Elevated Collection 005: Sue Bell
Sue Bell is a local painter and longtime Queen Anne resident. After moving to Seattle in the early 80’s, Sue joined one of Seattle’s top salons as a colorist and has been painting hair ever since. Through these endeavors she was introduced to hundreds of Seattle’s most elite creators, business people and more, attributing her vibrant social surroundings as one of her most steadfast influences.
After years of art shows, concerts, and traveling the world, she began to look for something to fulfill her creative side. During a visit to Oaxaca, Mexico she was struck by the presence of the traditional use of traditional dot painting throughout the community, and how it was used on everything from textiles, to décor, to modern art. Although she hadn’t been exposed to this traditional style in particular, she began to notice subtle similarities in dot-painting style throughout other places she had traveled over the years.
In 2011, after an inspiring visit to the Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, Sue became engrossed with the presence of aboriginally inspired style of dot painting, famously attributed to Central Australia. So, she bought her first canvas and began to paint.
Since then Sue has continued to travel and draws inspiration from each place she visits, the people that she meets, and the abundance of color that seems to radiate from each location. A recent trip to Alhambra in Granada, Spain pushed her to use more earthen and natural tones, while older pieces inspired by visits throughout Greece draw from the abundance of blues and sea greens.
The conjuncture of sharp geometry and spherical harmony provide an interesting subject matter that pushes boundaries, and challenges the traditional lines that our sight and perception of art tends to follow.