Susan Swartz Installation at King’s College

June 23, 2025

“King’s College has a long history of supporting sustainability, with green tech research, the placement of solar panels on the chapel roof, “wilding” biodiversity lawn in front of the chapel, and much more. The award-winning work of the artist Susan Swartz echoes this. Her art highlights both the beauty and fragility of the natural world around us - and the need to appreciate the environment and protect it, as it comes under growing threat from climate change. In particular, Swartz uses a mixture of paint and repurposed natural materials to spark reflections on the nature of life, decay, regeneration, with images of chaotic natural glory akin to a “wilding” lawn. Her work is thus both an inspiration and a challenge to look at our environment with fresh eyes, as we fight to preserve it, inside and outside King’s.”

- Gillian Tett, Provost, King’s College

Swartz approaches the installation at King’s College with three series of work, pertinent to the history and evolution of the location. Each series focuses on capturing the beauty, fragility, and resilience of nature, as she experiences it.

The Evolution of Nature series is intimately linked to Swartz’s path to optimal health, incorporating dried flora, herbs, and other nutrient-rich elements to create opulent yet playful sculptural surfaces. Swartz integrates botanical elements that she used to heal herself from a decade-long battle with Lyme disease and mercury poisoning. By sealing seeds, gourds, fruits, and herbs into the painting, the preservation process repurposes them into a renewed source of optical inspiration.

In Boundless, Swartz captures the untamed energy and quiet rhythms of the natural world through abstract, expressive motion. Solid fields of color—ranging from marigold to soft lavender or white—are layered with bursts, blobs, and flicks of contrasting pigment, akin to mountainside wildflowers. These spontaneous gestures suggest petals carried on the wind or the movement of clouds or water, dancing between contrasting experiences of nature as a wild and gentle place.

The Nature’s Bouquet series studies floral arrangements with a strong sense of movement and depth. Swartz celebrates the dimensionality of the painting medium with abundant pigments and textures that burst forth with an exhilarating expression, reminiscent of the floods of joy one experiences while immersing in vibrant, thriving landscapes. “