Susan Fecho MFA

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Susan Fecho, prominent and award-winning Eastern North Carolina artist, is a resident of historic Tarboro, NC. Her lifelong devotion to art includes over twenty years of teaching and working with art students in the United States and abroad. Currently, she is the Chair of the Department of Art at Barton College, Wilson, NC. She holds an advanced degree (M.F.A. 1988) from East Carolina University (Greenville, NC).

"My recent work interprets the past as a personal, cultural, and archetypal artifact. I research historical iconography associated with women and family, presenting varied interpretations resulting from culture and gender.

The human body, architectural unit, and surrounding landscape become metaphors in my work. Trained as a traditional printmaker, I am intrigued by the richness and variety inherent in varied techniques, especially handmade paper and mixed media. For me, art is a blending of history that integrates disparate elements.

 Storytelling is at the core of my work, with the sculptural book as a mode of telling stories, expressing feelings, and sharing imagery. I continue to investigate how structure and form can contribute to content.

My mixed media works merge with the artist books: they have a common conceptual origin in journal writing and on-site sketching. Techniques include collaged papers, graphite relief rubbing and juxtaposition of found objects.

 Through my work the familiar reappears in unfamiliar configurations; a new sense of significance is imparted to an otherwise everyday object. The effect is a mottled, tactile surface that seeks an emotional response in the viewer by portraying decaying architectural structures as lyrical apparitions.

My creative interests extend beyond the viewed subject, encompassing sculptural elements, allegorical imagery, and whimsical puns related to typical masculine and feminine interactions. In my work, there are varied layers of material and multiple facets of meaning. At its best, by viewing these icons, by experiencing the work, we hear the echo of intrinsic yet forgotten memories within ourselves".

Ms. Fecho has shown in 18 solo exhibitions and over seventy regional and national invitationals. She has published illustrations, designs, and photographs - including seven illustrative artist books; such as Portrait of the Outer Banks: an Artist’s Sketch, Tryon Publishing, Tryon, NC (1996) and Trunkful: an Illuminated Year  (2002) which was accepted into several major collections: the Smithsonian Institution’s American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library, Washington, D.C.; the Word and Image Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England; and the Museum of Women Artists, Washington, D.C.