Ffocws #8

Growing up near a quarry, I have long been drawn to its stark landscape and layered industrial past, which continue to inform my work. This series of collograph prints has allowed me to develop a closer connection to the site, translating its textures and atmosphere through print.

My research explores the material qualities of paper and surface. Through processes such as tearing, layering, and manipulation, I build collograph printing plates that echo the physicality of the quarry itself. An emphasis on texture and mark making is integral to the work, reflecting both the erosion of the landscape and its enduring presence.

I paint in an impressionistic way capturing visually interesting scenes/situations. I sketch and photograph to start the development process, my acrylic paintings then evolve with questioning and changes. This can be painted on site plein air or back in my studio. I often leave some underpainting; it adds depth and shows the journey of the painting.

After qualifying in art and design I was a product designer, my designs were functional sculpture. I also taught art at night class. I then moved into education pioneering integrated art and design in Clwyd. This was followed by teaching wildlife for the RSPB.

Art is about people – our feelings about colours, shapes, rhythms and lines in our world real and imagined, and our active and passive responses. My people paintings show the interaction with places they are in. The promenade is a stage with big sky backdrops, gardens are usually happy and peaceful, cafes and streets reflect our activities.

In a complex world to simply brush paint onto canvas is a very direct and intuitive way of expression, sometimes frustrating and demanding but always rewarding.

Susan’s art practice represents the dramatic land and seascapes of North Wales. The effects of atmospheric light, colour, texture and reflection influence her paintings collage and print making and by using inks and pigments manufactured from local minerals and organic dyes.

Initially colour studies and drawings are made in the natural landscape. and weather conditions. In the studio, Susan transposes the collected images into larger paintings and monochrome pieces as figurative, abstract and semi abstract works.

Exploration of how erosion, extraction, quarrying and manmade processes have impacted the physical vision of the land and this is translated into the work as drawing, marks, composition and colour. To expand the painted and drawn images, collage etching or overlaying with precious metal are frequently added to the images.
During 2019 Susan participated in an experimental project at fab LAB Pontio Bangor (Edge 2) bringing together art and technology, Susan made experimental collaged mixed media mages using laser etched paintings and drawings to enhance abstract art works to give them more depth and a tactile appearance. The process continues as a method of technological drawing and is evident in her Edge 2 collection exhibited in 2019 at the Cube Pontio.

Recently Susan has been invited to be a member of Dotart Liverpool and regularly exhibits in several Liverpool galleries and sells though Dot’s home Gallery in Queens Arcade Liverpool.
In 2026 Susan has been elected as a new member at the RCA.
Susan lectured at Grwp Llandrillo Menai for 20 years gaining the prestigious C&G Gold Medal for Excellence Lecture’s award, Susan runs independent workshops, Life Drawing and Mentorship programs
In 2014 she gained an MA in Arts from Glyndwr University. Susan became a full time Arts Practitioner in 2016 and continues to work from her studio at 16 Trinity Square Llandudno, undertaking commissions and exhibiting Internationally.

The works in my recent exhibitions, supported by the Arts Council of Wales (ACW), represent the culmination of many years of development and research, evolving from interpretations of nature combined with studies in iconography and the Byzantine influence on contemporary Greek art. They are a visual representation of art’s relationship to nature, symbolism and our place in both the natural world and the constructed world.
Each work is an organic, three- or two-dimensional abstraction composed of oil paint with various types of gold and copperleaf variously layered on organically shaped pieces of native, naturally fallen wood. Sources of the wood are either local, for example Bodnant Gardens following Storm Anwen, Ynys Môn native woods and the island of Crete. Each piece is unique, with its own form of expression and its own story. The process is a symbiosis between artist, colour and medium which helps to evoke the environment in which the tree lived. The tree itself provides organic imagery that allows the emergence of symbolism and landscape through the abstraction inherent within the wood.

In my most recent work I am becoming aware as in the tree – we both search for the light. Responding to the shape, patterns and grain of the timber, the work transcends conventional uses of wood found in traditions such as icon painting. Both in contrast to and comparable with the veneration of Byzantine icons, we are reminded to humble ourselves in awe and wonder of that which stands before us, in this instance, the natural world that created us and inspired art.
During my creative journey I have also been influenced and studied how artists such as Kandinsky (Blau Rieter), Klee, Klimt, Rothko, El Greco and to a lesser extent Post Impressionism have used colour.