Wilmington College’s Harcum Art Gallery will feature an exhibit of Susan Deaton’s works Jan. 24 through March 8. An opening reception honoring the artists is planned for Jan. 24 from 6-8 p.m.

Normal exhibit hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by special appointment arranged through Hal Shunk, gallery curator and emeritus professor of art. Harcum Gallery is located in Boyd Cultural Arts Center at the corner of College and Douglas streets.

Deaton describes her art as a process of going from a vague idea to a detailed complexity of lines and values — “the direction my lines take is dictated by the rhythm and balance of the composition that is bound to the contrasts of positive and negative space,” she said. “By embracing uncertainty and letting go of perfectionism, my creative process is finding symbols representing emotions and imperfections within myself and society. My symbols emerge into definitions of my ideas, orchestrated to tell a story.”

She’s lived a life of responsibility as a big sister of five brothers, a wife, a mother of three daughters, a teacher and administrator for hundreds of children, and now a grandmother of six. Since retiring as an educator, she and her husband, Keith, are now responsible for two dogs and a backyard of mature trees (“And if you know dogs and trees, that’s not an easy task,” she added).

“These days, I sit in my backyard or studio with a cup of coffee or glass of wine to think, write and draw in my own time,” Deaton said, noting that if she’s not in her backyard or studio, she’s walking in the woods or traveling.

Deaton claims her responsibility to the world has shifted from active participation to more of an observer of life. “As an educator and mother, I lived in the mess of things,” she said. “I solved a hundred problems a day and woke up the next morning to do it all again, and again and again. So, this more passive life is, to say the least, different.”

She sees the drawing and writing of her thoughts and feelings as a full-time job and not as a therapy to “stay sane in a chaotic world. This allows me to dig deeper into why I think and feel the way I do. The product of this new time is my drawings, my perspective of the world,” she said.

“I am an optimistic realist. My art tells the stories of the problems we face as individuals and communities, but I see none of these things as hopeless,” she added. “I believe in us and the future. My task as an artist and observer of life is to create an image that communicates the problems I see — and seeing the problem is halfway to a solution.

Submitted by Randall Sarvis, senior director of public relations, Wilmington College.