Audra Skuodas was an Oberlin-based artist who flew just around the level of radar- sometimes garnering the interest of national and international galleries. But she never fully broke through to the point of mainstream stardom. Five years after her passing, her children and local curators are championing her work to broaden its reach.
An amnesiac
Skuodas was born in Lithuania in 1940, and she spent six years of her early childhood living in a displaced persons camp in Germany.
“They escaped when she was four and traveled across Lithuania to Germany, by foot, by wagon, by whatever transport they could get, hiding during the day, traveling at night,” said Skuodas’ daughter, Cadence Pearson-Lane.
Skuodas arrived in the United States in 1949, and she went on to earn her bachelor's and master's degrees from Northern Illinois University. She married fellow artist John Pearson and had two children, Cadence and Jason. While both Pearson and Skuodas eschewed seeking larger fame in favor of the quiet family life of a small college town in Ohio, they were both dedicated artists with messages to share.
Skuodas always felt she had a genuine amnesia for her early childhood, and specifically her time growing up in Lithuania and Germany, according to her daughter, Pearson-Lane. In some cases, complete memories were blocked out.
“She had a complete amnesia of her past,” said Pearson-Lane. “My grandparents didn't talk about it because it was too painful, and she never really talked about it.”
Skuodas attempted to work through that feeling of amnesia and alienation with her art, including “Self Portrait of Displaced Amnesiac Alien,” an autobiographical book of 53 unbound, sewn fabric pages that create a sort of abstract narrative.
“It was so interesting to me that she used the medium of sewing to talk about her life up to that point. And that started me thinking about the role of sewing in her work,” said Emily Liebert, curator of contemporary art at the Cleveland Museum of Art. “I started to really see sewing as a metaphor for some of the things that she was talking about in her art. This idea of piercing a surface, creating pain, but then also, mending.”
Cusp of stardom
Skuodas was part of a wave of feminist artists that came about in the 1970s, but she was never appreciated as a leader of that movement.
Skuodas never stopped producing art while raising her children, however she did miss out on the chance to see how far she could go in the world of art as she lacked the opportunity to promote herself adequately, unlike her husband, Pearson-Lane said.
John Pearson’s fame overshadowed Skuodas’ and his place on Oberlin College’s faculty in some ways relegated her to a forgotten role.
“When they moved here, my father was a professor and my mom was considered ‘the wife of John Pearson.’ And in that era, in the early ‘70s. You know, the role of that wife was to host dinner parties, and be the hostess,” said Pearson-Lane.
Pearson-Lane recounted growing up in a world of elegant dinner parties with visiting scholars and artists, that were powered both by Skuodas’ tireless work as well as her effervescent personality. At these glamourous get-togethers, she was often the center of attention, despite her work not enjoying the same spotlight.
“It was really important when my brother and I created the Audra Skuodas Trust to manage her artwork,” Pearson-Lane said.
The Audra Skuodas Trust also partnered with Abattoir, a gallery in Cleveland, to get her work out to a wider audience.
“It is Abattoir’s role to represent the estate in all doings: museum shows, acquisitions, press, work in other galleries,” said Lisa Kurzner, founder of Abattoir.
While Kurzner was aware of Skuodas’ work, her eyes were opened when she saw it exhibited in the 2022 Front Triennial. That edition of the now-canceled public art show allowed people a glimpse into her private studio.
Since then, Kurzner has joined forces with Cadence Pearson-Lane and Jason Pearson. Abattoir is currently exhibiting her work in “On Intimacy,” which runs until April 14.
In the museum
The Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College has a collection of Skuodas’ pieces, and the director, Andria Derstine recalled her as a friend.
“I got to know her shortly after I arrived at Oberlin College in 2006. She was a really warm, giving, hospitable person. Very much a deep thinker, very empathetic– a wonderful conversationalist,” Derstine said.
The museum’s holdings of Skuodas’ work include paintings, drawings and mixed-media pieces that include sewing on paper with drawings. Some of the pieces are in the permanent collection, but some are part of the museum's rental program, which allows students and community members bring pieces of art into their homes.
“I think that's something that Audra would have really appreciated. The fact that people from our community who she knew so well could live with her works of art,” said Derstine.
Skuodas also has a large painting from her more abstract period hanging in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
“‘Merging Emerging’ is from 2010, and it's from the later part of her career when she turned to abstraction. And it's a great example of some of the themes and motifs she was interested in at that time,” said Liebert . “You can see this kind of dense formal geometric abstraction and a robust and really bright palette that's very arresting in the rooms that it occupies.”
Championing Skuodas
Pearson-Lane moved back to Oberlin in part to undertake the work of spreading her mother’s work and message. In her mother’s vast studio, she said she still discovers new works and new eras in Skuodas’ career.
Walking through Skuodas’ studio, there are paintings, photographs, collages and drawings- some mixed with sewing and paint. Long tables and viewing cases line the main area, showing off an evolving style over the decades.
Cadence Pearson-Lane reflected on her mother’s work in a recent studio tour, and she got emotional, flipping through the pages of her mother’s autobiography.
“Her work was about the message… which is about the rhythm and harmony within the universe. How do we find that harmony in music? How do we find that?” Pearson-Lane said. “I feel like when people spend time with her work, they see it... they don't need explanation. It moves them. Art shouldn't need someone to explain it.”
