Naked Orrery's Unsullied
Susan Pullman Brooks’s Orreries are inspired by susan’s interest in modern science, especially the connections suggested by the forms of the very small - atoms and dna, and the very large - planets, moons, galaxies and space; nature expressing itself, orbital movement, and the hidden structure and beauty of randomness in connection. The Krylon’s Orrery adds a statement to this theme through the use of “hazard” orange - the color that simultaneously draws our attention and warns us to stay away.
Susan searches materials from natures processes and in the lost and forgotten remnants of culture. Bones, antlers, metal from abandoned farm equipment and rocky ravines at home in western New York, regular trips to India and everywhere she travels. The narrative that appears in her mind, from discovery to realization, is a deep connection to ancient cultures and mythologies, Celtic or Hindu, and a personal spiritual narrative. Familiar objects, assembled in provocative ways, creating arresting compositions in their dynamic and simplicity.
Susan Pullman Brooks sculptures have been showcased in multiple solo shows and exhibitions.
Display: each Orrery can be displayed on its horizontal or vertical axis.
Color: by special request similar orreries can be commissioned in any desired color.
Weight: each orrery weights under 10 pounds / 4,5 kg
Susan Pullman Brooks sculptures have been showcased in multiple solo shows and exhibitions.
Size and Materials
72 x 20 Inches
Antique Pitchfork with Steel Tine Cap
Steel Wire
Wine Barrel Straps (Pine)
Weighs about 10 lbs, 4.5 kg
Shipping Info
Flat Fee of $1000 includes custom wooden crate packing and shipping. Insurance quoted at time of purchase.
About the Artist
Susan Pullman Brooks sees art everywhere, especially in the natural world’s processes of life and death, and in the lost and forgotten remnants of culture. A perfect day is spent scavenging, searching for bones, glass, antlers, metal from abandoned farm equipment in the fields and rocky ravines at home in western New York, during her regular trips to India, and everywhere she travels. Through rethinking and combining these objects in her studio, she creates her work. In that process from discovery to realization there is a deep and rich connection to worlds of Hindu and Celtic mythologies and the solar system informed by both a personal spiritual narrative and inspiring historical worlds. “What is laid bare by the earth and sea is an unconcealed passion made vivid in her work.”
Earlier in Susan’s artistic life, she focused on painting. Apprenticing at the Huntington Fine Arts Academy during High School then graduating from The Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts), she states, “I was passionate about my painting and drawing, but I would get my work done quickly, then I had too much energy and too little discipline to stay in the studio. My assets became my liabilities.” The conflict between her talent and the academic structure was so intense that she was relieved to leave art school behind. Her journey took her in new directions.
Early in the ’90s Susan developed an interest in yoga, and in 2003, founded Flip Dog Yoga studio in Bucks County, PA. Her curiosity in Hindu mythology inspired multiple pilgrimage trips to the temples of South India. The influence of Hindu myth combined with the physicality of yoga reignited her desire to make art and shifted her approach. This began a slow, painful peeling back of her assumptions about what it meant to be an artist, and what her work could look like. In this process she also reconnected with a childhood love of building from natural materials. Her creative turning point came in 2012. “It occurred to me that what I really love is translating the narrative that appears in my mind into three dimensions.”
Her passion for pilgrimage brought her back to the woods, digging in the earth, walking on the beach, and looking for inspiration in objects left behind. She has since excavated a vast collection of abandoned metal implements and animal bones, including the skeleton of a black bear that she reassembled. Her fascination with osteology, unlikely treasures from the earth, astronomy and mythic narrative are at the core of her creative life. For people unfamiliar with Celtic and Hindu narratives, her work may appear abstract, non-representational, but it is always imbued with the warmth of familiar objects assembled in provocative ways. Her work is a leap beyond two dimensions to the wild joy she felt as a child creating landscapes in 3 dimensions.