Join The Center for this special behind-the-scenes, lunch-time studio visit with Suzanne Joelson, whose work is currently on view in the "Here and Now" exhibition. Learn about the artist’s process, see her works in progress, and ask any questions in real time.

"A former artist statement mentioned “order and the utter lack of it”. The past couple of years, months have provided more of a model of how systems build and deteriorate than I could have imagined."

"I look for harmony, one vocabulary resonating with another, where translation is not seen as cultural appropriation but as a way to bridge unlikely comrades."

"Disparate elements collaborate,
Maintain their integrity
While adjusting to a fragile order, a model of good government.
Adaptive equilibrium.”

-Suzanne Joelson


Suzanne Joelson grew up in Paterson NJ, painting, reading and fighting behind the gym. When she transferred to school in Englewood she was astonished by the rigor of the classes and the quantity of blonde hair. After graduating from Bennington College she set about working on scenery and lighting for theatre and dance, traveling with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, executing the designs of Johns, Rauschenberg, Morris Graves and Andy Warhol.

She was working with Dance Theatre of Harlem when her work was accepted for a show at the Drawing Center. Since then she has shown in NYC at Wolff Gallery, Debs & Co, and Studio 10 in Bushwick, as well as in Spain, India, Morocco and Turkey.

Joelson taught at Columbia and, for twelve years, in the Bard MFA program, but focuses her teaching now at SVA in NYC where she lives much of the year.

Awards include, the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tiffany Foundation.