Biography

Sue Arends graduated from Western Illinois University with a Bachelors Degree in Art Education. In her early years she worked primarily with acrylic paint on canvas, worked with ceramics and jewelry, spent an extended period with watercolors and quilting, and in recent years returned to acrylics but now on corrugated cardboard. Now retired, Sue has written the book A-Z with Corrugated Cardboard and enjoys the Chicago art world.  Sue Arends, mother of three adult sons, resides in the northern suburbs of Chicago with her husband.

Artist’s Statement

In recent years I have used acrylic paint on corrugated cardboard as my canvas.  I cut and expose  the inside of the cardboard in order to present the grooves, textures and shadows that the corrugations create.  I also play with the orientation of the grooves in my paintings.  They can be  placed horizontally, vertically or at an angle. They can become part of the foreground or background. I use the corrugations to pull the observer a little closer into my paintings.