ABOUT THE PAINTING

Contemporary artist Sue Ellen Herne (Bear Clan) is from Akwesasne Mohawk territory, New York, on the US-Canadian border. A former program coordinator at the Akwesasne Cultural Center, Herne has recently returned to school to become more fluent in the Mohawk language. In 1978 after attending the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Herne studied at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) for painting, graduating in 1982. Herne’s artwork is often biographical and tells personal stories about her culture, family, and upbringing. Through her vivid colors, we get a peek into the mind of an Indigenous woman artist, whose paintings and stories contrast with a historically Eurocentric, patriarchal culture.

Lodge is an example of Herne’s visual depictions of personal experiences. When I first looked at the painting, my eye was immediately drawn to the bright fuchsia triangle at the center. This triangle represents Herne’s swimsuit that she was wearing during the moment that inspired this painting. The black dot in the center represents her sacred heart. A young Herne had visited the city pool in Binghamton with some of her cousins. Attempting to fit in as one of the “big kids” and pressured by their watchful eyes, she climbed the ladder to the top of an imposing slide but stopped in place, feeling concerned about what may happen if she went down. As Herne tells the story, she explains that her brother kindly helped her back down the slide. While she does not directly explain the meaning of the white bars across the painting, given the story associated with the painting, I feel that these bars may represent the fear we feel when we assume that we do not have a choice. To Herne and to the understanding viewer, this painting represents the difficult decision to swim against the current and honors those who help us along the way. -Tasman Kanze ’28

Sue Ellen Herne
Lodge (Fear), 2016
Acrylic on canvas
SLU 2016.14
Richard F. Brush Art Gallery
St. Lawrence University
Canton, NY