Artist of September Sue Buck: Third installment

In this post We see work from New Mexico and the beginning of a journey she is still passionately pursuing. 

After 10 years in Florida, I moved to New Mexico and taught in Santa Fe at The Institute of American Indian Arts which is a college for Native American students from all over the country. There were over 130 tribes represented there. Sadly I only have one photo of work from that year. At the time I was drawing in a format called a diptych which has two parts that sit side by side. This was a portrait of one of our models alongside a buffalo skull loaned to me by one of my students. 


I need to add here that for the first time in my life I was in the minority. There were only a handful of Non-Natives on campus. I was considered suspicious because I was not a Native American. I was white and that history followed me.

That history was me.

​To some faculty members I was treated as invisible. Early on, I was harassed by a few students who were not at all fond of having a white woman teach them. Eventually they saw that I was a good teacher and everything went well. I had wonderful students who learned fast and did amazing work. This experience was very important to me. It pulled me back into those questions about power and greed. Who has power? Who does not? How does greed fit into that power? What is the history of the abuse of power?


While in New Mexico, I also taught at a private adult fine arts school in Albuquerque. I had been reading a book entitled Chimpanzee Politics as I continued to think about how politics fit into these issues of power and greed. I was wondering how my work would evolve, not pushing anything but wondering. 
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Then one day I took my adult students to the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque. Immediately I found a connection with the orangutans and gorillas there. Quickly I could see how my work could evolve. I knew nothing about these great apes, but I started reading and researching and that continues to this day. As I would sit face to face with them, I felt their curiosity and their intelligence and they seemed to sense mine.

Wondering what they were thinking. I also felt as if they were wondering what I was thinking. 

I learned about the alpha males in gorilla groups and how power plays a role. I learned about females in the groups and how they united to make the alpha a good leader. I learned how their family groups worked together to make a good life for everyone.  I read about chimpanzee troops whose communities fell apart when there was a bad leader. I learned about orangutans who led basically solitary lives except for the mothers who were with their young at least until the children were six years old. 

Of course, I took hundreds of photos during the 15 years I would return to Albuquerque to teach workshops and visit the zoo. I came to know the individuals and watched as their families began to grow and prosper. ​​

The next part of Sue's journey and work will bring her to Pennsylvania where she taught for years at Allegheny college.