The circus
1982-1985
The human desire for a magical life drew me to the circus. Real people and animals, sometimes in real danger, re-enact legendary adventures, defy the laws of physics, and dazzle us with their beauty and acrobatic flight. After the aggressive energy of The Rodeo I was drawn to the more family oriented circus, especially the small Circus Vargas traveling up and down California. My electronic flash technique, developed in the Rodeo project, continued to help me amplify colors while adding detail to movement.
Lindsey Kouvaris, de Saisset Museum Curator, Santa Clara University in 2010 “In 1980 Felter won a Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography that supported her influential Rodeo and Circus projects. In that work, she infused Hollywood-like glamor into otherwise non-fiction documentary projects. By using electronic flash with available light she mimicked Hollywood lighting, and added colorful motion blurs to otherwise gritty detail. Thus, in a kind of role reversal, reality became glamorous and magical, and Hollywood was subtly spoofed.”
Awards
1980. Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography
Publications
2009. Clowns and Divas, published by George Lawson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1986. American Photographer Magazine, Volume XVI. No. 1, “It’s Show Time!”
1984. San Francisco Magazine, “Susan Felter: Circus”
Solo Exhibitions
2015. FredFOTOarts Gallery, Susan Felter: Retrospective on Three Screens, Fredericksburg, VA
2010. de Saisset Museum, Working With Dreams: Susan Felter 1978 – 2010, Santa Clara, CA
2009. George Lawson Gallery, Clowns & Divas, San Francisco
1987. Vision Gallery, Susan Felter: Recent Work, San Francisco, CA
1985. de Saisset Museum, Susan Felter: Circus, Santa Clara, CA
1983. San Francisco Int’l Airport, Airports Commission Cultural Program, Susan Felter: Circus, San Francisco, CA
Group Exhibitions
1986. SFMoMA, Cross Currents II: Recent Additions to the Collection, San Francisco, CA