally embarrassing which tends to happen when I make things that are way too personal. I change my mind and then can’t look at what I made a couple months prior.
What do you hope people, especially women, take away from your work?
A lot of my work is purely self-serving. I work out my own emotional trash when I’m making things. It’s really a selfish process. If other people can see themselves in my work I would be pleased but it’s not of the utmost importance to me.
What is your process?
I don’t think that I have a unique process at all. Something bothers me for a while or becomes a repetitive theme in my day to day thoughts and I make a piece around it. Then I find myself less compelled to obsess.
What is your favorite part of creating work? Any area you particularly enjoy focusing on?
My favorite part is keeping my hands busy. I get jumpy and anxious if I haven’t been making things often. I feel the same way about reading. If I’m occupying my time with other things like watching tv or going out I start feeling gross.
Have you shown your work before?
Only casual venues like Paper Girl NY.
What sort of reaction did it receive?
That was a show where people threw art at others from bikes like paper delivery people so I am unsure about the reaction.
Although you're not planning to become a fine artist, will you continue to create and show work after graduation?
I want to write grants to develop art programs for people with severe and persistent mental illness.
"All my prettiest skin is scarred"
I would just like to say thank you so much to Suesan Cota. Interviewing a fellow student was intimidating at first, but it was really nice to have someone share with you what fuels them as an artist.
After this piece, I realized it was much easier to respond to the divisions of the plane made by the webs rather than to make webs on top of pre-existing water color. It seemed apparent that the shapes painted in response to the lines of the yarn were far more interesting than the interaction of the water color and yarn. Therefore in my next painting, the yarn shape was put down first, and then the oil paint was applied in response to the form. Attempt #3:
