About the Artist

Growing up in rural Ontario, and currently splitting her time between the South Georgian Bay region of Ontario and rural Newfoundland, has informed Sue’s artistic journey which is motivated by environmental stewardship and humanity’s primal connection to our environment. After attaining a Fine Arts diploma from Georgian College in Barrie, Sue spent time travelling Europe, building a house and raising three children. Whether working from her studio in the beautiful village of Creemore, Ontario, or from her home on the shores of Conception Bay, Newfoundland, Sue has produced work that has been exhibited in Canada and Europe and is held in private collections across North America, Europe and Japan. Her work is represented by galleries in Ontario and British Columbia.  Along with her 25 year studio practice, Sue has an extensive teaching career spanning 30 years and includes working with First Nations in Newfoundland/Labrador and Nova Scotia, Autism Ontario and part-time summer faculty at Sir Sanford Fleming College, Haliburton Campus. Sue has taken on several active volunteer rolls in her local communities as co-founder of a local artist-run centre, jurying community art exhibits, facilitating in the schools, installing exhibitions and curating for the first ever public art gallery in Wasaga Beach, Ontario. 

Artist’s Statement

Predominantly through painting, and with roots inspired by landscape, my work evolves intuitively, whether from a photographic source or more often through my persistent sense of visual memory.  I usually start with an acrylic underpainting and build layers of oil with a combination of palette knives, cantalyst wedges and window squeegees. The process is a constant investigation of our primal and spiritual connectedness to the natural environment, and the visual behaviour of natural elements. My paintings beckon a return to the forgotten memory of our origins and to what collectively binds all living species. Natural spaces give me a sense of awe and provide me with solace, grounding me to a web of interconnected spaces whose beauty and complexity I find endlessly fascinating. Painting provides me with a natural, quiet language to convey this profound connection.

I am driven to spur an intimate connection between the art and the viewer. I’m hoping for the work to spark a memory or a deep, familiar feeling that guides the viewer into the painting. My work continues to be a process of psychogeography, an investment of the self and our relationship to our natural surroundings. In a generation that is living through climate change, my deepest wish is to inspire positive climate action.

Gallery Representation:

Cloud Gallery, www.cloudgallery.ca

Guildworks Gallery, www.guildworks.ca

The Gallery House, www.thegalleryhouse.ca