Meet Oregon-based Artist Susan Black
Susan Black is a writer, painter, and Benedictine oblate based in Aurora, Oregon. Susan was one of our featured writers for our Inspiration in the Desert Lenten reflection series and her piece LENT served as the background art for the Sunday posts. You can learn more about her here.
CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION: How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist?
SUSAN BLACK: I do not specifically call myself a “Catholic artist,” but I don’t know why. Maybe I want my identity to be self-evident through my actions and my life; maybe I just want to eschew labels. I am certainly a Catholic; it's part of my core identity. And I am an artist who possesses what's sometimes called “Catholic imagination”: an ability to connect the invisible and the visible, and to find God everywhere. I am clear about my personal mission: to manifest God in and through all that I do, in every facet of my life. I take what God presents to me as inspiration, and then I “translate” those ideas, images, thoughts, events and so forth though my painting practice and in my writing. I pray that, through these arts, I may be able communicate aspects of the transcendental nature of God: truth, beauty and goodness. My art is not “religious" or “devotional” — it’s not about God per se — but it is “spiritual” because it conveys (I hope!) the attributes of God. Perhaps viewers “get” God even if they are not aware of what’s happening!
Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?
In the Benedictine community where I am an Oblate. Every aspect of my imaginative life is encouraged and valued in the community.
How have you found or built community as a Catholic artist in your city?
In my Benedictine community, I lead retreats and discussion groups based on my writing on spiritual topics, and also attend those taught by others.
Where in your city do you regularly find artistic fulfillment?
Well, happily, I am part of CAC and truly value the sense of encouragement that emanates from every email/newsletter contact I receive. I am almost astonished to admit how satisfying my various internet-based creative groups are for my art, writing, and spiritual practices. Via Zoom, I meet monthly with folks from all over the country in an art collective, a memoir-writing class and a small memoir-writing “support group.” We share work, we discuss work. I also take webinars, even earned a Certificate in Art History from the Smithsonian Institute! I regularly attend lectures, workshops, meditation experiences and other events coming via Zoom from monasteries and abbeys in the far-flung Benedictine world. And to think that it was the pandemic that introduced most of us to Zoom (and its cousins) and made then such vital communications tools!
What is your daily spiritual practice?
My daily spiritual practice begins with reading from the Rule of Benedict, as I am a Benedictine Oblate. The practice then flows throughout the day, until bedtime, and includes elements that might vary depending on circumstances: the “daily office”/liturgy of the hours, the Catholic lectionary, holy reading, centering prayer, meditation, Mass and the Eucharist ... and yoga, walking, gardening, general reading, pet care, time in my art studio, time at my writing desk ... on and on ... always infused with gratitude and joy. Hope you get the drift. The structure is my own invention, because, more and more, my LIFE is my spiritual practice. The structure is flexible, not rigid; adaptable to life’s changes. For 10 years now, I have met monthly for spiritual direction with a Sister in my Benedictine community, which is where I also attend retreats (when I am not leading one).