My new work contains mixed memories of people, experiences, landscapes, and news stories. The images have combined, morphed, and are suffused with symbolism.
A conglomeration of images including petroglyps from Three Rivers, Tularosa NM. I have added Jack Smith into the images pecked in stone because adding a contemporary image to an ancient scenario seems to put everything in the perspective of geologic time. The grid symbolizes the building of cities. You could be looking at Albuquerque or an ancient Anasazi city.
Acrylic on Canvas , 23" X 38", 2024
Just beyond the road you will find the magic of the desert but almost never without the influence of humans.
34” X 54” 2023 Acrylic on Canvas, Available
“El Bosque” is what they call the cottonwood forest along the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
42” X 32”, Acrylic on canvas
Badwater is a salt pan in Death Valley. I stood at this eerie and beautiful place on New Year’s Eve, 2022, at dusk, as a storm was approaching.
42” X 32” Available in Pigment Print
In the Mojave, from the road, looking off at a dry lake. The light in the sky in not an exaggeration.
43” X 33”, Acrylic on Canvas, 2023
Available in Original and Print
Cedar Canyon is in the Mojave National Preserve.
42” X 32”, Acrylic on Canvas
Available in original and print
This is a reaction to the death of Gina Mahsa Amini in 2022. It is an imaginary image of Iranian women’s traditional position in society and family, the throwing off of the veils, fires in the street, and the cooling waters of hope and change.
Acrylic on Canvas, 41” X 27”, 2019
Pigment prints available.
This painting was on view through January 2021 at the DeYoung Open, a comprehensive showcase of Bay Area contemporary art. It started out as a grudging complaint about how people often shove controversial and interesting facts and ideas under the rug, preferring to see only the pristine white couch, a symbol of everything right in life. It was also a response to having been displaced from my live/work studio of 24 years. The objects under the rug are my possessions, now in storage. As hurricanes and floods appeared in the news, I flooded the foreground, and the painting morphed into a more universal image representing displacement of people all over the world as a result of climate change. The white couch can now be read as a symbol of safety and serenity in the midst of global chaos.
The deserts were once inland seas. Dry lakes fill up in winter. Pelicans don’t go inland, so what are these guys doing out there? Are they sitting in puddles or are the puddles really mirages? The flags implicate politics in the water crisis.
Available
This is a depiction of the January 6 insurrection at the capitol. The central image remains white, as a symbol of democracy. In the foreground people are pulling apart the barriers as if there were no method to their madness. If this had been painted in 1968 it may have been interpreted as a protest against the Vietnam war.
Available
This is a depiction of a Pysanky easter egg. Decorating eggs in complicated wax resist patterns and colors, often using traditional designs, is a folk art in Ukraine. In this image the egg is a symbol of the Ukrainian spirit rising above the ruins of their cities and towns.
Available
This is a commemorative portrait of Papo Angarica, an important person in the traditional cultural life of Pedro Betancourt, Cuba. It was originally done for a show in the museum there, but the show was cancelled. It shows Papo Angarica being called by his ancestors, as if their fingers were leaving marks in the sand as they pull him toward them. Papo passed away a week after I met him.
Available
32” X 44”, Acrylic on canvas, 2017
This painting is an imaginary depiction of the floods and devastation brought by hurricane María to the Caribbean, especially Puerto Rico in 2017. The waters rise and enter a colonial era courtyard, dragging memories, clothing, and architectural elements from outside to inside.
The White Chair
2017, Acrylic on Canvas, 41” X 27”
Original Painting and Pigment Prints available.
This is a depiction of a garden at the now defunct sugar refinery, “Cuba Libre”, in San Pedro Betancourt, Matanzas Province, Cuba. My friend Pupy has lived in the gardener’s quarters for most of is life. The refinery was owned by the father of Josefina Tarafas, partner of Lidia Cabrera, a well known Cuban historian who lived in the main house during the 1960s. Josefina and Lidia collected work songs that can be found today on Smithsonian recordings. The painting shows a white chair, which is an invocation to the ancestors. The rice and nine small water gourds are offerings to the ancestors which are devoured daily by local cats.
Acrylic on Canvas, 41” X 27”, 2017, Available
This was my first attempt at a commission for the city of San Ramon, to commemorate their annual kite festival. It was rejected because the faces on the kites were too scary. That was my favorite part, so I kept the painting and continued working on it. There were hurricanes and floods in the Caribbean that year, so I recorded them in the painting. The accepted version hangs in the civic center in San Ramon. This painting is available.
42” X 27”, Acrylic on Canvas, 2021
Print available
This portrait of Bay Area Flamenco lover and promoter, Nina Menendez, was commissioned by her. She is shown hosting a flamenco party in her backyard, welcoming the dancers and musicians with a string of lights from the roof. The original painting is in her collection.
Parallels
Acrylic on Canvas, 36” X 24”, 2020
Original painting and pigment prints available.
The figures in this image were attendees at DAK’ART, the Biennale in Dakar, Senegal. I situated them together in the surrounding desert, with a baobab forest in the background. The title, refers to their parallel lives.
Eleggua Palmira
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2019
Original Painting and Pigment Prints available.
This painting was done for Carolyn Brandy’s Born to Drum women’s drum camp. The image was based on photos and memories we both had of a fantastic eleggua dancer in Palmira, Cuba. Since it was a women’s drum camp we changed the images of drummers to women!
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2016
Original Painting and Pigment Prints available.
In Perico, Matanzas Province, Cuba, Midiales invited me to see her altar for Ochun. Midiales is holding her Ochun doll in her lap. Dolls representing deities are common in Cuba, and are dressed in their symbolic colors. Ochun is the deity of love and the owner of rivers.
Print available
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2019
Original Painting and Pigment Prints available.
As part of the Secrets Under the Skin project, I traveled to Dzodze, a traditional village in the Volta Region of Ghana. In a sacred hut I witnessed a woman named Eva as she prepared Casava for the village.
Acrylic on Canvas, 18” X 24”, 2019
Original Painting and Pigment Prints available.
Every December in Perico, Matanzas Province, Cuba, a ceremony called the Awan is celebrated. María Eugenia oversees the preparation of the food that will be offered to the ancestors.
Portrait of Amadou Thiam
Acrylic on Canvas, 48” X 16”, 2018
This painting was gifted to Amadou during the 2018 Dak’Art Biennale
Amadou Yassine Thiam is a Senegalese art dealer specializing in ancient and contemporary African art. He invited me to exhibit at Galerie Yassine Art for the Dakar Biennale, (DAK’ART), in 2016 and 2018. DAK’ART is the biggest international art event in Africa. This is a portrait I did as a gift for him.
Amadou Thiam is a collector and dealer of ancient and contemporary African art. He hosts an exhibition at Galerie Yassine during the Dak’Art Biennale in Dakar, Senegal. This is Amadou with his granddaughter, holding the portrait I did for him as a gift. I showed my work at Galerie Yassine for the biennale in 2016 and 2018.
Sold
2012-1018, Acrylic on Canvas, 48” X 108”
A few of these portraits are available as pigment prints.
Hunter Pyle, lawyer in Oakland, California purchased 13 of my Oakland portraits as a representation of a jury for his conference room. (Alternate juror not shown). Please see 99 Portraits gallery on this website.
Print available
Acrylic on Canvas, 41” X 27”, 2018
Pigment prints available.
This is a portrait of Lisa Valenzuela and her baby, Sella.
René Yáñez
Acrylic on Canvas, 48” X 36”, 2018
Original painting and pigment prints available.
René Yáñez, 1942-1918 was an artist and independent curator in San Francisco. One of his projects was the annual Día de los Muertos show at SOMARTS Cultural Center in San Francisco, which I have participated in for many years. I painted this portrait as part of my installation in his honor the year he passed away. René was a mentor to me and many other artists. His encouragement helped me on my path as an artist and a teacher. I will always be thankful to him.
I have participated in René’s Day of the Dead shows at SOMArts for many years. Here we are as I was working on my installation in 2016. René walks with all of us now.
In 2019 Mary Corbin wrote an article about me for Oakland Magazine: Susan Matthews Goes Large for More Impact
I am pictured with my paintings in storage. After the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, a lot of landlords evicted artists in order to illegally raise rent a lease for dot com spaces. I had the law on my side, but I discovered that the law means one lawyer against the other. Please see another of Mary Corbin’s articles:
Time Reveals All Things
Acrylic and metal leaf on 6” X 6” panels
Many of the original panels are available.
Every year, Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica hosts a show called 50/50. Selected artists create 50 small pieces in 50 days. These 50 portraits constitute a snapshot of world political figures in 2019, including sports stars, dictators, presidents, pirates and activists. They have been painted in a style that suggests they are being viewed from the 13th or 14th centuries.
Maps to Apps
Mixed Media on Maps mounted on 6” X 6” panels, 2017
Many of the individual panels are available.
Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica hosts an annual 50/50 show, in which artists are asked to do one painting a day for 50 days. In 2017 I created geometric designs on maps, once so necessary, now replaced by apps such as GPS.
The entire piece is 30” X 60” but can be broken up into 50 individual pieces. (#50 is not shown)
These are the first 12 of 50 small paintings for Sanchez Art Center’s annual 50/50 show. Created with lyers of acrylic paint and polymer glazes applied on masonite panels covered with gold wallpaper, my portraits recall Italian portraits of the late middle ages, done in egg tempera with gold leaf and tooling on hard wood panels. Although my portraits are made with plastics and tyvek, I feel a connection with earlier artists who sat down and struggled with their materials to commit an image on a surface.
6” X 6”, Acrylic on wallpaper on
This is one of fifty 6” x 6” portraits completed in 50 days between July and August, 2021 as part of Sanchez Art Center’s annual 50/50 show, It is a portrait of Mario Chavez, the greatest mechanic on earth. His shop is called M&J Auto and is on E.12th Street in Oakland. This painting is in his collection.
This was an interactive installation reimagined from last year’s Water Altar. It became a cenote, complete with spirit quetzal birds and objects thrown in as offerings to Chaac, including a full sized skeleton painted on a plaster cast of my own body, only visible if you looked inside the altar. Visitors were invited to leave an offering (on a post-it) with an offering for Chaac and a request tof womething they would receive in return.
This is the back panel of the Cenote installation. It was shown in 2022 as part of the Marigold Project, at the Exploratorium and La Raza Park, as an altar for water. For 2023 it has morphed into a Cenote, in which precious objects, including a skeleton (a plaster cast of the artist) have been offered to Chaac the rain deity, in hopes that he might provide rain to grow maize. This piece is currently under construction, but some photos from its last iteration can be viewed in this gallery.
As viewed through the front panel cut-out. The reverse side of the front panel is painted yellow, enabling the light to turn the image green as the light changes throughout the day. This panel has been modified for its 2023 debut as a cenote.
In La Raza Park, San Francisco, people were photographed in front of the piece so that they appeared to wear a crown of light.
In La Raza Park, the altar became a chapel. Inside, between the two panels was a reflecting pool with candles and marigolds. When darkness fell, lanterns were installed inside.
Altar for Air is one of six altars installed at the Exploratorium for Día de los Muertos 2023. Curated by Rosa deAnda of the Marigold Project. To be installed at La Raza Park on Nov. 2.
The Air Room is meant to be shimmering and cool. The Mayans used wind in their rituals, believing it to be the sacred breath of God.
This video by Ingrid Becker, 2023, is a humorous documentation of the installation process of the Air Altar, 2023 at the Exploratorium.
In 2006 I joined a collaboration we called Secrets Under the Skin, a project which connected a team of American and Cuban artists and scholars with traditional spiritual practitioners in Cuba and the Volta region of Ghana/Togo. We developed a multi-media installation featuring video, painting, performance and photography, which we exhibited at the Ludwig Foundation in Havana, Museo Constantino Barredo Guerra in Perico, The University of Accra, Ghana, The Kimura Gallery at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, The Bunnell Street Gallery in Homer, Alaska, Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland, and The Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco.
My contribution to the project includes eight large acrylic paintings on canvas and 20 illuminated manuscripts on paper. These works contain images, portraits and narratives from Perico, Cuba and Dzodze, Ghana. Ultimately, I plan to create an artist’s book from high quality prints of my manuscripts and paintings as a gift to the museum in Perico. Throughout the process we have given prints, videos, and photographs to the people of Dzodze and Perico.
A complete discussion of the project, reproductions of the paintings and manuscripts, videos, and photographs can be found on a website produced by the University of Alaska Anchorage. here
The entire series of illuminated manuscripts has been acquired by the Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries.
Hilda la Obbini Omo Eleggua
2008, Acrylic on Canvas, 68” X 48”
Hilda Zulueta adopted our team of artists, saying she wanted us to tell the world about Perico and its Arará traditions. This painting is life size, and commemorates the day she took us to visit a sacred site in a sugar cane field. I have depicted her holding an African gourd, releasing white butterflies to symbolize the release of her ancestors from the fields where they were enslaved.
Cabildo de Ma Gose
2013, Acrylic on Canvas, 67” X 54”
This is an image of a cabildo in an isolated town called Agramonte, in Matanzas province, Cuba. It has been continually in use as a ceremonial center since it was established by enslaved Africans. The sacred drums in the foreground are still played on special occasions. Some of the objects are said to have come directly from Africa.
The Story of Oddu Aremu
2010, Acrylic on Canvas, 67” X 54”
Oddu Aremu is an Arará deity syncretized with the Lukumi deity Obatalá. The story in Perico goes that Oddu wanted to swim back to Africa. His entry point was Laguna Ramona, a small spring near the sugar refinery called España. The Africans begged him to stay, singing and leading him back to the refinery by covering his path with white sheets strewn with his favorite herb. One day Justo Zulueta was walking near Laguna Ramon, when he was mysteriously pulled into the lake. Although he was afraid of water and couldn't swim, Justo emerged 45 minutes later with Oddu Aremu’s favorite herb in his mouth. This confirmed that Oddu still lived in the lake, and this is how Justo received Oddu Aremu. He then was led back to the refinery just as Oddu had been, walking barefoot on the white sheets strewn with herbs, as the people of the town sang Oddu’s special songs.
Acrylic on Canvas, 55" X 41", 2024
In the shrine for Justo Zulueta in Perico, Matanzas, Cuba, hangs a leopard skin brought as a gift by Josefina Tarafa, partner of Lydia Cabrera.
Justo's Chair
2010, Acrylic on Canvas, 67” X 54”
This chair belonged to “Difunto Justo Zulueta”, and still can be seen in a shrine kept by his son, Reinaldo Robinson. (Robinson is now deceased) Legend has it that Justo fathered 44 children by different women, literally making him father of Perico. He received Oddu Aremou (Arará deity syncretized with Babaluaye) in a small lake called Laguna Ramona, just outside Perico. Oddu Aremou is said to live in the lake to this day, but no one receives him anymore because knowledge of his ritual ceremonies have been lost. I gave Reinaldo a print of this painting, and he instructed me to stand it up in the chair, where it can be seen today at the shrine in Perico.
Altar for Roberto
2016, Acrylic on Canvas, 36.5” X 26.5”
Roberto Pedroso García was born Colón, a town near Perico, where our artists’ research project called Secrets Under the Skin was based. Roberto was one of our important Cuban collaborators. He was a spiritual practitioner, an altar maker, and one of the best people I have ever known. He passed away in Havana in 2016. This painting shows him standing in front of a ceremonial table setting in Perico.
Dashi's Togbui Shrine
2014, Acrylic on Canvas, 72” X 54”
This is Dashi, a powerful priestess in Dzodze, Ghana. She is pictured in her sacred hut with the deity Togbui, taking the form of the painted mound. Dashi invited us for a blessing inside the shrine. Togbui is syncretized with the Lukumi Babuluaye, deity of sickness and health. Dashi had to obtain special permission from Togbui to allow me to paint this picture.
Photo by SM, 2013, Accrá, Ghana
This is Dashi, high priestess of the traditional village of Dzodze, Ghana, standing in front of her portrait at our installation at the Nubuke Foundation in Accrá, Ghana. Dashi and many of the spiritual practitioners from Dzode attended and performed at the opening of the exhibit. They were thrilled to see themselves in paint, video and photography.
Print available
2010, Acrylic on Canvas, 67” X 54”
This painting shows Dashi, a priestess in Dzodze, Ghana, with two other women, looking at photos from Perico, Cuba. Our project established communication between the two communities in order to illuminate specific aspects of spiritual culture from the Volta Region that had been saved in Cuba.
Robinson’s Evidence
2013, Acrylic on Canvas, 67” X 54”
Reynaldo Robinson was the keeper of a shrine for his father, who is still known as Difunto Justo Zulueta, (Justo Zulueta RIP), in Perico. Robinson lived in the two room shrine. The other room is depicted in “Robinson’s House”. In this painting Robinson is looking at photos we brought from the Volta Region of Ghana/Togo which illustrate aspects of the spiritual traditions that are also practiced in Perico.
Afeli, Guardian of the House, Adjodogou, Togo
2015, Acrylic on Canvas, 72” X 53”,
This image haunted me until I finally painted it, two years after I was actually in the village. I was impressed by the orderly atmosphere, where everyone seemed to have their role in the functioning of the village. We visited small farms and coconut groves surrounding Adjodogou, and we were able to see sacred drums and danced ritual. Afeli is a protective deity represented by the mound in the foreground.
All Shall Pass
2014, Acrylic with Metal Leaf on Canvas, 72” X 54”
This image depicts a ritual we were invited to attend in a village outside Accra, Ghana. Everyone was required to wear ”cloth”, or, to wrap themselves in traditional cloth. The dancer has covered his head to protect himself from spirits that might come down. He is lighting gunpowder in order to change the atmosphere to invite the deities to make an appearance. The phrase “All Shall Pass” was written on the wall. For the painting, I intensified the warm red color of the wall, and isolated the dancer who was lighting the gunpowder. In reality, the space was crowded with participants.
2010, Watercolor and Sumi Ink on Rag Paper, 22” X 17”
The original 20 “Illumnated Manuscripts” have been acquired by the Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami Library. Individual pieces are available in pigment print format on 100% rag paper.
The text in this piece is an excerpt from an interview with Hilda Zulueta in which she tells of beings that live in three sacred wells in Perico, Cuba. The wells as have been sealed, and Hilda describes some of the negative things that happened as a result. “A statue of Christ the Savior was knocked down, a plane crashed, and many people died because the wells were sealed and no one was feeding those beings”, she said.
The Cockroach Manuscript
2010, Sumi ink and Watercolor on Paper, 22’ X 17”
Hilda Zulueta tells the story of how enslaved Africans brought their deities to Cuba. She talks about a lagoon that was transformed into a sacred dwelling place for Oddu Aremu. She relates a local myth about Justo Zulueta being pulled mysteriously into the lagoon and emerging with the deity and its favorite herbs. The people then knew that Oddu Aremu lived in the lagoon.
Casa de Prieto
2010, Watercolor and Sumi Ink on Rag Paper, 22” X 17”
Prieto Angarica presides over Sociedad Africana in Perico. In this manuscript Prieto and other people present at the interview describe how their lives depend on the continuation of traditions practiced by their ancestors. Prieto talks about the mystery of the drums, and how in celebrations for the deities, the drums can be heard all the way to the refinery (España). But when they play for ‘eggun’ (ancestors), the drums cannot be heard, although they are played the same way. “They remain silent because we are playing for Eggun”, he said.
Ofrenda Para Hilda
2010, Watercolor, Sumi Ink, and metal leaf on Paper, 22” X 17”
This started out as a story told by Hilda Zulueta about her reluctance to fall into trance during ceremonies. In this case the artwork took another path and became an offering for Hilda, which obscured some of the text.
Ma Forentina’s Dress
2010, Watercolor, Ink and metal leaf on Paper, 22” X 17”
This manuscript contains fragments of a story told by Hilda Zulueta about how her memories of Arará are fading due to age. The actual dress can be seen in Museo Barredo Guerra in Perico. It belonged to Ma Florentina, a Dahomean princess taken as a slave to harvest sugar cane at Central Esapña, a refinery near Perico. A print of this manuscript was gifted to the museum and hangs beside the dress in the museum.
Ceiba and Baobab
2010, Watercolor and Sumi Ink on Rag Paper, 22” X 17”
Reinaldo Robinson tells a story in 2006 about how enslaved Africans kept as close as possible to their traditions, but they made substitutions, using plants and trees available in Cuba.
Catalina Frekete
2010, Watercolor and Sumi Ink on Paper, 22” X 17”
This is a story about Catalina Frekete, told by her great grand daughter. Catalina Frekete was an enslaved African woman who lived in Perico. She was very tall and strong and worked hard raising pigs and cutting cane in order to buy her children’s freedom.
My Afro-Cuban paintings are a result of many visits I have made to Cuba, beginning in 1995. Initially I went to Havana to study percussion and dance at Escuela Nacional de Arte, but I was soon inspired to paint about my experiences. The Afro-Cuba paintings focus on popular and ritual music and dance. I have met and studied with many of the people in the paintings, and whenever possible I have given them photos of the paintings. I have exhibited in several venues in Havana, including Asociación Cultural Yoruba de Cuba, and Museo de la Revolución.
In both the Cuba and Niger series, the communities I have depicted are not commonly known to Americans. My hope is that these paintings will give the viewer a sense of familiarity with them, and open a path to their inclusion in dialogues about contemporary art and culture.
Oya is keeper of the Wind , owner of sparks, and female ire, as well as determination and power. This painting was created for “Born to Drum”, the annual women’s drum camp held in the Oakland hills, sponsored by Carolyn Brandy and Women Drummers International
Rumba Morena is a dynamic female rumba group that performs regularly in Havana. I gave a print of this painting to the woman pictured here and she remarked that she recognized herself, and remembered that she had borrowed the shoes.
This image was inspired by a memory of drummers and dancers in an old dance hall in Matanzas.
This is an image of a dance rehearsal in Havana.
José Francisco Barroso danced with Raices Profundas in Havana. When he dances the heavens open and the deities come down. He is currently living in Oakland, raising a family, teaching, and performing.
The dancer in this painting was inspired by Ava Square in a performance I participated in with Ojalá, a group led by Carolyn Brandy. I took artist’s license and included sacred drums from the town of Perico, Matanzas, Cuba.
Guaguancó is the name of the rhythm the drummers are playing. This is the first painting I did after going to study music in Cuba for the first time. I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears. I studied with Cristobal Larrinaga, shown wearing green, looking at Pancho Quinto.
This is a painting of a dancer invoking Yemayá, deity of the oceans. Even in a show, practitioners are sometimes mounted by their deities, and go into trance.
These were some of the teachers I studied with in Guantánamo, eastern Cuba. I call it the Other Guantanamo, because most Americans only know about the American prison there.
This painting was inspired by a performance of one of the great rumba groups in Havana, Clave y Guaguancó. The title, “Maní” refers to the spilled peanuts in the foreground, which are sold on the streets day and night. The paper cone is called a cucurucho.
This is a representation of Rumba Columbia, traditionally danced by men as a form of competition, not ulike break dancing. I call it Taller Gráfica because I added a graphic arts print shop in the background.
This is a fantasy painting of two dancers with a mysterious, looming shadow between them. Drummers in the background are barely visible as outlines.
Once I went to a party in Havana where the great female rumba band was in attendance. Significantly to me, they were not invited to play. I call this painting the Guardians at the Gate to signify the glass ceiling that still exists for female performers, though recently the glass has begun to crack.
This is a group called Caridad de Oriente rehearsing for Carnaval in Santiago de Cuba. They insisted on posing for me.
This is a fantasy image of drums and performers after the show is over at Callejon Hammel, Havana. It includes drums painted by Salvador, and an offering for Ochun. During that performance the drummers pulled me in out of the sun, and I am pictured here in the green dress.
One day, after class at La ENA (Escuela Nacional de Arte), it was raining so hard that the rumba happened in the kitchen instead of its planned location in the neighborhood. I included tape recorders, which every student had, and a dessert, as well as a still life of batá and other drums in the background.
Acrylic on Canvas, 48” X 72”
Oba Guemilere means King of the Party in Lukumí, the creole language in Cuba. It is a depiction of a rumba in Callejón Hammel, a wide alley in Havana full of murals by Salvador, known for performances every Sunday afternoon. I was situated behind the drummers, looking out at the crowd. This image is available as a pigment print.
Acrylic and Faux Gilding on Canvas, 84” X 48”, 2006
In 2004 I went to a village in Niger where my brother and his family were working on an agricultural project. I attended a dance and chose this pose to create an image that combines the sand of Niger with Cuban symbolism of Oya and Ochun. This image is available in pigment print with hand gilding.
La Ola de Yemaya
Acrylic on Canvas, 48” X 72”, 1997
In the collection of Tracey Finger. Pigment Prints available
This is a composite image from various photos I took in Havana. when I was studying music and dance there.
In 2004 I went to Niger and visited traditional Hausa farmers and Fulani herdsmen in the Sahel, a dry strip of desert at the edge of the Sahara. I was welcomed in the villages because my brother and his family had been living there for fourteen years. To my surprise people were delighted by my digital camera, and everyone wanted to pose for it. From these snap shots I created a series of formal gilded portraits. I used gold, silver, and copper leaf backgrounds to create portraits that recall Byzantine icons. I donate a portion from the sale of paintings and prints from the Niger series to a grain bank which benefits the Wodaabi in the Sahel.
A young Hausa girl gathering firedwood outside Soura dan Nana, Niger.
The Fulani were the most regal people I had ever seen. Their sense of style was timeless yet somehow utterly contemporary.
This man gave us a ride on his camels in the Sahel, Niger.
Available through SFMOMA Artists’ Gallery
We visited Tasa Ibrahim, a temporary camp near the Sahara where nomadic Wodaabi herders rested with their camels.. This woman took my hand and looked off into the distance, saying something in the Fulani language. The landscape is so stark, there is nothing but thorn bushes. People never know if the rain will come to provide water and plants for their herds. Their lives are marginal, but they love their traditions and the open desert spaces they wander.
Young Hausa girls walk on the paths in the village of Soura Dan Nana selling food cooked by their mothers.
The Fulani consider themselves to be the most beautiful people in the world, and I believe it. They wear elaborate jewelry and hairstyles and wander the s=deserts following their herds. Their culture is full of taboos. I was never as fascinated by any people.
Garaya is the name of the instrument this young man was playing. It is a gourd with one or two strings.
There were many conventions, and one was the greeting system, with different appropriate questions and answers to be recited throughout the day. I had to learn them as best I could, and I wrote some of them in the frames of the paintings. This young girl was selling peanuts, and the counter weight was a stack of coins on the enamel plate.
This Wodaabi woman was newly married and traveled with us to Tassa Ibrahim, a nomadic outpost on the edge of the Sahara.
Available in hand gilded Pigment Print
This nomadic Wodaabi woman wears a facial tatoo identifying her clan. Her hair has been braided tightly in order to encourage it to fall out over time, revealing a high forehead, stylish in the Sahel.
40” X 30”, Acrylic with faux gilding
This child takes pennies from passers by who buy water from him, saving themselves a long walk to the well. Note that his shirt was borrowed from a bigger person.
40” X 30”, Acrylic with faux gilding on canvas
On our way to Tassa Ibrahim we came upon a well with many lovely women joyfully drawing well water from far below the sandy desert.
27” X 23”, Acrylic and faux gilding on canvas
Wodaabi nomads wrap long lengths of cloth into turbans for protection from sun and sand storms. Caught in a sand storm one wraps up in the cloth and waits for the wind to stop. There is nothing else to do.
I saw this woman in a market in Niamey, Republic of Niger. The blue bowl was a begging bowl.
This image combines and African dancer I saw in Soura dan Nana, Niger, with Afro-Cuban imagery of the deities of wind and fresh waters. When I sell a print from the Niger series I send a portion of the proceeds to a hospital in the Sahel, or directly to a settlement via a friend of my brother’s who has lived there for many years.
I had done so many portraits of people in Africa and Cuba, that I wanted to paint people in Oakland. When I first started the project my only criteria was to have a drink with me at Merchant’s Saloon, downstairs from my studio. The idea was to create a body of work about the 99 percent, most of whom would never have been documented in paint. It occurred to me that most Americans don’t live where they were born, and most of their moves result from a search for work. I later added three lines of biographical information to each portrait, including the sitter’s name, birthplace, occupation, and city of current residence. I planned to paint 99 portraits, but nearly all of the paintings sold and I never could reach 99. Thirteen of portraits hang in the law office of Hunter Pyle Law in Oakland. Hunter said he wanted to be able to point to the portraits and ask his clients,”Are you sure you want to take this to court? There is your jury”. Each portrait is acrylic on canvas, 24” X 18”, painted between 2015 and 2020.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2015
Lilia was a bartender at Merchant’s Saloon, downstairs from my studio near Jack London Square. Although she is of German heritage, she grew up in Mexico.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2016
Woody Johnson is a sculptor/printmaker/painter, and an important Oakland artist and teacher. Fluent in Spanish, Woody served in the Peace Corps in South America.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2016
The ultimate gentleman, Jesus is a waiter in a restaurant at Jack London Square.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2016
La Donna is a kindergarten teacher in Alameda.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2015
Fernando Valenzuela shares his name with a famous pitcher for the Dogers. Different people. Fernando is a State Farm agent in Oakland.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2015
Joyce Gordon is an Oakland treasure. Vibrant and tireless, she owns Joyce Gordon Gallery in downtown Oakland. Her gallery features artists and musicians, supports young people, and just causes of all kinds. Joyce has a heart of gold, and her gallery is a cultural center in the heart of the city. Go visit her.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2015
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2014
Peter Selz was my art history professor at UC Berkeley. Much later I ran into him again at the Berkeley Art Center and we became friends. He was curating and writing until his death at 100 years of age.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2016
Ralph is always pushing the envelope and exploring something new. Among other things, he is a professional driver, a pilot, a banker and a musician. He’s the all around renaissance man and a regular at Merchant’s Saloon in Oakland.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2015
This is a portrait of my niece in Niger, where she grew up.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2016
Formerly a bartender at Merchant’s, now in the collection of Lisa Politeo, purchased because he reminded her of “The Dude”.
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 18”, 2020
Founder and director of Rhythmix Cultural Center in Alameda, Janet is also an accomplished Taiko drummer. She is the alternate juror in the portrait series now known as Hunter’s Jury, on view at Hunter Pyle Law in Oakland.
Anita Amirrezvani is an author and professor of literature. Her novels include Equal of the Sun and The Blood of Flowers.
Each of these portraits is 24” X 18”, acrylic on canvas, painted between 2015 and 2020. Some of the portraits I did for my 99% project. Most of them were purchased before I could complete 99, which was the original idea. 13 of them, now known as Hunter’s Jury, hang in Attourney Hunter Pyle’s conference room, Oakland.
The paintings in this gallery are unrelated to any particular series. Some were commissions and some were small watercolors I did at the UC Botanical Gardens. Paintings of flowers offer opportunities and surprises of strange shapes and colors. Nature is never to be outdone. Sometimes random paintings are harbingers of images to come.
Tasa Ibrahim is a resting spot on the edge of the Sahara for the nomadic Woaabi people. I was privileged to go there when I visited my brother Joel and his family, who lived in Niger for 16 years. Please see portraits of the Wodaabi in my African Portraits Gallery.
This painting was commissioned for Jesus Diaz’ CD called El Jardinero. Jesus is a master percussionist and leader of the Cuban band QBA. His music is unbelievably complex and shows that highly intellectual forms of expression exist in languages that transcend words. Jesus is part of a lineage of drummers that reaches back to a time when drums did transmit messages that could be understood by whole villages.
This portrait was commissioned by Claudia Stanten to commemorate her beloved cats. It is larger than life, at 74” X 78”.
This painting was done for the 10th anniversary of Festival Flamenca Gitana, produced by Nina Menendez, who is the daughter of Bay Area Blues singer Barbara Dane.
Every year Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica hosts a carnivalesque exhibit featuring over 63 artists who produce fifty 6”x6”works each in fifty days. This is a sampling of my 2019 offering entitled “Time Reveals All Things”. It is comprised of 50 portraits representing a snap-shot of the daily news. The gilded backgrounds remove context and lend equal importance to dictators, migrants, pirates and cultural icons.
Tennis champ.
Representative from Minnesota and member of the so-called “Squad”.
Representative from Massachusettes, and member of so called “Squad”
The background was stained with tea and the border was stained with red wine!
Representative from Detroit, member of “The Squad”
Tennis Champ
Tennis Champ
Teen Climate Activist
President of Japan
Soccer champ, activist
British Ambassador who lost his job because he called Trump “inept”
Forty-nine of the fifty 6’X6’ gilded portraits fit into a grid at 50/50 2019 at Sanchez Art Center. This is an impartial view of the day’s news, as if seen from an earlier era. Each artist displays their work in an identical grid, with #50 separated out and framed.
Born to Drum was founded by Carolyn Brandy and Women Drummers International in 2006 as an opportunity for women to study various styles of drumming with world class women drummers from all over the world. For the past few years born to Drum has been held in an Oakland Hills group camp, where participants can camp for several days. Over the years I have done many of the images for the drum camp.
51” X 33”, Acrylic on canvas, 2024 ,
Original painting and prints available
The inspiration for this year’s Born to Drum image is Oggun, the Afro-Cuban deity who lives alone in the forest, is the owner of iron and minerals, maker of tools, and therefore has tremendous power and creativity. Oggun has a wild, uncontrollable side and understands the mysteries of the forest. In this painting the drummer is playing in solitude for Oggun. She looks up, surprised to see the viewer.
48" X 27", acrylic on Canvas, 2023
2023 image for Born to Drum, a women's drum camp sponsored by Carolyn Brandy and Women Drummers International.
This is an imaginary depiction of Osain, Cuban deity of medicinal plants. Seeds of Our Freedom is the theme for the Women Drummers International Drum Camp held in Oakland, July 2019.
Into the Deep was the 2018 theme for Women Drummers International drum camp called Born to Drum. The image is a depiction of Olokun, deity who lives in the deepest part of the ocean. The drums are sacred Olokun drums which exist today in Matanzas province, Cuba.
This was the image for the 2017 Women Drummers International Born to Drum camp. It is a depiction of Babaluaye, deity of sickness and health.
This was the image for the 2016 Women Drummers International Born to Drum camp. It is a depiction of Obatala, owner of all things white, creator of human beings and earth, owner of the head, and of thoughts and dreams. Obatala’s attributes include the elephant, the spiral, and white beads. This was one of 8 paintings I exhibited at Galerie Yassine, in the 2016 Biennale in Dakar, Senegal.
This is a depiction of Oshun, deity of romantic love in Afro-Cuban folklore. The drums still exist in a ceremonial house in Perico, Matanzas province. They are newly painted every year and resemble Ghanian drums.
This is a depiction of Amelia Pedroso, virtuoso drummer and singer of Afro-Cuban sacred music. Renowned worldwide, Amelia came to teach in Oakland and tragically, shepassed away several years ago, long before her time.
This is a painting of Rumba Morena, one of the great performing groups in Havana. An all female Rumba group these performers are an inspiration to women drummers everywhere. I did this painting after one of my first trips to Cuba, and I brought a print to the group as a gift.
I call this series “Standing Portraits”. All of the paintings are 84” X 60”, with the exception of The Oakland School, which is comprised of three panels totalling 65” X 180”. The paintings depict my Oakland circle of artists in 1990, with a few students from Maybeck High School, Berkeley, where I was teaching at the time. The entire series was exhibited in a solo show curated by Marian Parmenter at the Museum of Modern Art Artist’s Gallery in 1990.
Acrylic on Canvas, 1988, 84” X 60”
Available
Joie Mastrokalos (RIP) was my sister’s boyfriend, a great cook and a charismatic, funny, punk musician in LA. Sadly, he left this world a few years ago. He had tattoos of the virgin on one arm and Santa Barbara on the other, long before tattoos were the norm.
Portrait of a Woman
Acrylic on Canvas, 1999, 84” X 60”
Available
This is a portrait of Denise Webbly-Wright, wife of Anthony Wright. The mirror image occurred to me while I was repositioning the figure farther to the right in the picture plane. I decided to keep both images. The background “wallpaper” is cloth applied to the canvas.
Lysistrata Munson was a student of mine at Maybeck High School in Berkeley. She is named after the heroine in the fabulous Greek play “Lysistrata”, written in 411 BC by Aristophanes. She and a bunch of other kids had their heads shaved by the math teacher on a school camping trip. It took me a while to realize that I had painted her with two left feet, but it seemed so funny that I left it that way.
Portrait of a Screen Writer
Acrylic on Canvas, 1988, 84” X 60”
This painting is in the collection of Claudia Stanten.
John McCormick sat behind me all the way through high school because his name came after mine in the alphabet. He was and is the best writer and the funniest person I have ever known. After majoring in film at SF State he became a screen writer in Los Angeles, where he still lives.
Quinceañera
Acrylic on Canvas, 1990, 84” X 60”
Available
Sandra Pantoja was one of my favorite students at Maybeck High School in Berkeley. We both grew up in East Oakland. Separated by just a few miles, East Oakland and Berkeley are worlds apart. Every summer Sandra would go to a small town in Mexico and speak Spanish, and when she came back to Oakland she spoke Ebonics in the neighborhood. One fall she came back from Mexico and showed me her Quinceañera photos, and I asked if I could paint a portrait of her. The last time I saw Sandra she was working at Home Depot. She was funny and smart and now has lots of kids of her own.
The Covert War
Acrylic on Canvas, 1989, 84” X 60”
Available
I painted this self portrait during the covert war in Central America. I had spent a lot of time with a backpack hiking around the cornfields in the highlands of Guatemala, and I got a good sense of the strength and tenacity of the native people who worked the land. The fire represents the guilt I felt, knowing that some of the coffee we drank may have come from stolen land with blood spilled all over it.
I Danced with Chocolate
Acrylic on Canvas, 1990, 84” X 60”
Available
For many years I was crazy about salsa dancing, and once I went to see Chocolate Armenteros, the famous trumpet player. Chocolate asked me to dance, so i did, and he took me right in front of the stage. It was embarrassing, because although I was a pretty good dancer, i couldn’t follow him.
Troubled Sleep
Acrylic on Canvas, 1990, 84” X 60”
Available
This is a portrait of a Maybeck High School student named Ben Warwas. He was a wonderful artist who made his own clothes. He wore this fake fir outfit every day for a whole semester. His mother said he washed it every night. When he saw the painting he asked me to lengthen the shorts, which I did, but after the photo was taken. Troubled Sleep is the title of a novel by Sartre about the private lives of young soldiers.
The Judgement of Paris
Acrylic on Canvas, 1994, 84” X 60”
Available
This is a portrait of a young man who had three girlfriends. Rather than being judged by Paris, the three graces are judging him. (The three graces are taken from other paintings in this series). When I was painting this portrait I was listening to a news story about the “three strikes you’re out” law that was being discussed.
Acrylic on Canvas, 1993, 84” X 60”
Available
This is a portrait of a dancer I knew in Oakland. He was born in Mexico City and did not like being called “Chilango”, (slang for a person born there). So far away from home, yet still setting his identity straight, he used to say, “Yo soy Tarasco, no soy Chilango”.
The Oakland School
Acrylic on Canvas, 1990, 84” X 60”
Available
This is a group of Oakland artist friends, all of whom made a career of art in one way or another. It is a riff on the Last Supper, but note that there is no food. Left to Right include myself, Charlie Chavez, Xochitl Nevel Guerrero, Roberto Guerrero, Rick Arnitz (RIP), Jeff Carr, Jude Pittman Jamey Brzezinski, George Hurt (RIP), Carolyn King Hurt, and Ken Gulley (RIP). In the 1990s it was possible to rent a studio for next to nothing in East Oakland and many of us shared a space called East Bay Generator on E.14th and 23rd Avenue.
63” X 40.5, Acrylic on canvas, 2008 Original painting and prints available.
This is the cover for Lázaro Pedroso’s book on Olodumare, produced and translated by Christiane Hayashi. To see the full image please see please see Hilda, Obbini Omo Eleggua, Secrets Under theSkin gallery on this website.
27” X 23”, Acrylic on canvas, original painting and prints available
This image is for an upcoming book on Los Guerreros, by Cuban scholar Lázaro Pedroso, of Havana. It is a depiction of Eleggua, Oggun and Ochosi, with Osun in the upper right.
From 2010 to 2018 I participated in an artist’s collaborative research project called Secrets Under the Skin, based in Cuba and the Volta region of Ghaha/Togo. Under the direction of Dr. Jill Flanders Crosby, a multi-media team of American and Cuban artists and academics researched the cultural connections between several small towns in Matanzas Province, Cuba and several traditional villages in Ghana/Togo. A book about the project, Situated Narratives of SacredDance will be out in May 2021.
Dashi with Her Portrait
This is Dashi, priestess of Dzodze, Ghana. She stands in front of her portrait at an exhibition of the collaborative artist’s research project we called Secrets Under the Skin UAA The exhibition took place at the Nubuke Foundation Gallery in Accra, Ghana, 2014. We also exhibited in the installation in Cape Coast, Senegal, Havana and Perico, Cuba, Homer and Anchorage, Alaska, San Francisco and Oakland, California.
Galerie Yassine Arts Complex, Dakar, Senegal
I exhibited 8 paintings at Galerie Yassine Arts in 2016 and 2018, during the Biennale in Dakar.
My paintings being installed at Galerie Yassine Arts in Dakar, Senegal, 2016.
Amadou Thiam (in the salmon robe) discusses my work with a friend in Gallery Yassine Arts, Dakar, Senegal.
Trying to look tall at one of the exhibits in the biennale, Dakar, Seneal, 2016.
©2000 - 2019 Susan Matthews
All rights reserved. Images and content from this site may not be reproduced in any form or media without the permission of the artist. Post: Susan Matthews Oakland California USA
