Silence

Although it is a cold evening,
down by one of the fishhouses
an old man sits netting,
his net, in the gloaming almost invisible,
a dark purple-brown,
and his shuttle worn and polished.

(Elizabeth Bishop)

Mrs. is pleased to present Silence, a solo exhibition by Connecticut-based artist Susan Classen Sullivan, on view across both gallery locations. This exhibition marks the artist’s first solo presentation with the gallery.

Working primarily in ceramic sculpture, Classen Sullivan explores the quiet space between beginnings and endings, where life, death, and renewal coexist. Her work gives form to concealed biological, ecological, and structural systems that shape both the natural world and human experience. Silence considers how these invisible forces operate beneath the surface, guiding processes of becoming and transformation.

The exhibition shares conceptual resonance from Elizabeth Bishop’s poem At the Fishhouses, in which an old fisherman repairs his net at dusk, his hands moving instinctively even as the net disappears into darkness. This image of labor guided by what cannot be seen parallels Classen Sullivan’s practice, rooted in attention to hidden energy and threshold states. As in the poem, humanity and nature appear interconnected, even as nature remains vast and unknowable.

Trees recur throughout the exhibition as central figures and metaphors. Living and working in a studio surrounded by forest, Classen Sullivan is drawn to their feral vitality and unseen internal activity—root systems, circulatory networks, and silent growth. This profound quiet is essential to both the making of the work and its experience.

Several works draw on the logic of fables and fairy tales, revealing how imperceptible powers shape inner and outer realities. In Fable #8, infants develop beneath a stand of trees, sheltered and hidden, their potential reliant on the trees and the silent world they inhabit. In Fable #2, a female figure bends backward as trees sprout from her torso. Fable #1, a kinetic sculpture incorporating altered Hummel figures and trees, rotates continuously, suggesting cycles of growth, mortality, and transformation guided by influences beyond individual control. Across these works, altered surfaces and repetitive motion signal the effects of biological, emotional, and psychological pressures that operate largely out of sight.

Other works address material fragility and impermanence. In Waterways #1, a cube of water rests precariously on a grid, supporting a chamber from which trees emerge, reflecting the interdependence of natural elements and constant transformation. At Mrs.’s satellite space, small sculptures derived from frog corpses further explore threshold moments, functioning as reliquaries for the mysterious and unknowable aspects of life and transformation.

Through Silence, Susan Classen Sullivan offers a meditation on vulnerability and interconnection, inviting us to consider the quiet systems through which growth, decay, and renewal unfold.