A visual sensitivity has been with me since very young, continuing into my early years at the renowned High School of Music & Art (NYC), deepening the journey. I continued to pursue Painting/Drawing/Ceramics/Works on Paper, over many years that followed (BFA program at Hunter College/NYC, and Goddard College/VT). Along the way I developed an interest in Graphic Design, and returned to college once again, this time with a new major, earning my BFA in Graphic Design with high honors (University of Illinois) and solo recipient of ‘Outstanding Senior in Graphic Design’. From there, I went on to San Francisco to work for some of the most sought after and influential graphic designers (Michael Vanderbyl / Vanderbyl Design, and Doug Akagi / Akagi Design), before opening my own office in 1989 in Woodstock, NY, which continues to date (susannaronner.com).

I love designing and the many clients that I create for, but I found over the years, that I was also yearning to do my own art work — untethered from project deadlines, away from technology, and with no one to answer for but myself. In 2017, I discovered ‘Monotype’ printmaking (thanks to Milton Glaser) and it’s been a love affair with the medium since then. 

Mixed Media via Collage is fully back in my life — a form of art making that has been with me since my earliest days and reemerged with the start of the pandemic (the silver lining of not having access to the print studio). It continues to be an expansive visual journey with a deepened focus on color relationships, as it expresses itself through shape, line and composition. 

Geometric abstraction captivates my exploration with both Monotype and in Collage. I approach each work (in either medium) as an improvisation — I meet the ‘canvas’ with trust and curiosity and then see where it takes me. I have found a new freedom in it all — bringing to it a creative passion, a cultivated eye, and a lifetime of visual exploration. Happy that my design eye informs my art work and that my art work sparks my design imagination — grateful for it all.

PHOTO: FRANCO VOGT

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