Born and educated in Glasgow, Susie has degrees from the University of St Andrews and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her interest in calligraphy and painting grew out of an editorial career where she specialised in books on Chinese art and archaeology. A Fellow of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators, Susie works freelance in Edinburgh and has a longstanding involvement with a painters’ group run by Paul Keir. She recently shared the prestigious new W Gordon Smith Award for Painting at OPEN 2018 in the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.
Statement
Through painting and lettering Susie invites us to experience the ‘total mountain’. In one of Susie’s favourite books, The Living Mountain, Nan Shepherd encourages us to look not only at, but also into, the mountain, to appreciate its every aspect. This idea reverberates with Susie and informs her work: diaphanous layers and geological strata sit side by side with small tablets painted with lines from The Living Mountain, distilling a connection with the book. Susie also has a serendipitous personal connection to Nan Shepherd: they both appear on the new RBS polymer five pound note: Nan is the face of the note and Susie’s secretary hand calligraphy is on the back. Susie is currently making a large handwritten and illustrated version of The Living Mountain.
Solo exhibitions
2017 One never quite knows the mountain: Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
2016 Into the mountain: &Collective Gallery, Bridge of Allan
2015 The Living Mountain: Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
2012 The One Life: Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
2011 The Word on Wood: Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
Awards
2018 SSA + VAS: W Gordon Smith Award for Painting
2016 Jerwood-funded collaborative residency at Cove Park
2015 RSW: John Purcell Paper Award
RSA Open Exhibition: Edinburgh College of Art library prize
2014 Visual Arts Scotland: Morton Fraser Award
2011 Visual Arts Scotland: Nancy Graham Memorial Book Award
Collections
British Museum, London; Edinburgh College of Art; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Glamis Castle, Angus; Museum of Edinburgh; National Library of Scotland; National Museum of Scotland; Royal Collection; Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota
Ink and resist on Chinese paper
£
350
Sold
20 x 15cm
Ink and resist on Chinese paper
£
350
Sold
20 x 15 cm
Oil, gouache and gold leaf on wood,
£
580
Sold
each 20 x 17 cm
Price for each piece
Artist book: oil on card
£
450
Sold
30 x 17 cm
Silverpoint on wood
£
450
Sold
15 x 9.5 cm
Ink and oil on Chinese paper
£
950
Sold
50 x 45 cm
Oil, plaka and resist on canvas
£
4500
Sold
155 x 140 cm