PLANTAE

---

ARTIST STATEMENT
​
My paintings combine abstraction with science and mathematics. 

For many years I have used scientific concepts in my artwork. The scientific and the mathematical images in my paintings are derived from real scientific research. They describe our new understanding of the universe.

The artistic and scientific revolutions of the last hundred years have changed our lives and the world around us in basic and profound ways. I feel it is important for my work to reflect this perspective. My abstract paintings, combined with scientific notation and the concepts they describe, reflect different aspects of reality that exist simultaneously in our world. 

I paint with acrylic on canvas or wood panel and on paper with collage and monotype. My paintings range from tiny (one inch square) to as large as sixteen feet.
​
Art, life, matter, and all the universal forces form complex systems. In my work I attempt to show how all the different parts are linked and integrated. My paintings are based on combining the elegance of science and the visual richness of art.

---

Current and Very Recent Exhibits
​
​Spark Gallery
900 Santa fe Drive, Denver, Colorado
Plantae
February 2024

Upcoming Exhibits
​Spark Gallery
Dimensions
April 24-May 18 2025
​
Recent Exhibits

Arvada Center
"Viral Influence: Art in the Time of Corona Virus!"
May 20 - August 22, 2021
​
​Regis University, O'Sullivan Gallery
3333 Regis Blvd.  Denver, CO 80221
"The Mathematical Universe"
September 15 -November 30, 2020

Arvada Center
"Pink Progression Collaborations"
July 2, 2010 – November 8, 2020

Arvada Center
"Colorado Abstract + 10"
Opening Reception :Thurs. Sept. 12 , 2019  6-9pm
Show runs: September 10 - November 17, 2019

Sandra Phillips Gallery
"The Abstract Show"
Show runs: September 13 - October 26, 2019

​Spark Gallery
"Numbers"


2018
Pink Progression
Boulder Public Library, Canyon Gallery
February 16-March 24, 2018

Denver Public Library
Opening Reception:Saturday, March 10, 2018    1:30-4:30pm
 March 2-June 29, 2018

Metro Center for the Visual Arts
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 31, 2018
May 31-August 20, 2018 

​Sandra Phillips Gallery
​"Flowers, Fruit, and Pits"
Opening Reception: Friday, May 25, 2018    6-8
 May 25-July 4, 2018

2018
​Sandra Phillips Gallery
​"Foodies"
Opening Reception: December 8, 2017    6-8


2017
"Awareness"  November 9 - December 3
Opening Reception: November 10, 2017   6-9
Spark Gallery
900 Santa Fe Drive, Denver CO
​
"Cookies and the Cosmos"  July 20 - August 13, 2017
Opening Reception: July 21, 2017    6-9
Spark Gallery
900 Santa Fe Drive, Denver CO

"Art and Conflict" September 14-November 12, 2017
Opening Reception: September 16, 2017   6-9
Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities
6901 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada, CO 80003

"Director's Choice"  January 13 - March 4
Opening Reception:  January 13   6-8
​Sandra Phillips Gallery
47 West 11th Avenue
Denver, Colorado
"Sandra Phillip's personal selection of 4 artists exemplifying 
contemporary relevance yet with a timeless quality in their work"
​
2016
​"Small but MIGHTY"   November 4 - January 7
​Opening Reception:    November 11    6-8pm
Sandra Phillips Gallery
47 West 11th Avenue
Denver, Colorado
"A group exhibit of gallery artists showcasing smaller format work."
​
​Colorado Women in Abstraction
Metro State University of Denver Center for Visual Art, Summer 201
"​Colorado Women in Abstraction" features the work of women artists who have been influential in the abstract movement in Colorado. ‌"

“Anxiety!”
SPARK Gallery, April 14 -May 8, 2016
"We all feel it. Sometimes it makes us jittery and unable to function properly, but sometimes it spurs our creativity and critical thinking. This is a show of paintings about anxiety and the brain chemistry, physics, and genetics that are among its causes. Anxiety is being human."
​
“Micro/Macro”
Department of Craniofacial Biology, School of Dentistry,
University of Colorado Denver, June 2013-June 2016

Recent Press

Susan Froyd: First Fridays in February...Westword , January 31, 2024

Michael Paglia review: Art Explores Symbols,Anchors and, Solos at Smith and Spark, Westword, June 5, 2019

Ray Mark Rinaldi review: Rosy and rousing remembrances of the Women's March, The Denver Post, June 24, 2018
Michael Paglia review: Painted Thoughts, Westword, November 2018

5280 Magazine, July 2017
Calendar: Arts & Exhibits: "Cookies and the Cosmos"
Thought provoking​ abstract artist Sue Simon combines her two passions - science and painting - in this quirky exhibit. To show that both small and large objects are part of the same solar system, the Denver creative depicts Oreos and fortune cookies in orbit alongside numbers and mathematical formula in her oils and collages.

BEST OF WESTWORD 2015: Best Display of Abstraction’s Feminine Side, Edge Gallery

Michael Paglia, Review: Solos Inspired by Chemistry, Junk and Geometry at Spark, May 6, 2016

Michael Paglia, Art Review: Getting the Concept with Unexpected Narratives and Roland Bernier, February 3, 2016

Michael Paglia, Review: These Four Artists Have Cracked the Code at the Sandra Phillips Gallery, August 13, 2014

---

​Sue Is a Member of SPAK Gallery
​
​

---