Susanne Broända

I’ve been active as an artist since 2011 and the background to my creations is an alternative spiritual view of life. Since my earliest childhood, I have felt a strong connection with animals, nature, and the energy of life. I use my sensitivity to energies as one of my tools when I create. The great sources of inspiration are the inner personal development, the mysterious and nature, and a motif that is particularly characteristic of me are birds.

Birds found their way into my creative work from the very beginning. The first painting that I made was a messy and challenging process. I painted in a very abstract way, and I struggled with finding the flow and a smooth transition between the colors that I was using. When I finally took a step back from the work that I was doing, and I let the painting rest I saw that there was a bird trying to fly out from the painting. So, I freed the bird by giving it its contours and shape, and there it was, a white bird that barely had the courage to show itself but nevertheless had enough courage to try.

Today my painting process has changed a lot from that first painting. Before I start, I know what I strive to do, and my technique is a lot cleaner. Because of my hands not wanting to work with me as they used to, I have stripped down my technique and now work with fewer but clearer steps. In 2022 I also made my first sculptures (one in different types of twigs and another in metal wires) after years of thinking about wanting to create in 3D. This was something that really spoke to my core as an artist and I'm certain that more sculptures are about to emerge!

Due to the health challenges that began for me around the age of 30, my creations and techniques have been adjusted gradually. Today, I am limited in my painting both in how I can hold on to my brushes and in how long I can work at a time. Despite this, I continue to work with my art. There is always a creative process going on in my head and I can’t imagine a life without my colors and worlds, which I put down on paper or canvas. Or in 3D.

My art I would describe as a mixture of dreams and wakefulness. With the way I use colors and a clear imagery I want to invite the viewer to a world of mirrors and windows. Through my art, I wish that the observer will get an opportunity to reflect inwards and meet the inner world or turn the gaze outwards and observe what meets him/her/them there. Because for me art can be the window out to how we perceive the world or the mirror that reflects to us our own hidden world. Both alternatives give us the opportunity to learn, grow and to live genuinely.

The reason for me making art is that I wish to express life. It may sound like a big approach but the way I see it, it can be quite the opposite. Because life is in the everyday moments and way of living and too often those moments are forgotten or simply not appreciated. With my work I want to express both the beauty and struggles in life and try to show that there is magic around us. It all comes down to our own way of looking at things and what we are willing to see and face.

My goals with my work are to invite the observer to feel something when spending time with my art. With my color choices and motifs, I wish to create a subtle invitation for you as an observer to rest in the moment as well as to develop and learn from what my art may evoke within you. The language of colors and images may at first trick you into thinking that what you see
is what you get, but if you allow yourself to stop and look, you will notice that something is starting to happen inside. And for me as an artist one of the most important goals is to keep creating the kind of art that not only speaks to my soul but also challenges me and makes me question life and the lessons of it.

And then the question: Why birds? Birds are for me messengers of life. They are both strong and fragile, beautiful, confident and they are always in perfect contact with their surroundings, no matter in what element they are. There have also been several occasions when I have felt that they have come with messages from dear ones who no longer are here. So, birds can also be deliverers of comfort and hope, if we are open to see them and listen to them.

Utbildning
Self-taught

Medlem i konstnärsförening
Vasa art club rf

Med i konstrunda
2022, 2023

Utställningar
Group exhibitions:

2023, Messages of the birds ||, Stundars museum and centre of culture and art, Solf, Finland
2022, Vinterkonst, Hammarö Art Gallery, Hammarö, Sweden
2022, Messages of the birds (October), Art gallery Mitt i stan, Närpes, Finland
2022, Messages of the birds (August), Art Center Torni, Vaasa, Finland
2022, A2B, Art Gallery Grip, Stockholm, Sweden
2022, CLASH, the Holy Art Gallery (London, England), Virtual exhibition
2021, Vaasa Art Club rf members' annual exhibition, Art Center Torni, Vaasa Finland
2021, Barcelona contemporary, Valid World Hall, Barcelona, Spain
2020, Ostrobothnian Art Associations' joint exhibition no. 6, Art center Torni, Vaasa, Finland
2017, Night of Arts, Wasa Wellness, Vaasa, Finland 2015, Night of Arts, Wasa Wellness, Vaasa, Finland 2012, Vaasa Artists Guild open summer exhibition, Still Leben, Vasa Art Gallery, Vaasa, Finland

Solo exhibitions:

2022, Messages of the birds (June), Café Raawka, Vaasa, Finland
2022, Messages of the birds (March), City Hall Gallery, Nykarleby, Finland
2021, journey | resa | matka, Vaasa Market Hall, Vaasa, Finland
2021, Perspective, HH Old town, Vaasa, Finland 2020, Mirrors and windows, HH Old town, Vaasa, Finland
2008, An inner journey, Nykarleby community center, Nykarleby, Finland