bio

Susanna Cicerone is a visual artist currently based in Portland Oregon. Born in Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine country, she has worked as a painter and sculptor for most of her life. Her parents were accomplished artists and while growing up she was never denied the opportunity for creative outlets.  Her paternal great grandparents immigrated from southern Italy to New York state and her maternal great grandparents immigrated from Sweden to Montana. As an extension of her love of nature she has lived in various national parks of the west, including Death Valley CA, Denali AK, and Glacier Bay MT. She earned her Bachelors of Science Degree from Portland State University, with a focus on environmental science, and a major in Art Practices through the School of Art and Design.  Early in her career, she experienced the loss of her mother and father within a year’s span of one another. During this time, she found it difficult to be creative. She attributes her artistic resurrection to the birth of her son who forced her to look at art making with the intention of truly meaningful production. As for her art, it embraces the surreal and gravitate towards the organic. 

The paintings she creates are reflective of a kind of cinematic dreamscape and have been influenced by different aspects of her life. Raised Catholic, her art tends at times to explore historical Catholic imagery and themes. she also finds influence through her father’s immigrant experience which even as a second generation italian was still pronounced throughout his childhood and young adulthood. both of these themes are explored in her largest painting “Il Problema Italiano”, which is sizable at 3 feet across by 4 feet tall.

she is also inspired as much from art found in museums as from films. Due in part to growing up, not readily having art which interested her available for in-person viewing. This meant finding inspiration wherever available, It helped that her mother, having grown up in an environment in Southern California where the kids next door may just end up playing opposite Cybill Shepherd in The Last Picture Show, instilled in her an interest in a good movie. the inspiration she sought was not only found in museums, although she admits there is something incomparable about seeing a beloved work of art in-person, such as that of Rene Magritte’s The Banquet, referenced in her painting Solitaire. A similar inspirational feeling was available from certain favorite artistic directors, and continues to be to this day.