30 Dec Artist Spotlights: Suzanne Falk

Suzanne Falk gives still life painting a distinctly retro pop-cultural twist. Her meticulously assembled compositions combine her own and friends’ treasured possessions, along with finds from flea markets, yard sales, and antique shops, to create delightfully quirky scenes with an uncanny ability to spark personal memories in viewers.

Growing up, she received plenty of artistic encouragement and guidance from her mother, Joni Falk, a noted landscape and still life painter, as well as from her father Bob, who owned a successful art supply store in Scottsdale. “My whole childhood, I was going to art shows with both of them. And, early on, my mom worked in our living room. When I was six years old, I painted a watercolor of her at her easel, which she still has framed. It’s very blobbish,” she says with a laugh, “but I captured the light, the outfit she was wearing, and the vibe.”

In the Clouds | Oil on Canvas | 6 x 6 inches

In her mid-teens, after transferring from a demanding Catholic prep school to the local public high school, Falk realized she had already earned enough academic credits to enroll in an advertising art program at a nearby community college. That opportunity led to her first full-time job designing T-shirts and then to working with her dad to create brochures for artists and galleries. On the side, she started painting watercolors, framing them with her father’s help, and selling them through a local gallery. Eventually, she built a successful career as a freelance illustrator.

A 2001 trip with friends to Taos, New Mexico, inspired Falk to explore oils. Over time, she developed a technique of applying paint in thin glazes with tiny brushes to achieve remarkable translucency and detail. “Even though I’m working in oils,” she says, “I still think like a watercolorist.”

The painting Tiger’s Eye is a prime example of Falk’s use of memorabilia. The carefully arranged objects include a 1950s Tell-a-Tale illustrated children’s book featuring Lassie, opened to a double-page illustration of the heroic collie befriending a palomino, a polished tiger’s eye stone, a painted ceramic pony figurine, a milk glass vase, dried flowers, and a vintage printed dish towel borrowed from a friend.

Nothing Will Harm You, Nothing Will Stand in Your Way | Oil on Canvas | 12 x 12 inches

Selecting items from a storage space adjacent to her studio, Falk meticulously placed them inside a cardboard box, which she set and lit then took digitally photographed for reference. The charming painting resembles a scene a young girl might assemble to display her prized possessions — just the thing Falk would have done when she was young. “I’ve loved setting up little vignettes like these,” she recalls. “They cast a spell and stir memories for others.”

Suzanne Falk is represented by Manitou Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Based in Marin County, California, Norman Kolpas is the author of more than 40 books and hundreds of articles. He also teaches nonfiction writing in The Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension.