 |
     |
|
 |
||
|
About the Artist Susan began to seriously study art at the age of 12. She majored in art during her high school years in Scotland where she earned art awards. Honing her technical and observation skills but not doing much in the way of non-representational exploration, Susan daily recorded her world in sketchbooks, and every school day, she painted. Her art specialization was "Painting and Composition"; a factor which plays a large part in her highly developed sense of composition today.
Susan's work has naturally evolved since her early studies. Typically, she will focus on a very specific idea, issue or problem. Once she has exhausted interest in the idea or issue, or is satisfied that she has achieved the best possible solution to a problem, she shifts her focus elsewhere. In this way, she feels she is best able to evolve as an artist and as a person. Following graduation (1984) from the Sault College's 3-year fine arts programme with painting and pottery majors, Susan's early professional works consist primarily of paintings, usually derivatives of faces and bodies, painted in either acrylic or oil, and comprised of layers of bright, bold primary and secondary colours. During this time, she also continued producing life drawings and hand-building clay sculptures and non-functional pottery. At that point in time she was still being heavily influenced by her mentor, Danish sculptor and potter Peter Petersen, as well as turn of the century European artists, especially Paul Klee, Jean Miro, Henry. Although her style was distinctly her own during this period, these influences were nonetheless evident in her work. During this time Susan also worked as a newspaper photographer, at a public art gallery, and as an art instructor.
In the 1990's, Susan became interested in visual narrative and the communication between artist and viewer. The majority of pieces Susan created during this period were mixed media (most frequently India ink and oil pastel) and she focused heavily on the making of "contemporary pictographic stories" which addressed contemporary concerns in her own version of ancient pictographic manner. She also attended open life drawing studios at every opportunity, and developed various drawing styles uniquely her own. During this time, Susan also managed a performing and visual arts organization, and was heavily involved in the local arts community, co-hosting arts-related magazine-style TV shows and sitting on the boards and committees of various arts-related community organizations.
Susan's interest in the communication between artist and viewer is significant because it triggered her decision to return to art school to study visual communications. In the late 1990's, she attended the Alberta College of Art and Design where she majored in illustration, and specializing in conceptual illustration. During this period Susan focused on carrying her fine art aesthetic into her illustration work, and integrating certain illustrative elements into her fine art work: her goal was to deliberately blur the line between the two art forms. Following graduation, Susan split her time working in both the fine art and visual communications industries, proving herself successful in both.
To see Susan's current work see Current |
