KEARNEY, NE.- Inspired by water's physical and metaphysical powers to unite, circulate, and sustain, Omaha-based artist Susan Knight visually translates water issues into two and three dimensions. Knight worked for years as a figurative painter using photographs for reference to capture realistic detail in her work. In 2002 she participated in an exhibition about rivers. "I had no interest in painting a landscape," she said, "but I knew I could cut a map of the river I grew up on." Inspired by a display of architectural origami she had seen Knight was impressed with what could be done by simply cutting paper.

Knight’s site-specific installation Core Sampling Magic currently on view at MONA, is comprised of eighty components. Developed over the last four years, Knight uses a laborious hand cutting technique to create individual elements painting them in red, yellow, gray and green, colors used by hydro geologists to color code soil samples of clay, gravel, sand and silt. Using this concept, Knight has learned several things about herself and her method of working. "I'm not only cutting," she explained, "I'm engineering the paper" employing her mind, body and spirit in the work.

Knight's work has evolved to abstract compositions based on science, pulling from ongoing scientific investigations involving water and the land that holds it. Her artistic vision is akin to a scientific discovery process, collecting data, and experimenting with how to reconstruct it in interesting, alluring ways.

Susan Knight is a native of Michigan. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows and installations nationally, and internationally. She has been featured in Sci Art in America Online Magazine. Her work appears in Illuminations Poems Inspired by Science by Robert Louis Chianese and in 2016 was reviewed by Sculpture Magazine and Smithsonian Online Magazine.