Artist Bio

Not just art, a piece of my heART

Susan in her Toronto studio, creating “Loving,”
9 x (18 x 18 in), iridescent oil paint on canvas, 2008: adquired 2009
Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, via the Art Connection

Susan’s whimsical and colorful artwork elicits smiles. Passion and dedication prompt paintings that are powerful, purposeful, and positive—reveal their creator’s spontaneous and playful sides. Even on gray days, Susan trusts the subconscious to guide and nurture: bring cheer. She enjoys being up close and personal with what she is painting—in the picture, almost. Nearly all of Susan’s work (representational, expressive, or abstract) is produced in series and with painstaking care and attention to detail. What’s displayed on our walls matters to her, can motivate or set the tone.

Susan’s subject-specific imagery (portraits, florals, food, animals) focus on the pleasant, marvelous, or special. Also, it’s no accident that they exclude backgrounds and incorporate hearts. A PhD arts therapist/personal coach and educator (DocSusan), as well as fine artist, their creator is deeply sensitive to environmental influences and concerns. A graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Canadian participant at the Florence Biennale, and native Liverpudlian, she embraces diversity, gathering inspiration from near and far. The unknown intrigues; the exotic empowers; the familiar comforts.

Originally, circumstances (trauma, loss, and relocation) led Susan to consider the familiar from alternative viewpoints. Over time, noticing viewers' responses to her artwork, she learned that what's familiar (reassuring and meaningful) for one person can be for many. When you feel your world turned upside down or are uncertain of direction or belonging, easy-to-recognize-and-identify images don’t just comfort, they offer new starting places and a sense of hope. Susan’s larger-than-life images lighten mood. They also suggest fresh patterns and possibilities.The artist’s current home-base is Toronto, but her energy and ideas come from out-of-town travels and experiences, as well as educational, artistic, and childhood influences and recollections. Then there’s studio assistants, Poodle pals, Lev and Sage: always there to supervise, encourage, and make her laugh.

Susan’s artwork adorns homes, offices, and public spaces internationally. However, its greatest concentration is in Greater Boston, where she trained and exhibits. She is also an active donor with the Art Connection, a charity that enables community service organizations to acquire original artwork without cost. Susan’s painting practice is identifiably her own, and her artist-muses are eclectic. These include Ida Applebroog, Emily Carr, Paul Cezanne, Marc Chagall, Leonardo Da Vinci, Jim Dine, David Hockney, Frida Kahlo, Wassily Kandinsky, Alex Katz, Jeff Koones, Henri Matisse, Jean Miro, Amadeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Alice Neel, GeorgiaOkeefe, Pablo Picasso, Norman Rockwell, John Singer Sargent, Alma Tadima, Wayne Thiebaud, Vincent Van Gogh, and Andy Warhol.