Listening to ravens, paddling with gators...
Prior to moving to New Mexico, Beth Surdut’s nature explorations encompassed free diving with Hawaiian sea turtles, riding an Indonesian water buffalo, and canoeing with Florida alligators for three years, earning her the nickname "Gator Girl." Surdut’s multi-layered careers include designer of architectural art glass and textiles, painter, illustrator, journalist and commentator examining topics ranging from sewers to …
Listening to ravens, paddling with gators...
Prior to moving to New Mexico, Beth Surdut’s nature explorations encompassed free diving with Hawaiian sea turtles, riding an Indonesian water buffalo, and canoeing with Florida alligators for three years, earning her the nickname "Gator Girl." Surdut’s multi-layered careers include designer of architectural art glass and textiles, painter, illustrator, journalist and commentator examining topics ranging from sewers to senators for print, radio and cyberspace. More than four years ago, Raven, Bringer of Magic, called Beth Surdut to the high desert to create the art and story of Listening To Raven~Drawings, Myths &Realities, an ongoing exploration of science and spirit. These detailed story drawings, created with pen and pencil, heart and mind, are a vision quest expanded by paying attention to small moments. When she began the Listening To Raven exploration, she had no idea that people would respond by bringing her their personal stories of delight and loss, that humans who had never paid attention to birds would present her with corvid tales. “This recognition of life heretofore unexamined develops a personal involvement with nature and, I hope, set us on a road to saving what is left of our endangered planet,” says Ms. Surdut.
Beth Surdut’s hand painted silk accessories and clothing reflect nature, such as a red sunset lighting the Sangre de Cristo mountains or a walk through the golden aspen forests above Santa Fe. Ms. Surdut's museum-quality accessories and clothing have been shown at the Smithsonian Institution, DeCordova Museum, American Textile History Museum, Cahoon Museum of American Art, and the New Zealand Wearable Art Awards. New Mexico Mountain pieces and Abiquiu scarves are a result of breathing in this vast sky and landscape, then breathing out onto silk with brushes and dyes.
Beth was recently featured in an article in the Santa Fe New Mexican. Click here to read about her project entitled Listening to Ravens. Beth has a solo exhibit coming up at the Randall Davey Audubon Center July 9-Aug 9, 2010 and is included in the current Audubon Wildlife Invitational at the Center through June 30. For more information call the Randall Davey Audubon Center at (505) 983-4609.
