The River Painting Series
Susan McDonald
Artist Statement
This Series of paintings was created in the 1980s to create
new female iconography. Most of the female images created by Western
artists sexualize the female figure. These figures create a nude female
figure that relates to the Mississippi River in various seasons of the
year. This River Figure is free with her sexuality for the sake of her own
internal power, not as it relates to someone else’s power.
For this reason I painted these paintings in a large format. Most of them
are eight to ten feet high and hang flat against the wall. They are painted
with oil paint on canvas.
