Susan McKee

A turn in my path brought me to China for a year and a half, where I taught English to eager university students. This was an extraordinary, life-changing adventure for me. I even wrote a book about it: Days Like Floating Water, A Story of Modern China. I was honored when it won eight national book awards. It includes a number of my paintings, as well as the sometimes terrifying, sometimes hilarious experiences I had there. 

Collage, or what I call “paper mosaics,” seems to best capture the Chinese spirit. The turmoil of this young/old nation struggling with still more changes, and the inner resources of these rock-strong people seem too large for pretty, soft paintings. My tribute to the timeless endurance of these complex people comes closest to what I feel when I’m fitting bits of painted paper to a developing idea.

Now that I’m back in my natural habitat, I love to capture the people and places of the Central Coast, mostly also in collage.