Blog
Posted on 4/8/2025 7:58:53 PM
By Suzanne Storer
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Myrna slept last summer with her husband in their car parked in the street under the shade of an overhanging tree beside one of our city parks. She told me that she has not been without a place to live for a long time and that she doesn't like it. She was quite pleased with her jewelry collection so I emphasized that in this portrait. She wore a t-shirt that said "I like animals better than people because of their unconditional love."
Posted on 7/8/2023 6:52:46 PM
By Suzanne Storer
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Myrna Is Homeless Again, 27 x 22 x 3", ceramic mixed media
Posted on 6/10/2023 1:29:58 PM
By Suzanne Storer
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So many people are homeless in our country - many due to a sudden illness that our health insurance system will not adequately cover; or bad luck that cannot be economically overcome; or mental health issues that are not deal with; or poor decision making etc.
You may not think so but any one of us could become homeless. If only we could live up to our nation's words of liberty and justice for all. Volunteers are at work but cannot solve this problem alone. The goal of this artwork is to encourage all of us to care about these unsheltered people so much that our local and national governments will support positive changes.
Posted on 6/6/2023 4:59:53 PM
By Suzanne Storer
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Surviving With No Home, ceramic mixed media, 24 x 17 x 4"
HE WAS TRYING HARD TO STAY HEALTHY.
THEY KICKED HIM OUT OF AN AA MEETING
BECAUSE HE BROUGHT IN HIS BACKPACK.
HE HAD NOWHERE SAFE TO PUT IT.
HE WORE A MASK TO KEEP FROM GETTING COVID.
He tried hard.
I couldn’t survive living like he does.
I met this man in Lester Park. He inspired the work "Surviving With No Home."
Unsheltered people are much more interesting to me to sculpt than pretty young women.
Our conversations are frank.
They are survivors. I can identify with that.
Most are willing to tell you about their lives if you are respectful.
Their stories are important to me.
Bare bones. Tough.
How do they end up in Utah in the wintertime?
And living outside because shelters have too many rules.
A grant from Ogden City allowed me to create a sculptural assemblage for our shelter, Lantern House.
I listened to many residents over lunch to find out what they wanted to see on their cafeteria wall. Shelter residents modeled for the sculpture. We all had fun!
Kids wanted a sculpture of donuts or a cat, adults wanted money, the mother wanted a home.
“Looking To the Future” ceramic mixed media 7 feet wide
Installed in the cafeteria at Lantern House, Ogden, Utah
Caption: Shelter residents told me the things they wanted in this sculpture.
It is natural for me to work against the wall. My relief sculptures are bulbous and project out from the wall up to half a foot. I push up a large clay slab from underneath expanding it to make these portraits. Relief work adds to the feeling of being alive.
I installed the finished sculpture high on the wall, wanting everyone to be able to see it while they ate.
I asked a man sitting across the room if he could see it. He said, “the focal point is just right.”
DON'T UNDER ESTIMATE THE UNSHELTERED.
It engenders trust.
