Never too late for artistic expression

Three years ago, Suzanne Axelbank saw a drawing at a friend’s house that rekindled her college-age dream of becoming an artist. 

“I said: ‘I would love to do that. And I think I could,’” she recalled during a recent interview with The Press at her art studio in the Van Cortlandt Village neighborhood of the northwest Bronx. 

Now, a collection of Ms. Axelbank’s artwork is on display throughout her apartment – a small home that also houses the studio. Upcycled vintage chairs line up against tall bookcases: She painted the chairs’ wood frames bright blue, neon green or pink, and reupholstered the seats in colorful patterned fabrics. Humorous images that feature pictures of herself photoshopped into classic photographs of The Beatles decorate the walls. 

She talks about her art with a sense of humor that does not take itself too seriously: Her works are a collection of doodling, Ms. Axelbank says. The doodling is primarily done on black canvasses with an assortment of acrylic paints, markers, gel pens and any other materials she deems fit in order to bring texture to her work. 

Ms. Axelbank studied art in college and has been constantly inspired by Asian art, she says, but there always seemed to be an obstacle that stopped her from sitting down and working. 

“I think the biggest challenge I had to my art was me,” she said. “That I was afraid to do it. That I was afraid it wouldn’t look good, nobody would like it, and then finally I said to myself, ‘But I have to do what I like and if nobody likes it, I’m still doing what I like.’”

Once Ms. Axelbank produced her first works of art, she began to discover ways of getting it all out there. She started selling greeting cards of her design on eBay. She showcased some of her work at an art sale in her building. The first time she was asked how much her work was, she “almost fell over,” she said.

Ms. Axelbank’s work was recently displayed at Tilila, a Latin-American restaurant at 3648 Bailey Ave. The restaurant held its first Bronx Artist Brunch on June 26, and that was the first time she had ever seen her work up all at once. 

“I’m not sure I could really express what that was like,” she said. “Not quite like seeing my [children] for the first time, but pretty close.”

Outside of her life as an artist, Ms. Axelbank cuts children’s hair for a living. Cutting hair is like doing sculpture work on moving targets, she says jokingly, but she would love to focus more on her art eventually. 

In the meantime, she plans on opening an Etsy store, joining the Riverdale Art Association, and continue promoting her work: “I would like to be more aggressive about my stuff because I like it,” she said. 

But for now, Ms. Axelbank’s goal is to build upon her work and not try to strive for perfection.

“What you have inside may not come out the first time,” she said. “If you’re enjoying yourself you just have to keep doing it.”